Optimizing your website for mobile is becoming less of an option and more of a requirement than ever before. The number one issue reported by mobile web users was slow load times (Gomez). This statistic is followed closely by the fact that the study found 46% of mobile web users were unlikely to return to a website if they had trouble accessing it. Perhaps worse is that 57% of this group would not recommend that site if they experienced trouble with the site.
These statistics highlight an underlying trend. That is if your website doesn’t have a mobile first strategy, or at the least a mobile minded strategy, your company will be left far behind the competition. Consider if that 46% number, which was from research in 2011, grew to 60% or 70% or even more. That would mean your company needs to seriously consider mobile optimization, or face the inevitable consequences.
Black Friday & Cyber Monday are Going Mobile
Further, we can see the importance of mobile growing when we look at Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales year over year from 2011 to 2012 in this infographic. Here we see that online sales from a mobile device climbed 16% in 2012 from the previous year. On Cyber Monday 2012, 18% of online shoppers checked out deals on their mobile device, and 13% of those actually made purchases directly from that mobile device! These numbers are up 12% and 7% respectively.
Looking at the above numbers from last years Black Friday & Cyber Monday, compared to 2011, we can see some definite trends continuing. It’s a fair bet that these trends will continue in 2013, 2014 and beyond. Projections for these deal days in 2013 have around 18% of consumers making purchases from their mobile devices, compared with around 14% in 2012.
Usability and Brand Experience
In our last couple posts, on business branding and company branding and design, we covered some basics as well as strategies for building a brand. That brand must be maintained, and consumer confidence will quickly lessen if their mobile experience isn’t top notch. Circling back to the Gomez study, we find that fully 74% of mobile web users are willing to wait more than 5 seconds for a page to load before leaving a site.
If your mobile page takes longer than 5 seconds to load you’ll be losing 74% of your mobile traffic. Interestingly 77% of top North American companies, from varying markets, have web pages that take more than 5 seconds to load. This spells enormous opportunity for your company!
Building the Mobile Experience
Providing a mobile optimized experience for your customers has never been easier. Simply paying attention to the need for a mobile site is more than half the battle. One option is responsive design. A responsive design delivers a consistent user experience across devices. Another option is to build a fully mobile version of your site, and technologies like Jquery Mobile make this option very attractive as well. Getting those mobile load times under 5 seconds is an attainable goal.
Get optimized for mobile now! It’s a very actionable goal, and will future proof your business. If the technical aspects to mobile optimization aren’t your specialty, hiring a professional is an excellent option.