4 Essential Tips for Effective Mobile Web Design

Google recently reported that a staggering 52% of search traffic comes from mobile devices, and almost half of all online shopping traffic is carried out using tablets and mobile phones. From this data, it’s clear that a modern online business simply must have a design format that caters to this demand. A smart marketer must ensure that their site is responsive, and optimised with the mobile user in mind. Here are four essential tips to ensure that your website is mobile-use friendly.

1. Simplify Menus

Due to the limited size of their screens, mobile devices are not well suited to scrolling through lots of menus and sub-menus. An ideal menu should have a maximum of five items and perhaps a couple of submenus. Start with an overview of the products or services being offered, and use a category or search function to further filter results

2. Shorten Contact Forms

Completing long contact forms on a mobile device is a laborious task, and is the quickest way to lose a customer. Only ask for information essential to the task at hand, and nothing more. As an example: visitors signing up for a newsletter only need to provide their name and email address. All customers will understand that they have to fill in more information in order to make a purchase, however care should be taken to ensure that you are sensitive to your customers time. Streamline the process as much as possible, and if in doubt, A/B test different forms to see which ones work best for you and your customers.

3. Make Use of a Variety of Form Fields

One of the best ways to simplify form fields is to use checkboxes, dropdowns and calendars. These options allow mobile users to search effectively and input information without excessive typing -which is a chore on a smaller mobile device. Returning visitors should be able to use autofill to speed up purchases, and you could consider adding a guest checkout for customers that don’t want to make an account.

4. Contact Details and FAQ’s

Any effective ecommerce site will have a simple way to contact the company and a list of FAQ’s for its users. A mobile friendly site should have a click-to-call facility that is easy to find, and  should have a short contact form and email address. The temptation is just to provide a single method of contacting your business, but avoid this, as many people prefer to use their devices in different ways. Hedge your bets and offer a variety of contact methods, to cater to a variety of different customers. If you have a bricks and mortar business, consider adding a Google Map and directions to show where you’re located. A good FAQ’s page will deal with many customer concerns efficiently and effectively.

If you would like to know more about mobile friendly website design or any other aspect of web design and online marketing, contact us. We are experts in all aspects of effectively promoting and facilitating business online. Get in touch with us here at Dilate, to find out how your business could benefit from our experience.