4 Mobile Commerce Oversights That Are Killing Your Conversions

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on October 23, 2020

Ecommerce has experienced 10 years of growth in just 90 days of 2020, with U.S. consumers spending $190 billion via their smartphones in the first eight months of this year. If you’ve been waiting for a sign that it’s time to invest in your mobile commerce experience, this is it. 

By: Dori Salisbury, SVP of Operations, Searchspring

In fact, if your online store is still delivering a sub-par mobile experience, you’ve been losing out on conversions for some time. According to Google, 50% of online users said that even if they like a business, they will engage with it less if its site isn’t mobile-friendly. 

At an absolute minimum, consumers expect the same ease of use across all devices. Realistically, your mobile experience should be even more streamlined than your desktop store to support on-the-go browsing, and to captivate shoppers who are likely multi-tasking and distracted while scrolling. Here’s where to get started if your mobile visitors are failing to convert. 

Site search

Many retailers with excellent desktop search experiences fail to translate the same standards to the mobile version of their online store. Shoppers who search have a high intent to buy, and your site needs to perform at the same level across all devices to meet their expectations. Features such as autocomplete and auto-suggest are particularly useful for the mobile shopper, allowing them to find relevant results after entering just a few characters of a search term, minimizing the need for cumbersome typing on a small screen. From a design perspective, your search bar should always be easy to find, while remaining unobtrusive to the shopping experience when not in use.

Navigation

As with search, shoppers expect to navigate their way through a mobile store with the same level of ease as on desktop. Responsive site navigation needs to make efficient use of limited screen space, so use universally-recognized icons to replace lengthy text where possible. Keep facets and filters spaced out and thumb-friendly — shoppers shouldn’t have to zoom just to make a selection. It might also make sense to list your categories in a different order on mobile, keeping the most popular menu options front and center. 

Images

Support image zooming, and use high resolution product photos so users can see the features they’re trying to hone in on. Details such as the pattern on a shirt or texture of a rug should be discernible. Just make sure to keep file sizes as small as possible to avoid delays in loading; many mobile shoppers are on the move while they browse, sometimes relying on unstable WiFi. Whether you go with a double tap or pinching gesture, or both, to allow shoppers to zoom, test it extensively on smaller screens to ensure images are easily inspected.

Support convenience with security

Whether on desktop or mobile, a substantial percentage of shoppers drop off at checkout, usually due to a needlessly difficult payment process. Offer the option to pre-fill forms and payment details where applicable, but provide the necessary reassurance that it is secure to do so. Many shoppers harbor concerns about the safety of inputting credit card details on mobile sites, so highlight any applicable security features. Even better, offer multiple payment options so shoppers can still complete a purchase if they don’t have their card details on hand.

From the moment a shopper searches for a product, to when they examine the product detail page and proceed to checkout, the mobile experience is loaded with opportunities to inadvertently kill your conversions. Remove these obstacles in the path to purchase, and your mobile store will be positioned to capitalize on the current ecommerce boom.