Going mobile is something that every website should try to achieve. More than ever, the online traffic to and from mobile devices has been increasing with the number of people owning mobile devices has already surpassed those with desktops, according to comScore.
That is to say that if the website that you have just created isn’t responsive, all your design efforts will come to a waste in terms of conversion. You need to make sure that your visitors will be able to reach the content available easily on their mobile phones and tablets, or your traffic metrics will suffer – and your sales, as a consequence.
So here are the elements that you must improve in order to make your website truly responsive and increase conversion. It won’t take you too long to go through them, but it will make a huge difference on your results by the end of every month.
Your buttons
Conversions are usually linked to call-to-actions, which can be seen on buttons most of the time. This element makes your CTA more visible and engaging – who doesn’t want to click on a button to see what happens next?
So you want to make sure that your buttons are easy to see and click also on small screens. Have a look at their colours, fonts, size, and positioning – it should be all be optimised to the best possible.
Your texts
Some texts might look perfect on laptops and desktops, but when you check them on mobile phones, they might be too long to read or hard to scan. As you know, a post that takes ages to be scrolled down or in which you take the time to find the info that you need can spook much more visitors than you wished.
So don’t forget to have a look at the length of your texts on mobile – usually, less is best. They need to look as nice as useful.
Your fonts
Some font styles just won’t work well on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. They might become too shiny or even shrink. Try to find lists of fonts that won’t increase costs unnecessarily (as some fonts charge extra for their web fonts licences), and a bit more vertical than horizontal, similar to Helvetica and Roboto.
Your images
Make sure that you optimise your images. They need to have a format that allows them to be nicely displayed on your responsive website and that won’t slow the speed down. And talking about speed…
Your speed
Remember that many people using mobile devices will be accessing your website through 3G or 4G connections instead of Wi-Fi. That is to say that it will take longer to them to load it, generally speaking.
So if you want to get it right, you need to work together with the developers of the website so to optimise the speed to the best that you can. Otherwise, your visitors will just get annoyed and go to the another website.
Your tables
Tables are great to organise content and images on any website. But they can look very awkward on small screens. You might end up seeing just part of it or something completely weird.
So look for styles that will work in any screen size, such as plugins of responsive tables that you can just add to your website.
Your links
Sometimes, your call-to-action might be in the text itself, in a form of a link. So to increase conversions, you will need to make sure that your links are easy to see and click on mobile devices.
As you know, some people just don’t have the necessary dexterity and others might be using mobiles with poor touchscreen’s quality. And stylus pens aren’t exactly that popular. That is to say that you should try and make things as simple as possible when it comes to links.
Your forms
In many occasions, there are forms to fill on websites. It is especially common on lead magnets and other strategies to get subscribers and potential clients. But, as you know, it can be quite uncomfortable to fill forms on a small screen, because of the size and the typing itself.
So make sure that your fields are big enough so to allow your visitors to type in without many problems. And keep the number of fields to the minimum, asking only essential information. You want that your visitors take action immediately, not that they decide to wait to get home or the office where they will find a desktop – as you know, meanwhile, they might change their minds.
Test, test, and test
After doing all these things above, you need to test your website on multiple devices. It can be an exhaustive and boring task, but it has to be done.
When it comes to iOS devices, you can just go for the latest iPhone and iPad and you will be fine. But you can’t do the same for Android devices, as they have several models and styles. That is to say that what can work on one, might not work on another one.
Of course, it is impossible to test your website on all available devices in the world. But you should do your best to do it on the devices that your target audience is more likely to have so that you can be fairly OK.
Try some A/B or Multi-testing
If you aren’t sure about what you need to do, you should try some A/B or multi-testing. By trying different models, you will know in numbers what is working best to your audience in particular. This way, you can make calculated adjustments without any risks caused by guessing where the problem is.
To Sum Up
There are several elements that you need to check on your website to ensure that it will be easy to use on smartphones and tablets: fonts, images, buttons, speed, tables, links, forms, and more. Good thing is that you can do without much hassle.
So create a checklist for yourself, as it will help you not to forget what you need to verify. Test your website on as many devices as you can before be publishing it, and go further on your evaluation with some A/B or multi-testing.
This way you will increase your chances to make more conversions, jut by making sure that your mobile-user visitors will get the best experience that you can provide to them.
