Mobile Web is Eating the World
It is mind blowing to me how many startups and big companies get mobile totally wrong.Take a look at this tweet from Benedict Evans:https://twitter.com/BenedictEvans/status/671062955748814848This is mobile commerce – currently worst experience on mobile, but it is still growing at a huge pace. People buying stuff on mobile despite the clunky mobile shopping experience.Next, go read great post by Benedict titled Mobile is Eating the World.What this means is that your customers are increasingly coming to you via mobile devices. This applies to everyone – from consumer apps to enterprise technologies.
Even if your customers are going to spend millions on your enterprise license, they still are likely to first click on a link on their phone, while sitting on a couch and not paying attention to some TV show.
Responsive Design + App = You are doing it wrong
Let’s get right to the point: having an app and responsive design are not solutions to your mobile issue. It is not good enough, and likely just plain wrong.To be truly mobile friendly, you need to think mobile first from the ground up. I didn’t figure out what to take out of the desktop design to make it work for mobile first. Thinking carefully about how to present your brand and product on mobile screens is called “mobile first.” Then coming up with the absolutely best possible design for it.
After that, you can consider whether or not having the app makes sense—sometimes it may not. If you decide to get the app, consider when and how to properly upsell it. And finally, think about how to expand your brand to desktop. The desktop is the last step.
The Problem with Mobile Web Information The beauty and the challenge of mobile is that real estate is really small. It is beautiful because less is more, because it is finally liberating.It is challenging because we didn’t grow up with less is more, we came from Windows, from Desktop, from larger screens that afforded bloatware.Because there was a lot more space on the desktop, we thought about how we could add complex menus and ton of information and graphics and text.Well, the problem is there is just no space on mobile for any of it.If you take a standard desktop web site, and make it responsive it will be useless unless you remove 90% of it.Here in lies the secret to building great mobile experience.
Throw away everything from your desktop website and start from scratch with the user experience (UX) instead of deciding what to remove. 5 Tips to make YOUR Mobile Web Site Awesome
Brand. Even-though mobile UX is very compressed, start by thinking about how you communicate your brand on mobile. Your logo, colors, fonts – whatever it is, breathe your brand into the mobile experience so that your customers remember you.
Scroll. Make everything suitable for scrolling. Organize information in way where more important information is on top, and don’t be afraid to have stuff stacked on top of each other. People are accustomed to scrolling when seeking additional information on mobile devices. Basics: Copy, Fonts, Images & Menu. Make sure your copy is clean and shiny. The ability to create extremely clear and concise copy is made possible by mobile devices. Use branded fonts, and make the text larger to make sure people can read it. Use less text and more images. Images are the killer app for mobile, people love them, and love clicking on them, so make sure your images link to where you want users to go. Use standard menu, place it on top left (because most people are right handed, so that they won’t hit it by accident).
Calls to Action. Direct users to the action you want them to take. Download the app? Email signup? Or perhaps you want them to text you? Whatever it is, make it crystal clear and compelling what you want the user to do. To move users to the next stage of your conversion funnel, use large buttons and sticky prompts. Test, Measure & Optimize. Squeeze your desktop browser to see how your website would look on mobile devices quickly. Then test it out on the latest iPhone and Android to make sure there are no bugs. MixPanel or another analytics program of your choice can be used to track clicks. Keep iterating on the mobile web site until your conversion is healthy. The good news is that since mobile is a lot less than desktop you should be able to optimize it a lot faster.
