Technology never stops evolving, and it’s becoming more vital to consumers’ daily lives. While your store displays and multi-channel marketing campaigns are essential to the success of your business at your brick-and-mortar locations, the way customers interact with your brand online also impacts your bottom line.
According to LinkedIn, roughly 70 percent of mobile searches result in an action taken within the hour. Additionally, digital coupons are used 10 times as often as their physical counterpart. Mobile shopping has taken over eCommerce, and the cost for web designers has gone down over the years. For these reasons and more, it’s time to map the steps to a mobile-friendly website.
A second site?
It may seem like redesigning your website will be an expensive and timely endeavor that your business can’t take on right now. If that’s the case, you can purchase a second domain name that’s specifically for mobile use. This isn’t the ideal way to move your website to mobile platforms, but Entrepreneur magazine explained that it’s much better than ignoring the need for a different interface.
The downsides of creating a separate site are that you’re using two different URLs. This can have an effect when it comes to Google ranking and analytics, according to LinkedIn. You would also need a different SEO strategy that’s tailored to your mobile site.
The being said, Entrepreneur recommended building a bland site that links to your main website if you can’t afford a redesign, just to put yourself on the mobile map.
Or a redesign?
The two important terms when it comes to website redesign are “responsive” and “adaptive.” In the beginning of the mobile craze, companies wanted their websites to adapt to the smaller screen of a mobile device. Next, websites were made to respond to computers, smartphones and tablets. Nowadays, independent retailers should have websites that will adapt to whatever device comes down the pipeline next, according to Entrepreneur. If you have the funds to make a change to a responsive site, you’ll be better poised for the future of technology.
So what do adaptive and responsive mean? Adaptive sites tend to be more expensive. These sites sense the user’s device and displays the website accordingly. Responsive design is a bit more affordable, and allows the page’s content and images to adjust based on screen size. When everything shrinks to fit the screen, customers aren’t forced to scroll to the far left and right to see your merchandise.
Retail Minded explained that you need to consider both user experience and user interface in the process. Smaller screens and shorter lengths of time spent browsing means your site should have less content, because customers want to get to the point. Any calls to action should be simple and clickable, and barriers to entry should be reduced or removed. If shoppers are asked to fill out a survey before they can access your website, they may simply abandon the search. Entrepreneur added that large fonts, big buttons and a clean design will lead to mobile success as well.
