The mobile word is booming! As of February 2017, mobile devices accounted for 49.74% of web page views worldwide. And global mobile data traffic is expected to increase nearly seven fold between now and 2021. While consumers are browsing the Internet on their smartphones, hitting up friends on Whatsapp and posting selfies on Snapchat, it appears they’re forgoing shopping on mobile platforms. Despite the fact that more than half of overall web traffic comes from mobile, data from Adobe Digital Index shows that visit conversion is nearly 3 times higher on desktops vs smartphones.
If you’ve got a case of low mobile conversion rates, check out these 5 simple steps to improve your rates.
Increase Your Mobile Speed
While the average time it takes to fully load a mobile landing page is 22 seconds, 53% of mobile site visitors will leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load. Based on the above statistics, a slow mobile site is detrimental in retail. And Google confirms it. According to the search engine giant, if it takes a web page more than three seconds to load, the probability of bounce increases to 90%.
According to a 2017 report by Akamai, Fanatics shaved two seconds off its median page load time and almost doubled mobile conversions. Similarly, Walmart saw up to a 2% increase in conversions for every second of improvement in load time. Every 100ms improvement resulted in up to a 1% increase in revenue.
A few tips to increase your mobile website’s load times.
- Reduce image sizes to exact size needed to fit the page (be sure they also support tap or pinch gesture to enhance or enlarge images)
- Combine common pieces of code and reduce the number of plugins on your site
- Slash your mobile load time by using cache and reuse previously fetched resources
- Let your users directly access your mobile website, but don’t forget to provide the link to the main website for those who prefer visiting your main desktop site
- Consider performance budgets for pages. This means, you could decide you want your site to load within three seconds (the “budget” of each page). Using that benchmark, you can cull unnecessary page elements that cause the load time to exceed that limit.
Consumers find slow mobile delays more stressful than watching horror movies. Invest in increasing your mobile sites and reap fast conversions. Not sure about your mobile website’s performance? Test your speed with https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/
Improve Mobile Checkout
Like you, mobile shoppers find lengthy checkout processes time-consuming and annoying. A quantitative study by Baymard Institute found that 28% of consumers blame the checkout process for abandoning their carts. To help consumers finish the checkout process on your mobile site, here are a couple of steps you can take.
- Click To Pay: Consumers find it frustrating to manually enter payment card and shipping address information every time they make a purchase. Use a checkout process that allows customers to complete a purchase with a single click by using payments credentials and shipping information previously provided, like Amazon does here.
- Ask For Only Important Information: Typing on mobile can be more hassle than it’s worth- don’t ask your visitors type than is necessary. Request only the information you need to process your customer’s payment and nothing more. That’ll be card number, expiration date and CVV.
- Offer Guest Checkout: It’s a bad idea to require visitors to sign up before they can make a purchase. It causes friction and gives consumers a reason to leave your mobile website. Instead, offer a guest checkout option. When ASOS removed the automatic registration button before checkout, they increased their revenue by $300 million.
You need shoppers to complete their checkout if you want to get your mobile conversion rates up. So make your mobile checkout process easy and fast.
Build Trust
Trust is a big issue for mobile shoppers. According to a Checkout Usability study by Baymard Institute, 18% of users have abandoned a checkout flow because they “didn’t trust the site with their credit card information.” Wondering how to build trust in a world of data breaches and credit card thefts? Display trust symbols on your mobile website. In a survey of 4902 consumers, Bizrate Insight found out that 69% of consumers look for websites that display trust symbols. Having trust symbols on your website shows consumers that their personal and financial information is safe with you. Take a look at an infographic from Baymard Institute on badges consumers trust when paying online.
In addition to trust badges, use social proof such as reviews to reassure potential customers that they’re making the right decision by buying from you. iPerceptions reports that 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site that has user reviews. To protect your reputation, make sure your reviews are authentic, and while building trust, do everything in your power to protect consumers from cyber criminals.
Make Your Mobile Site Easy To Use
Statistics from a MarketingCharts survey based on 100,000 online shoppers, states that 33% of respondents feel retail mobile sites have serious usability issues. Similarly, the Baymard Institute, reports that 78% of mobile e-commerce sites perform poorly.
Wondering how to make your mobile website easy to use? Check out these tips from usability expert Jakob Nielsen:
- Reduce content: Reducing content on your mobile website makes is easy for consumers to read and navigate the site
- Cut Features: Mobile users want to see everything clearly on their screens. Strip out unnecessary elements and give users a simple and modern design without distractions
- Enlarge Interface Elements: To make converting as easy as possible, enlarge your call-to-action buttons, links, and navigation labels – and ensure that there’s adequate space between them
Design for touchscreen and non-touchscreen users, make correcting errors less frustrating and integrate phone functions, like direct calling and messaging into your mobile website.
Charlotte Russe grew its website business by 71%, while 1800Flowers.com grew conversions 2x by improving their mobile website. Make your mobile website easy to use and consumers will reward you with their money.
Personalize Your Mobile App
While 33% of consumers prefer a mobile app to a mobile site, the truth is that 61% of users no longer use an app one month after they downloaded it. While these statistics look scary, your app can be among the chosen few consumers use to make purchases. Here’s how to increase mobile conversions with your app with personalization:
Provide Push Notifications: push notifications boost engagement by as much as 88%. Give users the option to opt-in to receive push notifications on their mobile, offering them discounts at nearby stores or reminding them of an abandoned shopping cart. Always ensure your notifications are relevant and timely.
Send Smart Recommendations: No product has universal appeal. That’s why you need to offer consumers personalized product recommendations. Starbucks’ app analyzes user behaviour data to craft special offers, discounts and coupons. American brand Warby Parker uses iPhone X’s new face mapping technology to recommend glasses that will suit a person’s face shape.
Enhance Real-Life Experiences With AR: Consumers want real life experiences. Since 72% of augmented-reality (AR) users purchase stuff they didn’t plan to buy, having an AR powered app has the potential to increase conversions. Need inspiration? Take a look at Ikea’s augmented-reality application, Ikea Place, that allows shoppers to virtually place products into their homes to see how they’d look–perhaps a sofa for the den.
Personalization does not just enhance UX, it improves conversion rates. When consumers feel “spoiled,” there is a better chance for conversions. If you’re serious about increasing mobile conversions, personalize your app.
Master Mobile
Mobile commerce is no passing trend, and the brands likely to make money on this turf are those that provide a seamless mobile experience. To improve your mobile conversion rate, increase your mobile website speed, make checkout easy, assure consumers that they’re safe shopping with you, make your website easy to use and don’t forget to personalize your mobile app. Start implementing these steps today and stop losing customers.