Improving the Mobile Experience for Your Customers
Posted on by Timothy Boyle
Mobile technology is still a relatively young form of media, so it is no wonder that the platform has not been mastered in regards to marketing, advertising, and even functionality. As more and more research is done, and results of various experiments trickle in, these things will likely all soon be perfected. Because we are not yet at that point, it would be good to learn from recently compiled information, with a focus on the functionality issue.
Functionality of the mobile platform is important to ensuring consumers are able to accomplish their goals upon visiting your mobile space. Whether this means making a purchase, finding information, comparing products, or enjoying some form of entertainment, functionality is vitally important to ensuring the happiness and desired outcomes of the consumer.
Using the recently released Adobe 2013 Mobile Consumer Survey, we can focus on what is generally seen as needing improvement by the average consumer.
When asked the question “If you could say one thing to a media service provider to improve the experience using its mobile website, what would it be?” the answer that was named the most was “improve ease of use,” with some 25% answering in this way. What this tells us is that many consumers wish their online experience could be made easier. Inferring from this, we can then determine that a more simplified site is needed; something a mobile optimized site will most certainly do for you (interestingly though the same survey shows a slight edge given to desktop sites over mobile in preferred use—though this is skewed towards older people—so perhaps some people aren’t really sure what they want?).
The second choice of those surveyed was that of “improved speed,” coming in at a 19% clip, some 13% higher than the third most common answer. So one in five people think the most important improvement that could be made is increasing the speed of said site. How can this be done? A mobile optimized site of course. Less information on the site means quicker download speeds.
Since these two choices were ranked one and two, and were far and away the two most important improvements survey respondents thought should be made, it would would be smart for every mobile media provider out there to focus on improving the ease of use of their sites as well as increasing the speed of said site. Do these two things and the functionality of your site will improve, and in turn will only help in ensuring your customers are happy and your company goals are met.
Using a platform that ensures a well designed mobile optimized site, analytics, and the rest, is a good place to start on your road to perfected functionality.
