If the sites that I manage are any indication, overall mobile traffic will reach over 50% of web traffic this year with many sites already in that bucket. According to SeeWhy*, Americans spend significant time looking at screens with the mobile phone leading the way (151 minutes daily on average) followed by TV (147 minutes), personal computer (103 minutes), and tablet (43 minutes). Our mobile phones are always on hand to find us answers, research products or nearby restaurants, or simply tell us the time. As efficient, hard working Americans, we often seek to get more done with our days, and often find ourselves using more than 1 device at the same time. In fact, 84% of users use devices while watching TV*.
While almost all of us savvy web marketers can relate to this picture, a shockingly large 45% of companies do not have a mobile website according to Adobe 2013 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey Results. What is producing such a significant disconnect? My hunch is that it all comes down to conversion rates.
It is true that conversion goes up as screens get bigger – anyone who has ever wrestled through a payment page on their phone can tell you that. 80% of users feel nervous about making purchases on the their mobile phone*, but it’s not due to a lack of trust – people are willing to purchase when they have made a decision despite what device they are using at that moment. The resistance to convert is due to fear that these transactions will be horrible experiences. With 45% of companies not even bothering to invest in their mobile presence, this is understandable. More significantly, this fear can be overcome. While conversion rates do get higher as screens get bigger, the gap is closing and consumers are becoming more comfortable purchasing more on their phones. But are we missing opportunity by focusing so narrowly on this last step in the conversion funnel?
As our most used device, mobile phones play a significant role throughout the conversion process. On average, people use 2.6 devices over 5 sessions before making the decision to purchase a product*. That means that users are deciding what to buy and where to buy before they decide to click submit on your payment page, and they are doing so on their tablets and mobile phones. If a user can not navigate your site while users are casually researching during the Thursday night line up, you may have taken yourself off the consideration table long before a decision to purchase is made.
Once you’ve got your mobile friendly website in place, consider reducing even more friction for device-hoppers. Sending an email will allow users to access your product or offer on any device, and it will make it easy for customers to transition as they march their virtual shopping cart right through check out. In effect, an email glues each of these sessions together and provide a seamless experience throughout the conversion process.
*A special thank you for Charles Nicholls for an excellent talk at the Conversion Conference in Chicago this week. Much of the data in this article was provided by his company, SeeWhy.
Worthier Digital 