Have you ever wondered why your website isn’t performing as well on mobile devices compared to desktops? If you want to see an increase in conversions, your e-commerce website has to be at the top of its game. Not only does that mean you have to be standing out from your competitors and offering customers exactly what they want, but you have to make sure that they can find what they want easily too. It’s all about creating an enjoyable and trustworthy shopping experience for your users. Once you’ve got that cracked, you should see a boost in your online performance.
First Off, What is CRO?
CRO is an important part of digital marketing; it’s about turning website visitors into customers. As a business owner, you’re likely to have a goal in mind when it comes to your website. You may want to sell products, gain email sign ups, or have people complete a survey. Whatever your goal may be, conversion rate optimisation is a way of ensuring the action is achieved successfully.
The conversion rate you’re looking at reveals the percentage of your website’s total traffic completing a specific goal. In this case, the higher the better. If the percentage is low, some CRO may be necessary. This involves optimising your website in a way that should help to improve conversions.
Below are some CRO tips specifically for mobile websites. For a more general approach, read this blog: https://www.colewood.net/blog/cro/20-tips-to-increase-your-websites-conversion-rate/
Go Fast or Go Home
One of the most important things to think about when trying to improve mobile conversions is speed. If you think a website is loading slowly on a desktop, load time on a mobile device or tablet will feel like an age. Now that’s not necessarily because anything is different, but we currently live in a day and age where we expect everything to work quickly, no matter where we are.
The best thing about having a mobile-optimised website is that people can use their handheld devices to visit your website at all times; whether it’s in the local coffee shop or while out for a walk. Users want to be able to access content without waiting around for it. If the page they are trying to visit hasn’t loaded within a couple of seconds, the chances are that they’ve already started to switch off. Users can notice a delay in page load speed if it takes longer than 1 second. Anything over this will just result in frustration.
Improve the Navigation
Can you imagine the exact navigation you have on the desktop version of your website on a mobile device? The chances are you’re picturing something different. If users can’t easily navigate your mobile site, conversion rates are likely to be low.
In many cases, instead of being displayed horizontally under the header, the main navigation will be vertical and accessed via a dropdown menu. The dropdown menu that pops up on mobiles is often used as a way to keep the design uncluttered and make it easier for users to complete searches.
Better Design, Better Images
Though your website looks beautifully well built and aesthetically pleasing on a desktop, it may not be the same on mobiles. It’s important to remember that not all desktop designs will work on mobile devices, so you may have to tweak a few elements so that it has the same impact on customers. Having a responsive website allows for a positive user experience.
If you have the same website on a desktop and hold the mobile version up next to it, it should look the same with a few slight changes. This could be anything from smaller text to prevent web copy taking up the entire screen space to larger buttons, making them easier for people to click on.
You’ll also want to make sure that the imagery you’re using is of a standard recommended for mobiles. If they’re too large, they’ll increase the amount of time a page takes to load. On the other hand, if they’re too small, people will struggle to see them, which could turn them off.
Build Trust with Your Audience
Showing that you’re a brand to be trusted is an important part of the buying cycle. If website visitors can see that you’re a trustworthy source, they are much more likely to complete the desired action.
Building trust on mobile devices is much the same as how you would on desktops, but it’s about making sure those features are in a prominent position. It’s no good having your 5-star reviews and accreditations being pushed to the bottom of the page because of the way the responsive design works. You’ll want to make sure that it’s obvious to customers that you offer things like secure checkouts and money-back guarantees too.
Highlighting these points by enlarging them, having them next to the product, or using a different colour to make them stand out can all have a positive impact on conversions. These will all help to build trust among your users.
Top tip: Having a “Tap to Call” button can massively boost trust signals. People like to know that there’s a real person they can speak to if something goes wrong or if they need a quick question answering. Just make sure that if you’re going to use this function, you have a call centre or customer service team who will be ready to take a call.
Make it Easy to Checkout and Pay
You’ve done the hard work and got customers to add what they want to their cart, but now what? If they’ve got this far and can’t figure out how to make a purchase straight away, it won’t take them long to turn elsewhere.
Not being able to make easy payments on mobile devices can be a conversion killer. And if errors keep occurring while people are trying to fill in their details, they’ll quite often end up abandoning the cart.
You should also let people pay with as many methods as possible while making it obvious what you accept and what you don’t. Showcase the cards you accept and whether people can pay via PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.
Trial these Tips with Split Testing
By making a few alterations to the mobile version of your website, you’re sure to notice a rise in conversions. If you’re ever unsure of any change, why not try A/B testing to see how users react to the differences? This method allows you to simultaneously experiment between two or more pages, allowing you to identify which has a higher conversion rate.
