Mobile Websites: Successful Retailers Have Learned To Improve Mobile Shopping
Improve Mobile Shopping
The really successful retailers have learned how to improve mobile shopping for their customers on their mobile commerce sites.
Mobile commerce presents a tremendous opportunity for retailers when conducted properly and in general, consumers are moving to mobile channel in hordes.
A recent IBM study suggested that mobile commerce users accounted for more than 10 percent of all online traffic sales on Cyber Monday.
But many retailers still face an intimidating challenge; providing a trouble free user experience for their demanding mobile customers that meets their sometimes unrealistic expectations.
Although a slim majority of comments made by mobile shoppers were positive, according to a recent social media survey of the top 35 mobile retailers worldwide; 41% their users indicated frustration of some sort when using mobile shopping websites and/or apps.
Although more than a third of mobile web site users praised their ease of use, time saving characteristics and the increased ability to get great instant deals; less than a fifth of users said that mobile websites were easy to use.
There is obviously room for improvement and the really successful retailers have learned how to improve mobile shopping for their customers.
Over half of negative comments made by mobile shopping users were about obstacles they encountered while trying to complete their online shopping transactions.
Other sources of customer dissatisfaction included apps that didn’t work as promised, forms that were difficult to complete on their devices and instructions that were confusing or incomplete.
Mobile shopping users have extremely high expectations.
Even though they may have successfully completed their transaction on your mobile website; a negative experience using your website could prevent them from purchasing in the future or even cause them to share their negative experience publicly on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
Unfortunately, over 80 percent of adults who have completed transactions using a mobile device expect their experience to be better than when making the identical transaction on their desktop computer.
For all you online retailers, the stakes are high.
Not only do you risk losing shoppers on your mobile website, many shoppers are less likely to buy from the same company via other channels if they have experienced a problem while conducting a mobile transaction.
The solution for online retailers to improve mobile shopping is to have a clear knowledge of the online experience they are providing their customers and to correct any problems as they become apparent before other users are affected.
Many online retailers forget that mobile devices lead to new behaviors.
Rotating screens and swiping and varying “folds” are just a couple of behaviors that are associated with specific types of devices that may present device specific issues that may need to be addressed.
To make the most of mobile websites, businesses must recognize that they may need to do some things differently.
Here are some recommendations on how to better capitalize on mobile commerce:
- Make your mobile site easy to use.
How easy your mobile website or app is to use can be a huge advantage over your competition. Research shows that only 17% of mobile users are satisfied with the ease of use of mobile websites on their devices. Streamlining and optimizing your site to make it idiot proof for novice users will benefit you in sales and your bottom line over time.
- Pay attention to user feedback.
Customers use social media to vocalize their likes and dislikes. Use Twitter, Facebook, etc. to see what customers are saying about mobile websites and apps. You can find out what works and what doesn’t by visiting app store reviews. Be open to suggestions and changing your site to improve mobile shopping for your customers.
- Don’t buy into the next “cool” idea.
Before you decide on integrating a new complex process into your mobile website, consider how it will help your customers purchase from your site and from their mobile devices. Implementing a form that orients from vertical to horizontal for easier data entry is a good idea to implement. Other so called “cool” ideas that do not benefit your customers should be avoided at all costs.
Always consider your mobile service from the perspective of your customers before initiating complex processes to improve mobile shopping.
