The Impact of Mobile Optimisation on Customer Engagement
The market of smartphone users is one that is ever-expanding worldwide, with no indication of slowing. As a result, mobile optimisation has become a now non-negotiable component in the success of nearly all businesses apps and websites.
As more people use their phones as their primary device for internet access, it has become a necessity for businesses to ensure that their digital platforms are optimised for mobile viewing and mobile transactions.
By doing so, this enhances the customer experience and is linked to higher rates of customer acquisition and customer retention in the long-term. Read on as we look at the variety of ways in which mobile optimisation can impact customer acquisition, and the importance of successfully optimising in order to stay ahead of your competitors.
Defining Mobile Optimisation
Put simply, mobile optimisation is the process of making your website or app a more user-friendly experience for accessibility on mobile devices. This is done by designing and developing your website and/or app in a way that works seamlessly on different potential mobile devices. This must take into consideration varying resolutions, operating systems and screen sizes.
Studies show that mobile devices now account for over 50 percent of all internet traffic, a figure which has been steadily growing over the years and one we can assume will continue to increase. This highlights the importance of implementing an accessible and easy user interface for mobile users to find what they are looking for and to complete transactions or tasks on their devices.
Website Load Speed & User Experience
When we look at mobile optimisation, website load speed and user experience are very much interlinked. It doesn’t come as a surprise that a slow-loading website is likely to frustrate users, which could lead them to abandon the site in favour of a more engaging and high-speed website.
We often talk about site-speed as a major SEO ranking factor, as this has been confirmed by Google on numerous occasions.
“Like us, our users place a lot of value in speed – that’s why we’ve decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings.” – Google, April 2010
However a fast-loading website, particularly one that is easy to use and navigate, is also far more likely to keep customers engaged as it enhances the user experience. In this instance, mobile optimisation actually has a direct impact on the load speed of the site as it involved the optimisation of images, reduction of file sizes and the minimisation of the use of heavy graphics and animations. This aids in developing a website that loads quickly and runs smoothly – even on slower or potentially unreliable mobile networks.
Website load speed also affects the user experience by creating a more seamless navigation that is intuitive with the actions of the user. In doing so, you are creating an easier user experience by helping them to find what they’re looking for with a simple, engaging and readable user interface.
The Importance of Responsive Design in Mobile Optimisation
A very fundamental part of mobile optimisation is the responsiveness of the app or website’s design. This involves designing and developing a website or app in a way that is adaptable to the screen size and resolution of the device it is being accessed on. The primary ways in which the site will be accessed will be on a desktop, tablet or smartphone – therefore this should be taken into consideration when creating the design.
The goal is a responsive design to ensure that it provides a consistent user experience across different devices. When we look at a design with poor responsiveness, we see users struggling with issues such as small text, difficulty with navigation or content that is cut off on the screen. This can be a very frustrating experience for a user, which ultimately leads to decreased engagement and lower conversion rates.
Another factor is how a responsive design makes it easier for a business to establish and manage their online presence – by doing so, they only need to maintain one version of the site instead of separate versions for different devices. By having a successfully responsive design, it saves time and resources and ensures that the website remains up to date.
Increasing Customer Engagement and Conversions through Mobile Optimisation
We have now explored the high-level factors of how mobile optimisation plays a vital part in the increase of customer engagement and conversions. By creating a well optimised mobile website, you are far more likely to keep the visitors engaged and reduce the levels of churn.
When providing seamless and intuitive navigation, it is naturally going to improve the user experience, which in turn makes it more likely that the visitors will remain on the site for longer, thus increasing the chance of customer acquisition.
The long-term impact of mobile optimisation on customer acquisition is huge. It aids in businesses attracting and retaining customers, improves the user the experience and increases the levels of engagement and conversions. No aspiring business can succeed without it.
