The 2018 holiday seasons’ online shopping stats tell us that it was a great year for online retailers worldwide.
With advances in artificial intelligence, sophisticated online marketing tactics and highly responsive online stores, many websites managed to slam-dunk their campaigns into record-breaking sales.
Much of this success is due to the fact that consumers are always connected, and spend more time than ever researching a product before they buy it.
While research is on the rise, online window-shopping is too, and in this day and age, a poor mobile experience is just as bad as closing your store during peak shopping hours at the mall.
The Facts
- Almost 40% of all the eCommerce purchases during the 2018 holiday season were made via smartphone and 80% of shoppers used a mobile phone inside a physical store to either look up product reviews, compare prices or find alternative store locations.
- 62% of US Consumers expect a brand to deliver a consistent experience every time, from brick and mortar stores to online experiences, consumers expectations are high, and with so many online options, you need to adapt to survive.
- 52% of online users have said that a bad mobile experience has made them less likely to engage with a company, while 79% said that if they don’t like what they’ve found on a site, they’ll go back and search for another site. The numbers are in, and they’re too powerful to ignore.
- 53% of mobile visits are abandoned if a site takes more than 3 seconds to load, and as a page load time goes from 1 – 5 seconds, the probability of bounce increases by 90%.
- It’s not enough to have a killer marketing campaign and a beautiful looking online store, browsing your online store from a smartphone should be effortless – 81% of shoppers research online before buying and 60% of users use mobile exclusively to make purchases.
Diagnosing The Issues
I can however, give you some tools to diagnose the problems, and some quick fixes to tide you by while you overhaul your online store.
I would love to tell you that a slow mobile site is an easy thing to fix but the fact is it’s not. There are so many reasons for your mobile site’s conversion rate being low, from page load time to user experience, content, imagery, service, delivery policies, the list goes on.
1. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
Simply paste in your URL and this tool tells you if your site is mobile-friendly, as well as gives you a list of issues and how to fix them.
2. Google’s mobile speed test tool
This free tool not only gives you a detailed report on how to optimise your mobile site’s speed but compares it to others in your industry, giving you a realistic idea of how your site fares and an actionable list of fixes to improve your speed.
3. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an amazing free tool that helps you collect and analyse user behaviour on your site. If you don’t have some kind of Analytics service tracking your site you’ve already fallen behind your competition. You can find mobile insights under Audience > Mobile.
These metrics will help you understand what devices people are using, as well as view bounce rate metrics, which can give you more specific insights into how engaging your mobile site is to your users.
4. Google Search Console
Google Search Console is another free tool that will help you understand your online eCommerce performance. Just click on Enhancements > Mobile Usability to see what fixes you can make to improve your site. This tool tells you exactly what the issues are, and where to find them on your site.
5. Varvy Mobile SEO
Varvy Mobile SEO Tool gives you a basic rundown of your mobile site’s speed, friendliness, redirects, and Google access. It also gives you a handy mobile optimisation guide.
Quick Fixes
Once you’ve found what might be behind hindering users from making a purchase, you can get to fixing them – depending on the causes it could be an easy fix or a nightmarish labour intensive overhaul, whatever it is, it needs to be done. Here are some considerations and potential changes you can make to your mobile site in the meantime to boost engagement and conversions:
Simplify Everything
Your mobile site is accessed on a small screen, so make sure you keep navigation and elements (like imagery, sentences and buttons) simple, to quote Albert Einstein; “Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
Really think about what you need and don’t need on that page to make your users journey easy and frustration-free.
Place Top Performing Products Or Brands Above The Fold
Help customers access products they’re likely to be interested in by placing them above the fold, that way they literally don’t even have to move a finger to find what they want.
Place A Product Carousel Above The Fold
Another way you can help users easily browse your mobile site is by placing a carousel above the fold to showcase products or promotions.
Let Users “Like” or “Favourite” Items
Not giving users an option to save products to view later while they’re browsing could lead to a huge potential loss of sales.
Make “Add To Cart” Easily Accessible
Ensure your mobile site’s “Add To Cart” button and “Checkout” button are extremely easy to see and use.
Enable Auto-Fill On All Your Form
A difficult checkout process will deter customers, I know it has deterred me. Make sure auto-fill is enabled on all your online forms.
Let Users Checkout Without Creating An Account
Let users checkout without having to sign up, sometimes a tedious sign-up process can get in the way of an impulse buy.
Allow Users To Sign Up Using Facebook & Gmail
Let users create accounts on-the-go by allowing them to use Facebook or Google to sign up.
Feature Similar Items In Easy-To-See Places
Help users browse your store by featuring similar items in a prominent place.
Test Your Mobile Site With Your Thumb
Make sure you can browse products, blogs, fill out forms, and checkout using only your thumb.
In Summary
If you cant easily navigate your mobile site, neither can anyone else, test your site on fresh eyes and seek the most honest feedback possible.
Take some serious time considering exactly what your users are trying to do and how you can help them easily achieve that goal.
To find out more or to work with us, get in touch here
Source:
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/experience-design/mobile-page-speed-load-time/
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/
