Thinking mobile-first is no longer an option for businesses, it’s a necessity. With 58 percent of Brits using their mobiles to shop online, browsing and shopping on mobile has officially taken over more traditional methods. Driven by convenience, mobile shopping has evolved with the introduction of payment facilities such as Apple Pay and one-click checkout creating an intuitive, enjoyable user experience (UX).
The digital revolution is only just getting started and mobile is playing a driving force. Having an effective and affordable way of creating a site optimised for mobile is crucial for business growth. Magento is empowering brands around the globe to build for the future with their mobile eCommerce solutions. Read our recommendations below to find out how you can take a mobile-first approach to your eCommerce business.
Why does mobile-first matter to eCommerce?
Customer satisfaction should be at the core of your business and it’s more than likely that your audience is a mobile-first one. Regardless of how they browse, shoppers expect an exceptional user experience (UX), using a mobile-first approach for your eCommerce website plays a key role in achieving this. Unlike responsive design, mobile-first design encapsulates the complete user-experience. This could include anything from less text, larger fonts, shorter forms, an optimised user interface or faster download speeds to name a few. Using this approach, you can provide your customers with a unique, intuitive and convenient experience placing you ahead of the competition. Providing an exceptional UX with mobile in mind increases your chances of retaining visitors on your website, encouraging them to convert and become a loyal customer who will return again and again.
In the past, successful brands such as Amazon and Apple have reinvented themselves to stay relevant and competitive. However, as the digital world continues to adapt at a relentless pace, these changes will inevitably become too often for many to overcome. As design concepts advance and Google now uses the mobile-friendliness of a website as a ranking signal, thinking mobile-first has become a fundamental factor of eCommerce success.
How to take a mobile-first approach to your eCommerce business?
Understanding how to optimise your eCommerce store for mobile can be a daunting subject. Using Magento, you can implement a collection of mobile-first features, including:
- Mobile-friendly checkout: While shopping traffic continues to grow on mobile, conversion rates still remain considerably lower than desktop. The average eCommerce conversion rate on desktop is approximately 2% while mobile is only 0.55%. But why? The issue stems mainly from the checkout experience. Navigation is often easier on a bigger screen and shoppers still find the mobile buying journey complex in comparison to desktop.
Compare the ‘add to cart’ rates for desktop and mobile: 10.4% for mobile and 12.9% for desktop. During the checkout process, mobile shoppers are more likely to abandon their cart than when on desktop implying that mobile-friendly checkouts need some improvement. Seamless integrations with payment gateways such as PayPal, Klarna, Adyen and Braintree provide a more streamlined, mobile optimised checkout experience to help improve conversion rates. Additionally, a guest checkout option could be provided so users don’t need to go through the process of registering for an account while autofill features and address verification can also be used to reduce friction and create a more streamlined solution.
- Responsive themes: A responsive web design helps to create a website that provides an optimal viewing experience across a wide range of devices, displaying the content in a way that’s engaging and comfortable for the user. An eCommerce website can be quickly created and optimised for any device by leveraging built-in responsive design themes. These templates, provided by Magento, deliver an exceptional and seamless shopping experience no matter the device. The growth of your business is fuelled by fulfilling your customer’s needs, wherever they are and whatever device they choose to shop on. Expand your reach across new channels to allow your customers to shop whenever, wherever and however they want to.
- Progressive Web Applications (PWAs): PWAs are essentially websites that look, feel and act like an app and they are successfully redefining the mobile experience. Delivering the convenience and usability of a mobile app combined with the searchability of a regular browser PWA’s create fast, engaging shopping experiences that boost conversion rates. Magento’s PWA Studio is poised to shake-up how consumers use their mobiles for shopping, meeting the changing expectations of on-the-go consumers who demand a fast, progressive online experience.
Mobile eCommerce is too big to ignore. To remain relevant and competitive, it’s become a necessity for eCommerce businesses to consider their mobile shopping experience and just being mobile-friendly no longer cuts it. We live in an impatient society, spoilt for choice by the sheer number of merchants, products and services at our fingertips. As a result, brands have a responsibility of progressing with the times if they want to remain successful.
Although daunting, with the help of an expert team, this process can become a whole lot easier and achievable. Using a pioneering platform such as Magento, where mobile-first is a considered subject, your eCommerce store will be supported by some of the best features and capabilities within the world of digital.
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