After much discussion and prediction of a coming mobile age, that day has indeed arrived. Companies should be engaged in a mobile first strategy when you consider that three billion people are connected to the Internet* and own a mobile device**. This has real and practical implications for businesses as they develop and evolve their digital presence. Organisations now need to ensure that mobile sites are quick to load and are reliable, as a primary consideration in the digital experience, not an afterthought. To achieve this, it is critical that companies approach the transformation to digital with a mobile first mind-set.
The application of design
Designing with a mobile first mind-set is fundamental to attract, retain and grow your customers. While a company might design a sleek mobile site or app, its appeal to customers will be lost if they are faced with a page that is slow to load or crashes entirely. Current examples of trends that increase pressure on mobile include the concept of “showrooming,” where users examine products in traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores, but easily compare, contrast and buy the item online, or a voice-enabled interface which allows you find the things you want regardless of your location. These enhancements to mobile capability place a higher demand on functionality and, subsequently, demand an increase in testing and monitoring. The most common misconception is that you can create a mobile site by simply ‘shrinking’ the desktop site. This approach doesn’t work, because it fails to take into account the impact a smaller screen size has on readability or the varying functionalities of different devices and ultimately delivers a subpar customer experience.
Sites constructed under a mobile first mind-set would also ideally see the mobile application scaled up for the desktop. Under this build-up approach, functions too complex for a mobile homepage, such as third party plug-ins – for example, a company’s rolling Twitter feed – would be added only to the desktop site after the mobile experience has been solidified. Eliminating incompatible elements from the mobile environments will not only make a site more readable but less prone to performance issues.
The optimisation of performance
Designing a site for mobile is crucial, but to ensure it delivers the best possible mobile experience, companies must also prioritise monitoring and testing devices. This is the only way that organisations can ensure a good customer experience on mobile, irrespective of the device, network, level of traffic or operating system.
Testing can be done in a variety of ways; emulated testing is done by an automated machine running scripts, making it fast and easily comparable, whereas real user testing can simulate the actual visitor journey, giving its results more credibility but making it a slower process. To create a good mobile experience for customers, which can be delivered quickly to market, it is important that both these techniques are used to get an accurate picture of how a mobile website is delivered to consumers and to assure the connected experience.
Designing a site for mobile is crucial, but to ensure it delivers the best possible mobile experience, companies must also prioritise monitoring and testing devices. This is the only way that organisations can ensure a good customer experience on mobile, irrespective of the device, network, level of traffic or operating system.
Testing can be done in a variety of ways; emulated testing is done by an automated machine running scripts, making it fast and easily comparable, whereas real user testing can simulate the actual visitor journey, giving its results more credibility but making it a slower process. To create a good mobile experience for customers, which can be delivered quickly to market, it is important that both these techniques are used to get an accurate picture of how a mobile website is delivered to consumers and to assure the connected experience.
As well as regular testing of the site, website owners should also continually monitor performance to ensure the site loads quickly – the web standard speed, of a page load time in less than three seconds, is already in effect on mobile – and the site’s availability stays above 99 percent. This will ensure that any issues are flagged before they have an impact on the customer.
The reward
Companies must ensure that their mobile sites and applications perform well now and in the future. To achieve this, mobile testing and monitoring will be key, not only to keep customers happy and to meet ever growing expectations, but to promote a good reputation in the long-term and, ultimately, drive business profitability.
* http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/
** https://gsmaintelligence.com/research/?file=c232f0a7a998e8ce90ce3bc36025e21d&download
Author is Jennifer Tejada, president and CEO at Keynote
President and CEO of Keynote, Jennifer has 20 years of experience growing global companies through product innovation, marketing, sales and strategic innovations.
