How to Optimize Your eCommerce Website for Mobile Sales

Over 57% of shoppers shop online and only 12% find it a good experience, learning how to optimize your eCommerce website for mobile sales could mean a huge boost in revenue.

Why is it Important to Optimize your eCommerce Website for Mobile?

With Google giving priority to mobile optimized pages and mobile sales increasing each year while desktop sales drop, Web Design for Mobile Platforms is essential.

Introduction

The internet has become the go-to tool for finding anything about anything.

It’s 2021 and the majority of consumers make purchases on their mobile devices. If you want a more in-depth understanding of why it’s important to optimize your eCommerce website for mobile sales, the following information is going to illustrate just that.

The Future of Smartphones

Today’s smartphones have more capabilities than in previous years. In fact, many of them have dual-sided cameras, and are waterproof. While those features are nice to have, smartphone companies are now realizing that people are using these devices on-the-go, and business customers are no exception. As a result, many cell phones have the capability to use the internet, and allow the user to get the information for which they once needed a home computer.

Take, for example, the Google Pixel. It is the first smartphone completely designed by Google. With the touch of a button, and a microphone, you can ask the Google Assistant just about any question, and have your answer in seconds.

This new feature, which some say will revolutionize smartphones, allows the businessperson to get their answers from wherever they are, which speeds up the process, and helps them move forward to other tasks quicker.

The Importance of Mobile Web Design Platforms

But, how does the importance of mobile web design play into all of this?
Because more people are using their devices to access the internet, and the statistics prove it.

In fact, 68 percent of companies have made mobile marketing part of their strategy, and 58 percent of companies have a mobile marketing department. They realize that more people are on-the-go, so reaching them in new ways has become essential.

Mobile users want content that they can read quickly, and easily. So, the site needs to give essential information as soon as the user goes to it. Having the information on the Home page in a easily-readable fashion will inform the user of your site’s purpose right away.

If your site allows the user to purchase something, he or she will probably start looking at it on their mobile device. Piquing their interest now will help keep their interest when they use their computer at home, which will also boost your business.

Small businesses can also benefit from a mobile website. Implementing such a feature will allow current, and future, customers to respond to the call-to-action, and create conversations through comments that were not previously available.

Google Searches

Not only does having a mobile-friendly site give users easier access to your business. It will also improve your Google search ranking. Starting in 2015, Google created a new search engine that considers a site’s mobile capability. As such, the more mobile-friendly your site, the higher it will appear in a user’s search. Of course, this is another way to increase your business’ ability to be viewed.

Mobile Sales Optimization For Your Business

Optimizing your eCommerce website for mobile sales means moving into the world of mCommerce, or mobile commerce. mCommerce is expected to overtake eCommerce, with 72.9% of global purchases in 2021, meaning it’s far past time to optimize your website for mobile. Just because you have a website up and running, doesn’t mean you have optimized for mobile.

Let’s explore what it actually means to optimize for mobile, and how it’s critical in 2021.

What Items do You Need to Optimize for Mobile Sales?

You know when your eCommerce website is optimized for mobile when you can pull up your site on a mobile phone without any text, buttons or information being cut off.

Sites that are not optimized for mobile have large sections of text, pictures and even information fields or buttons cut off, making it impossible for users to read your descriptions or purchase your product using their mobile phone. Long story short, mobile optimization means fast-loading, intuitive and user-friendly operation.

There are many elements you must consider when adopting a mobile optimization strategy, including:

• Image and Video Loading – this should be fast (1 second optimal) and should have no portion of the screen cut off.
• Text Visibility – all text is visible and easy to read, with no formatting issues.
• Page Loading Speed – page should load within 1 second, with no waiting or glitches.
• Clickability – all buttons are visible on the screen at all times.
• Use of Pop-Ups – telling customers where they are in the process, and clearly showing customers exactly what they are ordering and paying for.
• UI/UX – easy to use user interface, without glitches or long-load times.

4 Pillars to Optimize Your eCommerce Website for Mobile Sales: 

1. Responsive, Eye-Catching Website Design

Website design means a great deal, as poorly designed websites are hard to navigate, and simply unattractive.

Your site is the face of your business, and you must ensure customers know from the jump, that you have an eye for quality. You may have the best product on the market, but if your site is sloppily designed and difficult to use, or simply not aesthetically pleasing, this is the impression you are giving to your potential customer. Even if you have a fantastic site and product, if your mobile users are pulling up your site to see old drop-down menus and infrequently updated information, they will likely choose to patronize a more inspiring company with a better website.

2. User-Friendly Navigation

Navigation of your site should be easy and intuitive. For example, if a customer has chosen a product, but can’t find it on your site, they will simply go to another site. Businesses who have not optimized their site for mobile will have buttons, information and critical elements cut off or hidden behind other information. You must make sure your site is easy to navigate by anyone, regardless of their technical skills and what device they are using. Consider using a top navigation menu, to improve the operation of your user interface, or offer additional search boxes for customers who feel lost or need help finding an area of your site. You can also consider trying nearshore call centers, to ensure your customers are satisfied with efficient and responsive customer service.

3. Fast Website Load Times

We all know how frustrating it is to choose a site and product, only to need to wait for the site to load. Customers typically won’t stand for long load times, as they indicate that the site is poorly managed. With so many other sites that load immediately and sell the same products, you can’t expect customers to stick around. When you have not optimized for mobile, your site will take longer to load, as your phone needs to make automatic calculations on how to show the screen. By letting your individual customer phones make the decision on how to display your information, you are losing out on potential sales and customers.

4. Intuitive Checkout Process

This part of the purchase process should be the easiest thing your customer does all day. Your site should lead customers through the process, step-by-step, making all products, costs and shipping information clear. For extra help, consider linking customers directly with a reputable partner link like the USPS Shipping Calculator. This will ensure customers know exactly how much they are paying for shipping (or saving with free shipping), and how long the package will take to reach them after it’s shipped.

7 Data-Driven Ways to Optimize Your eCommerce Website for Mobile Sales

In this next section, we’ll include a great infographic for 7 Easy Data Driven Steps to Optimize Your eCommerce Website for Mobile Sales.

With the constant growth of the internet and the ability to have whatever you want delivered to your doorstep just by the click of a button, eCommerce has easily become one of the go-to method for ordering. Online purchases have reached $204 billion in sales this year alone. Whether you are thinking about creating an online store, or are looking into a more omnichannel business approach, this is the perfect time to start optimizing this revenue stream.

As any supplies can be delivered to your doorstep within hours to a couple of days, eCommerce businesses are racking in the sales. Time has now become more important than money proven through a recent study that found 95% of purchases will be made online by the year 2040.

People are more likely to use smartphones and tablets as compared to desktop devices. More than 94% of the people in USA search for local information on their smartphones. 77% of these searches are made at home or at the workplace (places where you would commonly find desktop computers). This is why optimizing your websites and eCommerce stores is becoming very important.

Check out these 6 Steps for Making Your Online Store Mobile-Friendly in Presentation

Thinking about starting your own online store for mobile may sound like a hefty task, it is rather easy when breaking down each step of the way. If done correctly, your business could be bringing in quite a bit of extra pennies year after year as these platforms continue to grow.

Start by understanding what you would like the end goal to be and who you are wanting to reach, and start by taking baby steps. Luckily, Fundera created an infographic for an easy step-by-step guide including some do’s and dont’s for those wanting to optimize your online store for mobile.

Conclusion

If you haven’t yet optimized for mobile, remember that as our collective reliance on mobile phones increases, you will likely have less traffic and business than sites that have invested in mobile optimization. Customer satisfaction will drop, and you’ll likely see many complaints about the ease of use of your site.

If you want to get detail oriented in focusing on how to optimize your eCommerce website for mobile sales, check out the rest of this blog for insight into landing page design, creating CTA’s that work, product videos and more.

Optimize for mobile today, and show your customers that you care about their needs.