5 Facts Every Business Needs to Know About the Mobile Revolution

 

As a result of this dramatic change, brands are starting to adapt their strategies to fit the needs of the growing number of consumers who have gone mobile. Those who fail to do this risk missing out on an increasingly important business channel.

 

One way of preparing for the mobile shift—perhaps one of the best ways of doing this—is for businesses to optimize for mobile using Responsive Web Design (RWD). RWD is a web design method that automatically adapts the rendering of a web page according to orientation of the device or screen size. Its seamless integration guarantees a good user experience and also helps avoid the costly mistake of creating multiple websites for each device.

 

 

Here are five facts that show how significant the ongoing consumer shift to mobile is, why it is important for retailers to adapt quickly by providing a mobile-friendly customer experience, and how implementing RWD is a solution makes that achievable.

 

 

According to Comscore 78 percent of mobile searches and 64 percent of tablet searches for local business information result in a purchase, while only 61 percent of PC/Laptop searches result in a purchase. The key takeaway from this statistic is that mobile searchers are more likely to convert than both PC and tablet searchers. Since this is the case, it is critical that local businesses optimize their website for mobile viewing. To entice these searchers to convert to leads and customers, some businesses are providing advantages to mobile users such as giving a free gift or providing a discount code. Combining gifts like these with an RWD website is a surefire way to provide mobile consumers with a fantastic user-experience that will likely result in more leads.

 

 

56 percent of the time consumers spent with online retailers throughout 2014 occurred on a mobile device, according to the 2015 Internet Mobile Retailer 500. This means when a consumer is browsing your website, it is more likely that he or she is accessing it from a mobile device, rather than a desktop computer. This statistic supports the notion that optimizing a website with RWD is not only recommended, but necessary if businesses hope to reach their full potential in the modern age. Providing consumers with a single-view desktop website is likely to drive them away given how difficult it is to navigate such websites on mobile devices, especially if they have to do tedious things like pinch and zoom to navigate.

 

 

As recently as 2010, less than 3 percent of e-retail site visits occurred on mobile devices, since then, there has been a growth of 2000 percent, according to U.K. e-retail association Interactive Media In Retail Group. Mobile is already taking over e-commerce and is, believe it or not, still gaining momentum. Mobile commerce sales are expected to increase by 32 percent in 2015, according to eMarketer. Expect this upward trend to continue as mobile browsing becomes speedier and more practical for consumers looking to make purchases. If companies hope to find success, then presenting these consumers with a consistently designed, simple to use, and easily navigable mobile site is key.

 

 

A study by SEOcial found that 90 percent of consumers use multiple device screens sequentially, meaning that Omnichannel anticipates that customers may start their buyer’s journey using one device and move to another as they progress towards their purchase. Therefore, businesses should focus on providing a seamless customer experience across all channels if they want to thrive in this new multi-device e-commerce environment. Responsive Web Design is arguably one of the best ways that businesses can do this because no matter which device consumers choose to use to begin, continue, or complete their buyer’s journey, the website adapts accordingly.

 

 

2015 will be the biggest year for mobile yet. A recent report by Digi-Capital estimates that venture capitalists invested $4.2 billion in mobile commerce between Q3 2013 and Q3 2014, compared to the $1.2 billion invested in 2013 and $829 million in the previous two years combined. Technology itself is adapting to the rise of mobile.

 

Phone sizes are growing and mobile internet speed continues to increase. These two factors make mobile devices more convenient and attractive than ever for making purchases. As the smartphone/tablet revolution continues, one thing is for sure: businesses need to optimize for mobile to be successful in the digital age.