Over the last year we have noticed a surge in mobile web use. People are using their smartphones to access the web more and more and it is vital that businesses hold onto their customers and capture new ones by adapting their websites using specific mobile website design techniques. Here we’ll talk about the mobile trend and how you can best make use of it.
Global market penetration of mobile phones was 87% in 2011, reported the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). The number of people worldwide using mobile internet was 1.2 billion, ITU study states. As mobile website design is becoming a vital aspect of business, it can be hard to know how to tackle this ever changing landscape.
With the decrease in smartphone prices, Boston Consulting Group estimates that by 2016 the number of users accessing mobile internet would reach 80%. Mobile phones have evolved to become a crucial platform for information exchange and customer engagement.
Significance of Mobile Space for Businesses
Increase in mobile web consumers translates into a myriad of opportunities for audience engagement, for businesses. A study of 20,000 consumers held recently by InMobi, a firm dealing in global mobile advertising, revealed that the top consumers of media content were users of smartphones and tablets.
These people were spending 27% of their time for media content consumption on mobile devices against 22% on televisions and 32% on online channels. This translates into an advertising opportunity with wider reach for businesses.
Coca-Cola’s Senior Vice President echoes the power of mobile advertising. The senior executive claims that the company will be able to attain its objective of “doubling revenue to $200 billion by 2020” with mobile. This can only be achieved using mobile website design tailored specifically to the characteristics of the device. Anyone can take advantage of mobile website design, and it’s vital that you get it right in order to maximize its benefit.
In addition, the InMobi study reports that 76% of people using mobile internet intend to carry m-commerce activities through mobile devices in the coming year.
How Businesses can Penetrate into the Mobile Space using Mobile Website Design
Mobile applications (or apps) and mobile websites are two popular methods of mobile advertising. Mobile websites are replicas of your standard PC websites except that mobile website design is customized to the device features.
Mobile website design must make mobile browsing easier for users. Faster loading and simpler navigation will enhance user experience on the smaller mobile device screens. If your mobile website is not specifically designed for the device then users will find the experience clunky and slow, and therefore be put off from using the site. This obviously should be avoided especially in light of the web use statistics; you don’t want to lose out on such a large market.
Mobile apps are software applications meant to take advantage of the sophisticated features of advanced mobile devices such as smartphones, to provide a rich user experience. Apps are device-dependent; users have to download and install apps to use them.
Apps are ideal if you intend to deliver specific functionality to users, such as e-commerce. Using a bspoke app can seriously speed up the user experience by reducing the data sent to the phone.
Some Tips to Use Mobile Advertising for Businesses
- Make mobile content fun and interesting in the form of contests, games or surveys, encouraging brand interaction anytime anywhere, in the process.
- Take advantage of the “personal” touch of mobile devices. Use features such as SMS texting and GPS to provide highly personalized information to users.
- Encourage user participation to increase brand interaction. Build communities and request feedback and suggestions to keep engagement flowing.
- Integrate the mobile medium with traditional media such as print and TV. For example your print ads could carry QR codes that take visitors to your mobile website.
Mobile advertising opens up numerous opportunities for businesses to explore. Contact us for more insights.
