Give Them What the People Want: Enhanced Mobile Features
If you are a smartphone user, you realize the importance of being able to access sites that are well optimized for your smaller screen. For those sites that aren’t, it can be frustrating and not even worth your time. More and more companies are now recognizing how critical it is to make their websites user friendly for mobile devices. There are several features that companies should take the time to consider implementing into their site. Mobile users not only expect, but demand an efficient experience.
Create Better Contact Forms - With a mobile website, contact forms should be just long enough to collect the relevant information. As well as being short and concise, the form should have large fields so that the user won’t have to pinch and zoom out in order to complete it.
Easy Navigation - Mobile devices are small, so it’s key that your navigation website is easy to access. Your most important actions should be right there on the homepage, easily accessible to users (i.e. services/products, contact information, etc.). If you have a collapsible menu, a user will simply need to tap on a single area to see the main-link options.
Decent Button Sizes - Remember, we all have different finger sizes and your buttons need to be appropriate for those clickable digits. Your call to action is one of the most important features on your website, so make sure your buttons are large and easy to tap. Small buttons are frustrating and hard to use, but will also cost you conversions. People will get fed up and go elsewhere. Button size is recommended at 45-56 pixels.
Map It - It’s always a good idea to add a map to your mobile site and make it easy for people to find you. This creates a simple experience to get directions so that your customers can visit your location and encourage repeat business.
Minimize Lengthy Content - Mobile devices are small, so it can be hard to have to endlessly scroll through content in order to find what you are looking for. Many companies will abbreviate the content on a mobile device and tell users if they need more information to click the link for their regular website. This is fine, however, you can also implement collapsible content. This way you can still present your information, but your site will still look professional, clean, and users won’t have to scroll endlessly to find what they are looking for.
Include Social Media - It’s no secret that social media is a mega marketing tool. It’s smart to consider adding social media share buttons in order to market your brand. You can also consider social login. Quite a few people are unwilling to register for a site, so social login can be a huge bonus because they won’t have to fill out a form.
As more people become adapt at using their smartphones, they will expect more features on mobile sites to make it easy to navigate. Companies who are not willing to take the mobile user into consideration are, over time, going to see their conversions drop.