With 75 million Americans accessing the Web from mobile phones, your business can’t afford not to provide customers with a seamless browsing experience. Here’s how.
These days, it doesn't just seem like everyone has an iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android phone. Fifty million people in the United States actually do, according to comScore statistics.
"Mobile devices are completely changing the way we interact with information," says Brian Fling, president of pinch/zoom, a mobile and Web application development agency based in Seattle. Fling is also author of Mobile Design and Development. 'All of our past assumptions about how the user interacts with information are being challenged. The trick is for small businesses to leverage the new opportunities of a mobile browsing experience."
Unfortunately, even though many smartphones can view it, your old desktop-ready website won't exactly meet the challenge. A mobile-friendly website is often very much separate from a company's primary online presence. That doesn't mean it's unnecessary. 'The main issue is that consumers today are expecting more out of their mobile experience,' says Jennifer Peper, vice president of Aristotle Interactive, a Web design firm based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Follow this guide to creating a user-friendly, memorable mobile online experience for your customers.
Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly: Determine Your Need
The good news is that developing a mobile website — at least a basic one — isn't as time-consuming or expensive as one might think. A number of online services exist that will quickly create a mobile-friendly version of your existing Web site, and many of them are free. Google Mobile Optimizer is probably the quickest fix, but also the most basic and least customizable. Other solid options are Mippin, MoFuse, Mobify, and WireNode. These services also offer premium paid products that allow for a greater degree of customization.
Others prefer a more hands-on, DIY approach. But unless you are fluent in HTML, you'll probably be in the market for an experienced mobile Web designer. 'At this point we are crossing the threshold where more and more mobile devices can experience rich websites,' says Brian Suda, a software developer with the firm Clara, based in Reykjavik, Iceland. 'It makes sense to spend the time and do it right. A Web designer knows a lot more the ins and outs of mobile.' Whether you use an online service, hire a designer, or (bravely) set out on your own, it's essential to be armed with knowledge of the best practices to follow. That way, you'll know exactly what you want, and you won't waste any time or money.
Dig Deeper: How to Hire a Web Designer.
Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly: Optimize Content for a Mobile Context
The first, and most obvious, challenge is translating the content you have designed for a desktop experience into the much smaller screen size and typically slower performance of a mobile device. (Sure, an iPhone user can view most normal desktop websites, but pinching and zooming in on tiny links may not translate to the best consumer experience.)
'Context is king, not content,' says Cameron Moll, author of Mobile Web Design. 'You have all this great content, but if you haven't catered to the limitations and opportunities provided by the mobile Web, then you're missing the boat. More than anything else, the device itself dictates what the experience becomes.'
Don't know where to start? "Identify the low hanging fruit—the one or two features of your website that would be the most useful to your customer," says Brian Suda. "Ideally, you want to replicate everything available on your website on the mobile version, but start with the most important things first." Single out the features that have the most relevance in a mobile context, but realize that context is unique for each business. For example, an airline might choose a flight status update feature, or information on missing luggage because its customers will most likely be accessing their mobile devices while at the airport. Obviously, the task of picking and choosing the most relevant is easier said than done.
'Probably the hardest thing is trying to put yourself in the head of the user and understand what the user really needs,' Fling says. 'It's a very user-driven media. When we put content on those devices, we have to respect that.' It boils down to really understanding your target customer. For a retailer, a knee-jerk reaction would be simply creating a shopping experience for the mobile user, Fling says. Sometimes, that works, but 'sometimes the customer is expecting a more sophisticated experience,' he says.
Working with Best Buy, Fling saw that the company could provide customers other valuable utilities on the mobile site, such as a tool to alert customers when a store has an item, and to be able to hold it if they do. (That can come in handy on the release day for the latest Twilight DVD.) Once you've focused on a few valuable features for the mobile context, you can trim down the fat in other areas of your website.
'It's really about trying to ask yourself what was it about your business or service that made it successful in the first place,' Fling says, 'and how you can use mobile devices to create a more personalized experience for end users."
Dig Deeper: Six Key Website Design Points.
Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly: Optimize Your Design
