We know that more than half of web traffic comes from mobile.1 Despite these numbers, mobile conversion rates are lower than desktop.2
The reason? Research suggests many CEOs have failed to prioritize mobile properly because they’re unaware that their current mobile strategy isn’t working — and it’s likely costing them customers. People who have a negative experience on a mobile website are 62% less likely to purchase from that brand in the future than if they have a positive experience3 — no matter how beautiful or data-driven its marketing campaigns are.
Five years ago, I talked endlessly to companies about how having a mobile website was the new table stakes. Now, a mobile site isn’t enough — it has to be fast and provide a simple yet compelling user experience. Here are five questions to guide you through putting mobile at the center of your company’s digital transformation.
Is a mobile strategy a company-wide priority?
It’s not enough to assign one team to manage your mobile strategy. Enhancing the customer experience has to be everyone’s responsibility.
Executive leadership needs to invest in the right technologies and get buy-in across the organization. Marketing and analytics teams should be continually measuring and optimizing for new revenue opportunities. Developers need to be up to speed on the latest mobile development tools and techniques. Designers should be intimately familiar with mobile UX best practices and work closely with developers to create the best possible experience.
But you can’t improve your company’s mobile site performance until you’ve established specific KPIs. For example, is your mobile conversion rate getting better over time, and is it in line with your mobile traffic? If 70% of your customers hit your mobile website each month but only 35% complete the purchase on their phones, you’ve got a problem.
Is your site performance up to speed?
The average mobile web page takes 15.3 seconds to fully load, and more than half of visits are abandoned if a mobile website takes more than three seconds to load.4 In retail, we see that a one-second delay in mobile load times can impact conversions by up to 20%.5 If you don’t have a team dedicated to optimizing your customers’ experience, you could be driving users to faster competitors.
Fast pages start to load in under one second. Test My Site, our mobile speed testing tool, can help benchmark your mobile site performance and let you know where you’re lagging.
Are you using the right solutions?
Optimizing aging legacy systems may hold back your team over the long haul. Modern web technologies like Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and Progressive Web Apps (PWA) allow you to create engaging sites that look beautiful and load instantly on every platform. Both technologies help enhance the user experience and neither requires special skills to implement.
Modern mobile technology can also alleviate another obstacle — the checkout process. Often mobile shopping carts require too much text input. Simplifying the checkout process by using platforms like Google Pay can help streamline the process and boost conversions. The closer you are to a one-click purchase experience, the better.
Are you continually testing?
The only way to know what your customers really want is to give them multiple options and see what performs better over time. Continuous A/B testing is a hallmark of nearly every successful internet company. For example, every day Booking.com runs a thousand A/B tests, and Amazon changes its prices more than 2.5 million times a day.
Are you thinking like a customer?
There’s no substitute for hands-on testing under real-world conditions. Not everyone has access to a fast 4G LTE connection, and speeds vary depending on location and other factors. Your team should be stress-testing your mobile website frequently and recording the results.
Experiencing the site the way your customers do will reveal their pain points far more effectively than simply poring over data. Then ask your team: Is this what customers really want? If not, it’s time for a change.
With more options than ever, people demand a mobile experience that’s fast and friction-free. Ensure you’re meeting customer expectations — and your mobile growth goals — by leaning into these principles and investing where it counts.
