Are you reaching your audience on mobile?

By John

There’s no denying that your audience is on mobile.  This is a very important point to take note of because one needs to craft a strategy that incorporates valid mobile touch points that help the user on his customer journey.

For example, if you are a restaurant it is very important to note that many searches that are restaurant-related happen on the day that the customer wants to visit the actual restaurant.  More than that, Google even indicates that some searches are done within 2 hours to half an hour of visiting the establishment. We also told that people browsing and searching from home are more bound to be using a tablet whilst those who are on the go are on a smaller device.

What does this tell us about the strategy that a business needs to use?

  1. Website and business owners need to sit down with their website statistics regularly and understand on which devices their content is being consumed. This can lead to salient decisions like usage a lot of splash images for the tablet version of the website and functionality for the mobile being more focused on speed.
  2. A very important Web design consideration is having a responsive layout that fits and adapts to the different gadgets that abound in the technological jungle. A responsive design still needs to be aesthetically pleasing and saying the right kind of things about the brand. Tied with this is the fact that mobile site navigation needs to avoid awkward finger movements, as not all our users have finger dexterity. Simplicity goes a long way to enhance usability.
  3. A website is only useful if it provides the essentials functionality that lets the user communicate, engage or get a service. Clear calls for actions, quick links to telephone (after all we are talking about a mobile device) along with easy-to-use functions are a must. For example, if you have a booking facility on the mobile website, use simple calendars and where possible auto-fill details implemented during Web development.
  4. Don’t forget the importance of local searches, i.e. when the user is making a search and he or she is in close proximity to your store, your office or your place. Make sure that you have put the right kind of local markers of your website and Social Media presences. To this add customer reviews as this will help the site visitor in ultimately checking you out or not.

Whilst effective Search Engine Optimisation involves a network of factors, years ago we were already advocating that a mobile site is needed because not having a mobile site meant that you could get an adverse ranking by Google Search Engine. That still holds, but we’re hoping that’s a phase that you as a business have already come to terms with.