How to increase sales on mobile
The market trend in the e-commerce world shows that mobile users dominate the site browsing. However, checkout still mostly takes place on desktop computers. It will not be easy to reverse this trend, but the gap between them can be reduced.
The disproportion between platforms results from a few simple features of desktops and their browsers. To increase the conversion rate on mobile devices, you need to improve their performance. Desktops are still the highest in the software hierarchy, which means that most applications and websites are created with desktop browsers in mind. Many functions do not reach the mobile version or are limited. To increase your chances of competing with selling on a desktop computer, you need to facilitate the transaction on a mobile device.
Display customization
It sounds trivial, but many retailers and e-commerce business owners still forget it. The mobile screen, although it has significantly caught up with the display resolution of its stationary cousins, is still much smaller. Many buttons, links and underlying hyperlinks are too small to be convenient to use on a 5-inch screen.
Another cardinal error is messages that go beyond the screen. Or worse, the ability to choose or disable messages that are not available. It is very frustrating when the screen is not big enough to fully display certain content. Even if it’s an advertisement. The first thought of the user is an unflattering opinion about the creators of the website. The second is probably about the correct operation of the website on a desktop computer. If we are lucky, the client will switch to a stationary machine. If not, it will disappear and not come back. The same can happen with elements that fit on the screen, but overlap. The mess that was forming on the phone screen would not happen on the computer screen.
Before you launch the application on the market, test it well. Create a realistic purchasing scenario and ask an uninvolved person to use the application. Let her opinion and the experience of interacting with our store be valuable tips for future changes and modifications.
Speed of action
Another reason why users are reluctant to use mobile or browser applications is the speed of work. This has a direct impact on the conversion rate, as an impatient customer is not willing to shop in the store. It’s worse if we have a lot of competition in the market. We will certainly lose to a store with a similar assortment, but with a more efficient application.
This factor also affects your position in Google’s results. They check the loading time of the page and take it into account when creating rankings. What can I do to check my site speed? The website load speed report is available in Google Analytics. Go from “Behavior” to “Site Speed”. We will then receive a report made of samples of hits in a given period. You can also use PageSpeedInsights or Chrome Lighthouse. They advise on how to improve website loading speed and detailed data with synchronization. WebPageTest.org is a website that not only checks the loading rate, but also compares it with the loading rate of competitors’ websites.
User help
Another part of using a website quickly is automating form filling. Forcing the user to type a lot of information over and over again is the first step to deterring them from shopping. Not to mention the risk of making a mistake, which may result in failure to deliver the parcel to the address indicated.
So what to do to make it easier for the user to enter data? Each field must have the appropriate formatting. The numeric keypad should be displayed in the numeric field and the text keypad in the appropriate language should be displayed in the text field. Automatic Fills have made their way into our browsers for good and have already gained the trust of users, so it’s time to use them. Extracting data from a previous order or data saved in the user’s mobile browser is a great method to save his time. A good way to do this is to limit the required data to the minimum needed to place an order.
There is one more feature that will allow you to speed up the purchasing process. Of course, it is about native payments. Users have learned and trusted the native payment features of Apple Pay and Google Pay. It is worth using them when making payments in your e-commerce store, because finalizing the transaction with a few clicks and without unnecessary confirmations and reaching for the wallet is a huge plus for the customer.
Encourage users to buy
The factors that encourage customers to buy, especially younger ones, are opinions about products from other users. It does not only give a sense of community in choosing the best offer, but also builds the image of a trustworthy company. By using the social evidence that other users provide, we encourage our potential customer to take an interest in the product or help them make a decision in case of hesitation. However, these opinions must be clearly visible. In addition, it is good if there are more than one to make the product look popular. Influencers also have a significant impact on the decision to buy, so adding the ability to connect to Instagram and promotion from large and well-known accounts is also a great move.
Another thing that will entice your customers is proof of the popularity of the product. Information about the number of people who have purchased a given item is a great way to intrigue a potential buyer. Naming the product a Bestseller or stating the number of copies sold in a clearly visible place will certainly encourage the user to consider the offer.
Another way to encourage checkout is to create a sense of some kind of rush. Displaying information about a small number of items in the assortment or the date of the promotion ending soon can help the undecided to make a decision.
Don’t give up on the content
The most important thing is not to allow yourself to overly restrict content in mobile applications. An ingenious approach to display information on a small screen will allow you to maintain a large amount of content and not overload the screen with typos. Many apps and mobile versions give up content, making the product page appear neglected or underdeveloped. The customer will not postpone purchases for later with the intention of viewing the product page on the computer. The content should be the same in the mobile and desktop versions. Product photos can not be inferior in quality on the phone and tablet, as technology allows high definition display even on a small screen.
Positioning is also important. Let’s not neglect the mobile versions only because of the greater challenge in website layout. The customer will certainly not scroll endlessly looking for a product description. He will just give it up.
In addition to basic information about the assortment, its photos and opinions, it is worth creating a network of recommendations. The most common form of this type of advertising is the suggestion of similar products based on other users’ purchases. You can also suggest other articles from the same section or other color and pattern variants.
Mobile shopping is more convenient
A good mobile application will convince even the most die-hard desktop follower. Why not? If it gets the same functions, with the same appearance, the same simple or even easier payment options? It seems much more convenient to shop from a device that is always within reach.
The days spent on browsing desktop websites to get things done are gone. A lot of users of banking applications or consuming video content, such as YouTube or Netflix, switched to smartphones, and until recently it seemed that safe logging into a bank account was only on a computer. If you managed to convince users to watch high definition content on a palm-sized screen, you will surely be able to convince them to buy on a mobile phone. You have to design the application so that it saves the client’s time and does not give way to the desktop version in presenting content.
