Increase mobile conversion rate for your eCommerce website with these 7 steps.
Due to the boisterous growth in the number of mobile devices, mobile conversion has become of utmost importance to eCommerce website owners. Here are 7 ways to give your website the best chance.
There was a time when PCs and laptops had a complete monopoly over the internet. Browsing on any other device was rare, if not unheard of. Now, with an exponential rise in the number of mobile devices like tablets, smartphones, and mobile phones, the times they are a-changin’. Bob Dylan saw this way back in 1964, but fast forward 50 years, this has become a stark reality. Mobile devices now have an overwhelming browsing and search share, well over 30%. That number will only go north. Upon that, about 15% of sales on eCommerce websites are recorded from mobile devices. There’s still 85% of the market left to capture, and we are going to tell you 7 ways how you can give it a real shot.
- Build a Mobile Website
- Optimize
- Easy Navigation
- Use GPS
- Forms and Caches
- Connect Personally
- Good Content and Social Sharing
Responsive websites are pretty cool, but nothing does it like a dedicated mobile website, especially if you do not have an app for mobile devices. The mobile site should be clean, minimal, and uncluttered. Believe it or not, people actually expect the mobile site to have a better interface than a desktop or laptop site. You should build an attractive website exactly along those lines, as if every page is ready to sell.
This is the most crucial step apart from building the website. And no, optimizing does not begin after you have completed the website. It goes on hand-in-hand (unless, of course, you have already built a website). Optimize it for speed, so that every page loads quickly and uninterrupted. Optimize it for the web, so that Google and Bing are delighted to show your website off on their first page. Optimize it for local search, so that everyone who searches for local things lands up on your website.
You do not want to create a maze. The buyer does not have all day, so make sure that anywhere he wants to get, he gets there within two taps of the finger. Also, make sure you have an advanced search option on the website, enabled with filters. Use prominent Call-to-Action buttons that have “sell” written all over them, but in an attractive and subtle way. And no, don’t take it literally and write “sell” all over it. Make them clean, bold and minimalist with a proper text that tell users what it leads to.
For Google’s sake, embrace technology. A smartphone is called a smartphone for a reason. It presents an ocean of opportunities for those who are “smart”. Use the GPS to ascertain the buyer’s location, and choose the retailer that can get there fastest. Estimate the delivery time based on that. Present local options based on their exact location in real time. Come on, think big but think local too.
How happy would you be if you have to fill in your name, address, phone number, mother’s maiden name, the name of your first teacher and that of your first pet, and a lot more such obsolete validations? If your website asks the users for all this then stop, please. Ask only relevant, meaningful questions. The lesser they have to fill in, the better it is. And store as much information as you can, so that they don’t have to fill in all of that each time. They will thank you for that, and hopefully you’ll thank us in return.
You’re dealing with real humans here (or at least we hope you are), so keep the tone personal with a human touch. Don’t use big-sounding words, use only their first name in messages and emails, and keep a track of their choices and preferences. Give them proper loyalty benefits, one-off discounts, personalized rewards and surprise gifts. This will tremendously increase your up-selling, cross-selling and reselling opportunities.
This is perhaps the most important thing, which is why it the last thing mentioned so it leaves a lasting impression. Write good, unique, descriptive content for products. Write the minutiae and everything the user would like to or even not like to know. But keep it short and give unbiased reviews without beating around the bush. Give customer reviews too. Have attractive, high-resolution photos that are optimized to load quickly. And allow social sharing right from the device. This will do your business a world of “word-of-mouth” good.
Follow these 7 steps to give your eCommerce the best chance to increase its mobile conversion rate. Do you know of other good ways to boost mobile conversion? We’d be happy to hear about them in the comments below.
