It's All Digital

Mobile Matters
The question of whether to create a mobile-friendly website isn’t a matter of if ­— it’s a matter of when.

By Michelle Simakis

Nikki Weed, a horticulturist and manager of South Pleasantburg Nursery in South Carolina, was sightseeing in Europe with her boyfriend and his brother. She was far away from her job, but she couldn’t help but think of work.

With every destination decision, her boyfriend’s brother didn’t leave travel plans to chance — his fingers danced as he browsed reviews and scrolled through addresses and phone numbers on a smart phone that he referenced so much it could have been considered an accessory. And each time he landed on a website that was not mobile-friendly, he quickly abandoned it.

The text was too small. He had to maximize the screen just to read the information, let alone accurately click the hyperlink he wanted. It wasn’t easy to find what he needed.

Weed realized that people looking for information about her company may be abandoning her website, too. She decided to make it mobile-friendly when she returned.

The decision of whether to build a mobile-optimized website isn’t a matter of if, says Eric Feinberg, senior director of mobile, media and entertainment for ForeSee, which measures and analyzes customer experience through their satisfaction on web, mobile, social media and more for clients. It’s a matter of when.

Why mobile? According to Feinberg, 55 percent of adult mobile phone owners use the Internet on their phones, which is double the number from three years before. Just a few years back, no one used their cell phones to access company websites. That number is about 15 percent today, Feinberg says. And that number is likely to increase.

Websites optimized for mobile phones have large, easy-to-tap navigation bars and text. They load quickly and don’t have a lot of clutter like graphics, photos and videos. Instead of being minimized to fit, the important information is maximized. The language is concise. And if a website isn’t optimized for mobile, studies show that people go elsewhere — to other websites, other businesses.

Mobile-friendly sites aren’t meant to be fancy or elaborate, Weed says. “The whole basis of creating a mobile website is for it to be clear, concise and to the point,” she explains. “I like to think of it as the drive-thru window for your website, for people who don’t have time to sit on a computer and navigate and for people on the go —they like a fast reference.”

Weed says that she included information that she knew people would be looking for on their phones — phone number, address, product information and events. She made sure she didn’t put items that would take a long time to load on the site, such as videos.

When creating a mobile-friendly website, Feinberg suggests business owners keep these tips in mind:

Be discoverable. Make sure people can find you in a Google search, on maps and on Yelp. “Every major destination for local search — Google Maps, Yelp, Apple Maps, etc. — offers businesses the ability provide additional and more valuable information about their services and their brand,” Feinberg says. And it’s usually free. “It might take a little time, but the benefits are immense.”

Create a “call” button. Make sure the mobile website has a button where people can press “call” and your phone number is automatically entered into their keypad. The industry lingo is “quick to call.” DudaMobile offers this. (More on that later.)

Map it for them. Make sure there is a button where someone can simply select “directions” and start a route to your store, or as Feinberg puts it, “tap to map.”

Feinberg also says to remember that not everyone is using the mobile sites while running errands or out and about. “At least half the time, people are lying back on their couch at night, doing research, and they need to have the ability to look at the products,” he says.

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