New research from Demandforce indicates that by the end of 2013, more people will use a mobile device to access the Internet than will use their PCs. Oddly enough, despite mobile’s rocket like trajectory, a very surprising 90% of websites are not optimized for mobile.
In order to understand what features are important for a mobile site, DemandForce has some great insight as part of their research. Most importantly, 78% desire a quick way to get to the information they are looking for with convenient navigation that requires the lowest number of clicks possible. This is closely followed by 76% who want the web site to fit their smartphone screen better and 74% who want a clean and efficient look and feel. Following just behind that in terms of importance to users, 73% want the ability to save information for future reference. Further down the list they found that 69% want to limit fat finger syndrome by being offered bigger buttons to use.
The problems of not having a mobile-optimized site are quite obvious. Your customers will go elsewhere, feeling frustrated, or feel that your company is not interested in their business. These are all things that can be easily rectified by offering your customers a site optimized for mobile devices. In fact, recent research from Google that states that when mobile users visit a non-optimized website from a mobile device, whether it’s a preferred brand or not, 50% will abandon it. So, by not adopting a mobile web presence, you’re not just turning away new customers, you’re also turning away part of your existing customer base. To make matters worse, 67% are likely to go on to buy from a site that is optimized for mobile devices.
Mobile optimized web sites currently present a terrific opportunity to increase market share over you competitors that are not taking advantage of the opportunity.
In a recent study by Tapjoy, they had found mobile commerce is expected to grow by over an astounding 300% by 2015. While many analysts are starting to focus on the upcoming shopping season where many shoppers will brave the crowds at malls and local stores preparing for the holidays, we are seeing big growth in the number number of shoppers who will turn to mobile applications and mobile web sites for holiday shopping this year – or at a minimum they will be engaging in a great deal of mobile research to assist with their shopping. According to the new study from Tapjoy, 1 in 5 apparel buyers currently uses a mobile app or web site at least daily to buy or participate in research.
Some additional findings by Tapjoy point to explosive growth in the mobile marketplace. A full 54% of Tapjoy’s customers shopped via mobile in the previous six months and 45M smartphone users looked into the shopping app category in June of 2012 with almost half of them using these mobile shopping applications. But beyond just the numbers of users, what is powerful is the frequency of use among them with an average user accessing mobile shopping apps 17 times per month. A very solid 64% of those Tapjoy polled said they are going to make mobile purchases at some point during this holiday season.
Looking at the usage patterns of users while utilizing mobile devices and applications, users are comparing prices 61 percent of the time and accessing promotions/coupons 51 percent of the time for the most active areas of usage. We also see shoppers reading reviews, scanning bar codes and taking pictures of products while shopping.
Mobile deals is a big area to keep an eye on, according to the Tapjoy report, mobile shoppers are smart shoppers and they are looking for deals. Most often they look for free shipping deals, but nearly half also look for coupons or promo deals. One item that is good to note if you are currently planning a mobile application for your business is that less than 10 percent of users view mobile product videos, so don’t worry about video content as it isn’t a key factor and it will can eat up bandwidth quickly.
If you utilize these research factors in helping to plan your mobile application it will help you key in on the areas that will be most productive for your business buy helping you match existing usage trends. Clearly given the explosive growth of mobile applications and mobile commerce, you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you are not yet taking advantage of this crucial medium of communication.
Potential customers regularly ask us whether native mobile applications are the right choice or if they should opt for developing mobile web sites. Often the amount they would need to invest in one vs the other is their prime consideration but we suggest that you look at the usage and demographic of your client base instead.
Mobile web sites are a rapidly growing way to take advantage of internet access which is fueled by improved speeds of wireless access and the the higher capabilities of modern smart phones. The purpose of a mobile web site is to provide fast information to customers on the go. If your user base will need to access data while on the go but not necessarily on a regular basis a mobile web site is a great choice. A perfect example of this would be for a automotive repair shop that customers may need to look up when their car breaks down out on the road.
IAB has found that a full 61% of customers who visit a website that isn’t mobile-friendly from their smart phone will leave the site to visit a competitor. When considering this single fact the cost of a mobile web site can seem trivial. Often its best to build a mobile web site for purposes like this and native mobile applications for purposes more in tune with the advantages they offer.
It’s important to see the big picture when it comes to smart phones and the mobile web. By 2013, trends suggest there will be more internet-connected mobile devices than people and mobile devices will provide access to over half of the world‘s internet users by 2015.
These trends clearly illustrate that investing in a mobile friendly web site now will pay off for years regardless of whether you have native mobile applications built or not. The best course of action is to develop parallel strategies for the mobile web and mobile applications that take advantage of each mediums strengths are unique characteristics.