As more and more people are on mobile, there is no doubt that e-commerce owners need to embrace a mobile-first mindset. This means that you should consider how a web page would look on mobile-first.
Who knows? Someone who is willing to pay hundreds of dollars on your product is navigating the mobile version of your online store. Otherwise, not optimizing your e-commerce site for mobile is as good as driving your customers away.
To capture your customers and drive sales, here are the ten tips on how you can design a mobile-friendly e-commerce site:
1. Use mobile-responsive themes
The first step is to pick a mobile-responsive theme or template. Having a mobile-responsive design is essential.
For instance:
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Squarespace: This is an excellent platform if you're planning to build your site from scratch. More so if your priority is delivering a mobile experience.
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Wix: While all templates are mobile-responsive, you might have to check in with the mobile view as you go. Wix sites are highly customizable. Big changes don't always translate seamlessly and might take a little bit of tweaking.
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If you're developing a site using a CMS like WordPress, ensure that the theme you pick to build your site is mobile-responsive. On the other hand, switch to a mobile-friendly design theme if you already have a website.
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What you can do is look up "responsive themes" in WordPress' theme library or other third-party sites. Ensure that you read the reviews and lookup sites using this theme from your mobile popup
to gauge your experience.
2. Make images and CSS as light as possible
- You should also make your site as light as possible. What does this mean? Well, every element in your website has its virtual weight.
- Since Google has made it clear that a site's speed is a crucial ranking factor, slow or heavy sites quickly lose out to their competition.
- So, when it comes to mobile, it's all about knowing and prioritizing what's more important.
3. Offer a clear and straightforward navigation
- Similarly, your site's navigation plays a crucial role in deciding its responsiveness and user experience.
- Remember that the primary difference between desktop and mobile is the screen size. Just because the navigation menu looks great on desktop devices doesn't mean it's the same on mobile.
- According to Sytian Web Developer Philippines, "You might have to condense your navigation menu to make it look streamlined and easy to use."
- An excellent way to condense your navigation is to place a single menu icon that opens to a dropdown menu whenever tapped. You should also ensure that this is consistently positioned on your site. That way, driving your customers will always know where to find it.
4. Include AMP-supported pages
- AMP, also known as Accelerated Mobile Pages, is an open-source project that Google supports. It aims to decrease the page-loading tie on mobile pages.
- The AMP-supported page usually has its carousel on Google mobile search results.
5. Implement Progressive Web Application (PWA)
- These are extremely responsive web applications tailored for mobile platforms. PWA can be an excellent alternative for a vast number of native apps.
Here are some of its benefits:
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Provides a quicker release time
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Reduces the communication gap between businesses and customers
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Enhances app visibility
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Improve website speed
- Today, many e-commerce Software sites end up losing hundreds and thousands of dollars since their site fails to load quickly on mobile. However, a single delay in your site causes you to lose a lot of traffic to your competitors. Most shoppers will also abandon your site if it takes more than three seconds to load.
- So, the bottom line here is to make sure that your page loads quickly. You can also test your page's loading speed using Google's mobile-friendly test tool.
6. Avoid flash and too many pop-ups
- Flashes and pop-ups are a significant turn-off for a lot of users. Most of them are frustrated with the constant disturbance of these flashes and pop-ups.
- While an average amount of these pop-ups are bearable, make sure that you don't use too much of this as it can interfere with the user experience.
7. Create clear and specific call-to-action
- Remember that your customer's attention span is already short. Adding bold and concise CTAs will make it stand out from the rest of the page. You should also use contrasting colors for the buttons, and they should be large enough to tap without any difficulty.
- You should also make your CTA text short and sweet. CTAs like "Add to Basket" and "Buy Now" are clear and pretty straightforward. You can even shorten the path to purchase by skipping altogether the "add to cart" step.
- You can integrate a one-click checkout allowing customers to checkout from the product page.
8. Provide an omnichannel experience
- 40% of buyers prefer purchasing from an e-commerce business that provides a personalized and omnichannel shopping experience.
- Your mobile website and app should be in sync with your social media, email, and in-store. Also, engage your customers on all channels.
- Use the information you've gathered to develop a personalized, omnichannel experience for your customers.
9. Ease the checkout process
- One of the essential pages on your site is the checkout page since it will determine whether or not visitors will convert.
- Your checkout page should also be designed for mobile devices. This means that the page should be user-friendly and function the same, whether on desktop, tablet, or mobile.
- The checkout process should also be as smooth and straightforward as possible, with a minimal number of clicks. Moreover, the payment process should be secure so that users will trust you enough to pay online.
- Therefore, implementing a guest checkout page is always a great idea since it reduces the hassle for users.
10. Keep testing
- Even if you've made a mobile-friendly custom e-commerce website, you should test it over and over. Make sure to test it with different devices on your iPhone, Android, or Windows phones.
- You should also test it on different tablets so that the design works properly on all mobile devices.
- As the world becomes more hyper-connected through mobile devices, you must ride the wave. This means optimizing your online store for mobile to ensure that you can cater to various customers, whether they are on a desktop or smartphone.
Author bio:
Juliette Anderson is a freelance web designer who specializes in corporate websites. When not at work, she's busy watching "Organize With Me" videos on YouTube.
