According to Statista, there are 3.5 billion smartphone users today. As of this year in January, there were 4.18 billion unique mobile internet users as well. Mobile phones are convenient and allow users to get any information they need instantly. They are also a significant means through which the global population communicates with one another.
There's no question that the mobile platform will remain significant in the future and the number of transactions that happen online will grow. As a business owner, it's important to ensure that your brand experience on mobile is in great shape. How people experience your brand on their smartphones can affect your brand's image. Let's dive deeper and look at why you should consider making mobile interactions a priority for your brand:
1. Most brand interactions are on mobile.
People today spend more time on their phones and tablets than on any other device. This means that twice as many brand experiences happen on mobile devices than any other place, including TV, retail stores and any other platform, according to a Google study of more than 2,000 smartphone owners. Google's research also found that your audience is less likely to recommend your brand or purchase from you in the future if they have a poor mobile experience.
To put it simply: Consumer expectations are high, and they will expect seamless interactions with your brand online. To do that, ensure that you're showing the same content and content order as much as possible. It avoids dissonance and boosts user experience.
2. Smartphones impact productivity and feelings of accomplishment.
Another study by Google found that 60% of people feel more "confident and prepared" thanks to their smartphones, while 75% of people feel that their smartphones help them boost productivity. Similarly, in 2016, Samsung surveyed 500 U.S. managers and executives and found that smartphones helped increase productivity by 34%.
Using a phone makes it possible to get things done quickly, which gives people a sense of accomplishment. From my perspective, creating a mobile-optimized website or an app that helps users accomplish their goals might help add to their sense of wellness. You can create a positive association with your brand that ultimately leads to more engagement.
To get started — and after asking permission — provide users with push notifications letting them know that there's new content is available on your app or site. You can also gamify the experience by giving points, making streaks or using badges whenever they have an interaction with your app or mobile site. Users will see that they are accomplishing something, which builds positivity.
3. Good experiences make users return.
If you have a mobile-friendly site, customers are more likely to return. You can create this ease-of-use by leveraging user-experience and user-interface principles in creating your mobile site. For example, ensure that your text content is legible by using larger fonts and structuring your text. You can also add larger and appropriate touch screen sizes so that people can easily navigate through your website.
It is also important to create content for your mobile and desktop site that matches. It's not practical to create the exact same content and design on a mobile platform as on a desktop site. However, you can ensure that the page structures and content make sense and appear seamless regardless of whether your audience is on mobile or at a desktop. You can do this by prioritizing your content. For example, if your landing page opt-in form is essential to drive conversions, add it in a mobile-friendly way on your mobile landing page. You can also consider using mobile wallets and other mobile-friendly features to make online transactions smoother.
4. You can leverage image and video content.
Over half of all mobile brand experiences happen through videos and images. Videos and images are easy to consume on mobile. Text-based posts can strain the eye and are not always easy to consume for a long period of time. Ensure you're leveraging more visual content to improve your consumers' mobile experience with your brand.
I believe providing your audience with a good mobile experience will build users' trust in you because it shows that you're paying attention to detail. You'll also support your audience by making their daily activities easier, thus improving their productivity and helping them feel more satisfied. Now that we've looked at why mobile experiences matter, start thinking about how you'll boost your brand's mobile experience.
