Mobile shopping is booming. And all indications point to that boom only continuing to increase in size. According to statistics, mobile purchases accounted for 11 % of all online sales in 2012. This year, that number is up to 17 % – accounting for close to $40 billion in sales. In another four years, it’s expected that fully one quarter of all online sales will be made from mobile devices. What do these stats mean for you? They mean that if you run an online business and haven’t yet optimized your website for mobile use, it’s time to get moving.
Mobile Optimized Sites Load Faster
If you’re trying to entice users to buy from you, time is of the essence. A website should be able to load quickly, cutting down on lost profits from shoppers who simply don’t have the patience to wait around for your background graphics to load. When you translate that to mobile users, having a site that is not mobile optimized can cause you to lose even more sales. Optimizing your site for mobile devices cuts down drastically on load times experienced on smart phones and tablets, which is one of the crucial components that can make or break a sale.
Mobile Optimization is Cheaper
Let’s face it. Business owners have plenty enough bills to pay without worrying that their website design is going to cost them dearly. When it comes to developing a site that’s also friendly to mobile devices, you have two choices: a mobile optimized site, or a site with responsive design that determines what device the user is accessing it with and automatically renders in the proper format. But responsive design is a lot more expensive and time consuming to develop than a mobile optimized site. If cost of website redesign is a major concern, mobile optimization is a faster, cheaper way to go.
Mobile Optimized Sites Make the Checkout Process Quick and Easy
E-cart abandonment during the checkout process is one of the greatest issues facing online retailers today. One of the main contributors to this is a difficult checkout process. Sites that are optimized for mobile devices make it incredibly simple for users to punch in their credit card information and complete a sale – whereas requiring your mobile users to navigate through a desktop-oriented website on their smart phones can cause the kind of frustration that may result in lots of abandoned sales.
Mobile Optimization Increases Sales Dramatically
According to the data, a whopping 62 percent of online businesses that went the mobile optimization route saw increased sales. This alone should be enough to make every single business owner with a website rethink their overall ecommerce strategy. The bottom line is, you have to ensure that your mobile visitors have good customer experience – otherwise, you risk not only losing the sale but sending them directly to the competition.
The mobile revolution is fully underway. Each day that you delay taking the leap represents another untold number of lost sales.
If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry. It’s not as difficult as you might have been led to believe. The first step to optimizing any website for mobile devices is to hire a developer who can help you achieve your sales goals. Instead of relying on word of mouth or taking your chances on a random developer who may not have the necessary experience, pay a visit Artisan Talent. Here, you can page through the resumes of freelance website designers, mobile app developers, and mobile applications marketing experts to ensure you find the proper match. Contact us to day to learn more.