Mobile is everywhere and whether we like it or not, it is here to stay and businesses will need to embrace the technology to maintain a competitive advantage. With over half of American adults using a smartphone, (according to Pew Internet) you need to care about your smartphone customers. Why? Mobile users have expectations when accessing a website from their phones and if those expectations are not met, over 40% have turned to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience.

Desktop websites were not designed with smartphones in mind. In this day and age with information available at our fingertips, we expect immediate results with instant gratification and 58% expect mobile sites to load as quickly as, or faster than, desktop sites. If your existing or potential customers find themselves waiting for your site to load they may choose to do business elsewhere. Even if your desktop site loads quickly on a mobile device, do your visitors have to “pinch and zoom” to find your phone number or get directions?

Considerations on How Mobile Affects Your…

  • Reputation. As much as mobile is everywhere, do you know how it is affecting your business? Non-mobile optimized websites are hurting your reputation, as almost half of smartphone users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when a site is not mobile friendly. Also, 48% say that if a site didn’t work well on a smartphone, that the company did not care about their mobile customers. A majority of businesses cannot afford to turn away existing or potential customers and the opportunity to boost sales.
  • Engagement. Are you communicating with your customers in their language and encouraging engagement? A bad mobile experience does not allow for engagement and when they are accessing your website on their phones they have a specific need and are in “take action” mode; they want to call or visit your business. Research indicates that 67% say that they are more likely to buy a site’s product or service, if they visit a mobile friendly website.
  • Social Media. Have you considered what happens when you post on Social Media platforms with a link to read a blog post or buy a product or service? When that user is on a mobile device and clicks through to the site, if it is not mobile optimized you have lost opportunity to increase exposure and sales especially on Facebook and Twitter where two out of three of your customer base are accessing those platforms on mobile devices.
  • Email. Can your emails be read easily on mobile devices? Are the links in your email marketing connecting to mobile optimized information? With email open rates at an all time high at 51% on average, are your emails being effective when they are opened?

It is important to note that custom design and setup for a majority of the mobile websites are as easy as 1-2-3 to implement and are more cost effective than you may realize.

As you can see everything evolves around a mobile web presence and if you implement just one mobile strategy, start with a mobile optimized website that adheres to Google’s best practices.

Mobilize today and acknowledge your mobile customers!