A mobile-friendly website is a way to gain the appreciation and loyalty of the great number of users of mobile devices. It’s expected that by 2019, 67.1% of the world's population will use mobile phones, 52.5% of which will be smartphone users. If you compare this to the statistics from previous years, we can see a strong growing tendency towards mobile. It’s natural, as mobile devices are like small moveable computers with Internet connection and are always within your reach. Thus, a website optimised for mobile devices is a must-have for you. Find out how a mobile-friendly website can contribute to your business success and how to make a website mobile-friendly.
Reasons why website should be mobile-friendly
Mobile-friendly websites have higher pageviews per visit and lower bounce rates
Great mobile user experience is a key. If your website displays beautifully on small devices without a need to zoom, loads fast and has a convenient navigation for mobile, then visitors will be encouraged to spend more time on it, moving from page to page, learning more about your business and having more of a chance to converse. Providing mobile-friendliness is one of the most effective ways to keep visitors on websites longer. People are more likely to stay on a website that is easy to use and are less likely to leave it, which means for you that a mobile-friendly website reduces your bounce rate.
Mobile-friendliness contributes to customer loyalty
If people are satisfied with the interaction with your website and get a positive impression about it, then they want to keep coming back to it and use it again and again. And vice versa: after having a negative mobile experience 62% of users are less likely to purchase from a website in the future. So even users who made a purchase one time from a website that is not mobile friendly won’t be interested in maintaining long-term relationships with this brand. Making a website mobile-friendly is a way to gain loyal customers who bring more revenue than new ones.
Mobile-friendly website is highly evaluated by search engines
Search engines used to show different results for mobile search and for search made from desktops. So if your website isn’t optimised for mobile devices, then it will be hard for mobile users to find it and use it. However, there is no strict separation between desktop and mobile users, as you may think.
In November 2016 Google decided to provide one mobile-first index for both desktop and mobile search. This means that if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, then don’t expect it to be ranked highly even for desktop search results.
This is fair, as it takes into account that the same people often surf the Internet through different devices. So if a computer user switches to smartphone to continue working with a certain website and becomes disappointed with its bad mobile experience, than there is no reason to rank this website highly for desktop queries. That is why the most popular search engine has shifted its focus towards mobile-friendliness, making search results more relevant.
To make your website prepared for mobile-first index, implement a responsive design, AMP or dynamic serving.
Mobile-friendly website design attracts more users
As mobile devices have smaller screens than desktop computers, your website theme should be able to adapt easily to any screen sizes. Mobile users don’t want to scroll horizontally or zoom to use your content. 57% of users will not recommend a poorly designed mobile site, so you’ll lose unsatisfied users along with a chance to get good word of mouth and website sharing.
Check how your website looks to your mobile audience with the help of free responsive design testing tools. If you discover poor responsiveness, then use the benefits of responsive web design implementation for your business to make your layout display well on every model of smartphone and tablet.
Mobile users and search engines want your pages to load as fast as possible
Besides beautifully displaying the layout, the loading speed on mobile devices should also be a matter of high concern. No one likes to wait and 53% of mobile users abandon sites that load for longer than 3 seconds. This means that with every second delay you lose your potential customers who will prefer your competitors’ fast loading websites. Your efforts for providing unique content and amazing design won’t be justified if very small audience will view it just because users refuse to wait for your pages to load completely.
Page load speed is also one of the ranking signals. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), designed specially to accelerate loading time for mobile devices are marked with a lightning sign and are shown higher on the SERP for mobile search. Besides implementing AMP, you can use other ways to increase your website load speed.
Mobile devices are commonly used for researching products before a purchase
Before buying a certain product, users want to compare the assortiment and prices offered on different online shops to make the most lucrative decision. Statistics show that 69% of users worldwide of age 18-39 research products from mobile devices.
While it is more convenient to fill in web forms with personal and sensitive data on a computer, it is more convenient to scroll product pages on the go. That’s why studies show that people usually use mobile search to make up their minds about the product they want to buy and then switch to desktops to complete a purchase. However, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, users can’t find it on the mobile search result page and you lose a chance for them to make a purchase decision in your favor.
Bottom line, your website should be mobile-friendly. So don’t delay optimising your website for mobile devices. Our web experts have experience in implementing responsive design and AMP, optimising website load speed, providing search engine optimisation and other services. Contact us to have a top-notch mobile-friendly website.
