People are shopping on their smartphones in large numbers. They do it because it’s convenient, they’re saving time by finding something they need during a commute, or they simply prefer to sit in their chair and use their phone to find what they want. You as a seller can benefit from the mobile shopping revolution by making sure your website is optimized for those who shop on their smartphones. Not sure how? Following are some tips to help you turn smartphone browsers into buyers.
Table of Contents
Reduce Website Bounce Rate
Image via Flickr by frankieleon
Bounce rate is the speed with which someone lands on a website, then leaves. They close the tab or move onto another site with a similar presentation or product. People do this because your website is lacking something that they’re looking for. Sometimes it’s as simple as that your website has poor design that doesn’t work well on a smartphone. Or the product they’re looking for isn’t easily found or prominently displayed on the front page.
Fixing this is simple with the use of a smartphone optimized website. Also be sure to place your most popular items on the front page along with links to buy. When a potential customer can find what they want and fast, they’re more likely to press the button and generate a sale instead of moving onto another website.
Give Customers Incentive to Buy
People like the feeling that they got a deal when they bought something they’ve wanted. To that end, offer a discount that’s easily noticed when the user lands on your page. Make it clear, easy to use, and appealing. It might be that you use a buy one, get one half-off type of deal, or a percentage off that increases the more they buy. It’s up to you what and how you offer discounts, but it can be effective even if it’s only 10 percent off the purchase price. People are much more likely to complete the deal when they know they’re saving a little.
Make the Experience Seamless
Good website design is important regardless of if the site is being viewed on a smartphone or desktop. It could be argued that the smartphone design of the website is even more important than the desktop because there is less viewing space for the site. What you want is to have a clean presentation, an easily found search function, and minimal visual clutter on the pages. One of the ways you can achieve this is to use a template that’s optimized for smartphones.
Templates offer a quick and easy solution to the problem of good design. And template developers make the templates automatically optimize for a smartphone. Optimizing means the layout doesn’t get broken up when viewed on a smaller screen, and the website aspects won’t overwhelm the visual real estate either. Users are able to find what they’re looking for quickly, put it into the shopping cart, then check out with minimal effort.
Offer Convenient Payment Options
Think of Amazon’s 1-Click feature on its desktop website. All that’s required to make a purchase is to click one button. The same goes for the mobile version of the website. While you may not have the funds to create a one-click button, you can make it as easy as possible for someone to buy from you.
Not everyone likes the idea of entering their personal information onto a website, and it’s not always convenient to do so from a mobile phone. Accepting payments from third-party providers like PayPal or Google Wallet via the Galaxy S7 on T-Mobile’s fantastic network makes it easy for customers to buy quickly and without having to jump through hoops. A link to the third-party provider placed on the site gives a buyer the confidence that their purchase is made. Plus, the process is fast, and customer information is kept secure.
These are some of the things you need to know about making more sales through smartphones. While it takes a little work, it doesn’t have to be a costly or labor-intensive undertaking. You’ll find that you achieve more sales when you make it easy for people to use your website on a smartphone.
