Over 80% of internet browsing is done on a mobile device, and those percentages are only increasing over time. The reasons are many, but the lesson is clear: if you want your eCommerce business to grow, (and of course you do!) your website must be mobile-friendly.
Here are a few ways to do just that.
Responsiveness Is Key
Websites can detect whether visitors to your website are visiting from a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. By designing your website so that it allows the layout to change based on the size of the screen visitors are viewing it on, can greatly improve the user experience of your website.
With the right bit of coding, a website can automatically optimize your pages to display on the detected screen size. Best of all? You don’t need to learn to code to take advantage of this responsiveness.
As mobile internet usage has increased, so too has responsive website template design. If you’re not a professional website designer, using a template with mobile responsiveness already written into the code can save you a lot of time, money, and technical headaches.
Mobile responsiveness also improves a website’s SEO. Search engines look for mobile flexibility as they crawl websites. If they find it, a website is given a higher site index, which increases a site’s chances of being placed in front of a prospective customer. As any good eCommerce SEO agency will tell you, moving your website up the search engine ranking is the first step to increasing sales.
An adjustment that makes both search engines and human users happy? That’s SEO gold!
Be Mindful of Sizes
Have you ever been frustrated by a button too small to tap while browsing the internet on your mobile device? Were you taken to a page you weren’t intending to visit because a pair of links were so close together? Do you find yourself zooming excessively just to make the text large enough to be read? When you’re optimizing your eCommerce website for mobile users, large buttons and legible fonts are your friends!
Here are a few key things to keep in mind as you scale your design for mobile use.
First, the recommended font size for viewing text on mobile is at least 14 pts. There are also a number of font styles that are considered standard web fonts that are easily legible on screens. While they may not be as visually interesting as some fonts, remember that your goal is to engage your visitors and provide information. The best way to do that is by making sure they’ll have no difficulty reading your content.
As for links and buttons, spacing is key. Not only should your “tap targets” be large enough to be easily touched with a finger, but they should also be far enough from other links that users won’t accidentally click one link instead of another.
Want a good tip for placing buttons? The center of the page is a visually attractive design choice, but the most ergonomic, click-friendly place to put a button for mobile users is actually on the bottom of the page, opposite the thumb. Keep this in mind when designing for mobile and increase your CTA engagement!
Keep the Design Simple
Launching your eCommerce website is an exciting endeavor. It can be tempting to lay out a bunch of information all at once to get your customers hooked.
As you decide on the content you’re going to use on your website, however, keep two things in mind: clutter and scrolling. Too much clutter can lead to your users overlooking important information. Too much scrolling can lead to fatigue. Both things can lead to mobile users leaving your page entirely.
Go through your mobile pages with a fine-toothed comb and scale the information down to the most essential. By keeping things short and sweet, you keep your visitors engaged with the information you provide.
A simple design can also help with your website load speed, another thing that search engines monitor as they crawl a website. A quickly loading website tells search engines that your pages are well-optimized for an improved user experience, which can move your website up the search rankings.
Evaluate Your Mobile Friendliness
Not sure where to start? Don’t worry! There are a number of responsive design checkers that can evaluate your website for responsive design and give you a detailed breakdown of what needs adjusting. These mobile-friendliness tests will allow you to check your site’s responsiveness and appearance not just on mobile phones, but on a number of different screen sizes, so you can be sure your website is geared to every possible browser.
As you adjust your pages for mobile-friendliness, keep in mind that there will be some users who actually prefer to use the desktop version of your website on mobile. While it might not look pretty, if it’s what users prefer, then giving them the option to do so will keep them on your site and engaged with your business. As long as this is just an option and not a default, your mobile-friendliness won’t take a hit.
Optimizing your eCommerce website for mobile will take time and attention to detail, but it’s an endeavor worth investing in. With so many people turning to their mobile devices as their primary internet browsing tool, the potential returns are huge.
