Businesses used to question whether or not they needed a website to promote their business. Nowadays a website is a must and a smart device-friendly website is just as important. Smartphone penetration has reached over 70% in New Zealand  and that number is continually on the rise. Businesses cannot afford to neglect having a smart device-friendly website as consumers will be instantly put off your company when accessing your website on a smartphone or tablet and finding the information doesn't fit the screen and the design looks fragmented.

Not convinced that you need a mobile website? Consider these statistics:

• In 2019 mobile traffic represents over 63.4% of internet traffic
• Over 50% of sales are made on mobile devices
• Over 40% of all searches are mobile based searches
• Over 60% of consumers have a better opinion of a brand when they offer a good mobile experience

Here is what you need to understand and some tips about designing mobile websites before you have yours built:

Research

A mobile site cannot be developed using a desktop website strategy. A consumer's stay on a mobile website is 45% shorter than that of a consumer's stay on a desktop website. Your mobile website needs to be designed under the assumption that the consumer is on-the-go and wants what they are looking for almost instantly.

You should ensure you know who your target market is and how it will use your mobile site. Anticipating a consumer’s actions when they first open your website is also important.

Ensure your key calls-to-action (CTA) are front and centre where your users will see and look for them. Make them clear to understand and use by minimising functionality and features to keep it simple for the users.

Test, test and test some more!

Don’t just test your new website on the latest iPhone, experiment with it on multiple different sizes and types of smartphones as well as in different web browsers. What works on one browser may not necessarily work on the next.

Using your target market for market research is also a great idea to identify the areas within your site that need tweaking. Invite multiple members from your target audience and give them certain tasks to achieve on your site and follow the conversion paths they take.

One final thought

Remember not only are people visiting your website on their smart-device, they will also be viewing emails from your business on this device. An email template, similar to a smart-device website, needs to reflect the device it will be used on.

Check out our blog that discusses mobile websites vs mobile applications.