People like us are always telling people to think of the mobile user.
I know it seems like we are making up just how important this group of people are and it’s easy to assume that it’s only young people using their phones. This, my friends, is the state of the mobile phone user.
Mobile use is ticking up, are you thinking about how your website fits in?
Mobile users are spending time on their phones.
The most frequent thing I hear (usually from older people while I meet with them face-to-face): “It’s only you young people who care about mobile phones.” They have clearly never watched my mom and her friends on their iPhones and iPads. Some facts:
The average user spends 3.3 hours a day on their phone.
85% of people (this is all people, all ages) say that mobile devices are a central part of their everyday life.
60% of social media time is spent on smartphones and tablets.
Mobile users are making purchases.
This is clearly the thing businesses care the most about and as much as I don’t want to hit people in the wallets, sometimes that is the way to get people thinking about their website on a mobile phone:
The more consumers are considering a purchase, the more likely they are to use their smartphones to find product information and reviews.
67% of shoppers were more likely to buy from a mobile-compatible website.
37% of consumers are more likely to buy from mobile-optimized websites.
67% are shopping online and 43% are planning a trip on their mobile phone.
Most websites fall short for the mobile user.
So if up until now, you’ve kept your head down and pretended that mobile users don’t exist, for awhile that was fine… but now, it’s giving people not only a reason not to make a purchase but to have a bad taste in their mouth about your brand:
73% of users accessed websites on mobile devices (only 20% of companies have mobile optimized websites).
88% of online consumers won’t return to a website after a bad mobile experience.
55% of companies are currently conducting user experience testing. (85% of user experience problems can be solved by testing with 5 users.)
87% of Fortune 500 companies have an easy to find search field on the homepage of their website.
27% of consumers will leave if you don’t have a mobile-optimized website.
Am I saying this because I am a jerk who wants to scare you? Of course not! I just want you to think about your mobile user, who wants to buy things from you and like you!
So do yourself a favor and get five people to try out the mobile version of your website and get feedback from them. According to the stat above, that’ll fix 85% of your problems and it’s a relatively simple thing to do.
Sources:
25 User Experience Facts and Stats (SkyhookWireless.com)
73 Smartphone and Tablet Facts Every Marketer Needs (Heidi Cohen)