Mobile Friendly Websites

The mobile phone seems to be leading the pack as the hardware tool of choice over fixed devices such as the desktop PC and even the laptop and tablet because of its size and flexibility. More photos are taken now than ever before because of the shift in mobile phone camera technology. Likewise, more texts and pictures are being moved around with the cheaper data packages and unlimited texts. The average 13-17 year old sends more than 2,000 text messages per month. The modern phone is less obtrusive, fitting into pockets, handbags or fastening to belts.

With the majority of mobile subscribers owning smartphones, today’s shoppers are now better equipped than ever to find the best deals and get feedback about products on their shopping lists—anytime, anywhere. From pre-purchase research, to sharing an exciting find with friends, new data shows that smartphone and tablet owners are embracing their devices to make the most of their shopping experience.

It’s no secret smartphone owners bring their handsets just about everywhere they go. Mobile shoppers like to use their devices for in-store activities. In fact, 78 percent of mobile shoppers say they’ve used their smartphone to find a store, and another 63 percent have checked prices online while shopping. Overall, smartphone owners are three times more likely to use their handset for some in-store activities, like claiming mobile coupons (39%) or using shopping lists (40%), compared to tablet owners. (Neilson Wire, 2012)

Now when shop assistants ask “Can I help you?” The response is more likely to be “Yes, what’s your WiFi password?”

In the business to consumer sector, it is easy to understand therefore why it is necessary to have a mobile friendly website. In the business to business sector it is also essential to have a website not only well designed for the PC but also the mobile phone. 

• This year more people will use mobile phones than PCs to get online 
• Google estimates that around 50% of mobile searches are for local services
• Research indicates that 6 in 10 visitors will leave a mobile-unfriendly site
• Consumers on the go use mobile search mostly for finding out the essential information, quickly contacting the business or locating business on the map
• Having a mobile optimised website is now imperative for your business

Some interesting statistics about mobile users also support the case:

• 60% of users expect a mobile site to load in 3 seconds or less
• 71% of users expect a site to load as fast as a desktop site
• 78% of users will retry a site two times or less if it does not load initially

So, now that we understand why we need to be mobile friendly what needs to be done? Unfortunately, there is not one definitive correct approach to mobile development. Several factors need to be considered before devising a mobile strategy. There are a number of choices available and it very much depends on your budget, needs and starting point. It is worth keeping in mind that it may not be essential to have a full version of your standard website rendered for mobile phone use.

If you are about to revamp your existing website or starting a new one, it is possible to have it designed as a “responsive” website. This is the term used for a website that responds to the type of device the viewer is using and renders the layout to suit. This is particularly common now for WordPress websites using responsive templates. WordPress is a very popular open source design platform and many free Plugins are available. If you add plugins yourself, always make sure you have a backup in case it conflicts with other functionality or plugins.

Other online platforms such as Weebly and Wix offer hosted mobile friendly versions as part of their subscription services. The beauty of the responsive website is that you only have to maintain one website. The down side is that you may not be able to take advantage of all the features of a mobile phone such as the motion sensor, barcode scanner and GPS tracking.

If you do not want to modify your existing website, another product worth considering is the GoMobi addon which uses a sub-domain of your website to create a mobile friendly website to run in parallel. A piece of code is generated to place in the header of your normal website to divert mobile users to this sub-domain.

Last but not least, it is worth mentioning the growing success of the relatively unknown .tel domain name. As with other solutions, there are options when registering a .tel name and it may depend on the size of the organisation and what functionality you want from it. It is always advisable to have a mobile strategy in place before making any purchase. 

For more information on Mobile Friendly Websites, speak to the an experienced mobile website consultant.