Having a mobile-friendly, or mobile optimized, website is a necessity for businesses of any size. A 2012 Google survey found that a whopping 61% of visitors were likely to leave a site if it wasn’t mobile-friendly. Today, with 1.2 billion people accessing the web from mobile devices and 80% of all internet users on a smartphone, having a mobile optimized website is more important than ever.
When people access a website on a mobile device and the site isn’t mobile optimized, they are more likely to click off – about 61% of them, to be more specific. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, you have probably already lost business. So what’s the solution?
Responsive Websites
While a mobile-friendly website is necessary for your business, it’s important not to forget your desktop and laptop visitors as well. The best way to accommodate both types of users is with a responsive website.
A responsive website recognizes what device is being used to access the site and formats the website accordingly. This way, desktop and laptop users can experience the desktop site and a smartphone user can experience the mobile site without any difficulties for either group.
This is especially important because mobile users will often switch to a desktop or laptop when they have decided to make a purchase or to explore a website further. A user needs to be able to seamlessly change from mobile to desktop (and vice versa) without experiencing any issues with usability.
So we know that we need a mobile-friendly website and how to make one. Next, let’s discuss why you need one.
Top 4 Reasons Why You Need a Mobile Optimized Website
1. Online Shopping
Mobile users are the biggest spenders when it comes to online shopping and e-commerce sites – more than desktop or laptop users. Tablet users have the highest average transaction value of any device. If your website includes online shopping, you need to be mobile-friendly to be able to accommodate these users that come to your website to spend money. Sixty-seven percent of people are more likely to make a purchase on a website that is mobile-friendly. Can you afford to be missing out on these customers if you only have a desktop website?
2. Improve Your Google Ranking
Google recognizes which websites are mobile optimized and which are not. If a website isn’t mobile-friendly, Google is less likely to display it as a legitimate search result. Google seeks to provide the most relevant and useful results to users, so it doesn’t make sense to display a result that is useless to mobile users. If you want to increase your organic ranking, having a mobile-friendly website is necessary.
3. Mobile Users Behave Differently
Mobile users behave differently than those using a desktop or laptop. They consume a much higher amount of visual media – applications like Instagram and Vine are proof of this. To capture this type of traffic, you need to make sure you’re providing the right platform that’s mobile optimized.
Social media is also a key point for mobile users, so something like adding a large social media ‘share’ bar would be a great way to engage mobile users. You can’t expect a desktop user and mobile user to behave the same way, so you need to provide different websites for both of them.
4. Customers Are On the Go
Anyone with a smartphone knows the convenience of being able to quickly search on the go. On the bus, between meetings, while waiting for a friend – people spend a few minutes at a time looking up information. With a mobile-friendly site, you can provide this information to them quickly. If a mobile user is on a desktop site, they won’t be able to find the information easily and will click off to another website that’s better suited to their needs.
You want to be able to convert these users into customers by providing information clearly and quickly on a mobile optimized site.
So what are you waiting for? If your website isn’t mobile optimized, you are missing out on customers. VivosWeb can create mobile websites and responsive websites so you can make the most out of both types of users.
Contact us to increase your mobile conversion today!
Phone: 1 (905) 574-1010
Email: [email protected]
