Sales & marketing

Why a mobile-friendly website is worth its weight in gold

This year has been one of the most unpredictable years since the turn of the century, but amidst the furor there’s been important developments in the usage of your mobile-friendly website, writes GoDaddy’s VP for EMEA, Stefano Maruzzi.

In 2016, from politics to pop culture, weve seen the British public triggering Brexit, Honey G become an overnight star on the X-Factor and the completion of a true underdog as Leicester City F.C. won the English Premier League, despite being ranked at 5000-1 outsiders.

Amidst all the big media headlines, mobile technology experienced its own milestone. In October, a landmark moment occurred when web browsing on smartphones and tablets 51 per cent surpassed internet usage on desktops 49 per cent worldwide for the first time.

Given the trending towards increased mobile use, this was perhaps the least surprising moment of the year and simply formalised the global shift in consumer behaviour.

However, talking about this mobile-friendly website milestone is significant for small businesses, particularly those who still believe that the standard one-screen desktop design is enough.

As a small business owner, there are three key reasons why you need to be on top of your mobile game.

Millennials have a need for speed

Studies show that mobile users buy morethan people who browse through desktop computers. This is important because there are now 1.8 billion millennials on the planet making them the biggest demographic.

And they are a mobile-first generation, using smartphones to research, compare, buy and review products or services and serve as a core to their daily lives.

In the age of social media and messaging apps, it has never been easier to take a screen shot of a product, venue or even contact details and send to your friends for their opinion. The easier it is to capture and share this information in a perfect fit-to-screen frame, the more likely you are to close that sale.

Speed is another critical factor. Customers are no longer as patient as they were in the days of dial-up internet. Research shows that 40 per cent of visitors will ditch a website that takes three seconds to load.

You can’t afford to have resource-hungry multimedia slowly down page loading times as this could lead to potentially losing a sale. Keep your images sizes and graphics suitable to mobile, and limit your use of videos to allow your visitors to view your full mobile site rapidly.

The user experience is critical

How many websites have you come across that aren’t mobile friendly over the past six months? It may be on the decline, but Ive certainly come across a few. Think about those websites with reams of tiny hard-to-read text, un-clickable links and difficult-to-follow horizontal scrolling.

Less is usually more when it comes to a mobile interface so feel free to use images and make text snappy and offer your visitor the information they need upfront, don’t make them search for it. If you’re selling a product, then make the checkout process as smooth as possible. Avoid popups that can distract or even annoy customers when trying to make a purchase.