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Customers are more likely than ever today to do their shopping online, but during the holiday season, they hit retail websites in droves. According to an annual survey released in November by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics, an estimated 182 million people have shopped in-store and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year. This figure represents 15.7 million more people than last year, and it is the highest estimate since NRF began compiling the study in 2017.
To capture all-important holiday sales, retailers must ensure their websites are optimized for mobile users. Research by Statista has found that nearly 7 in 10 American shoppers reported using their mobile devices for holiday shopping. For businesses still offering a desktop-centered online shopping experience, this could result in lost sales as shoppers abandon the experience for a more mobile-friendly experience.
Optimizing the Shopping Experience for Mobile Users
There are many ways you can take advantage of the mobile device shopping trend to offer customers a better experience. These include:
Ensure your site won’t take too long to load. Not everyone can rely on a strong signal. For your customers who aren’t standing in Times Square on an unlimited data plan, be certain your e-commerce website is spare enough with graphics and text that it won’t take forever to load. Limit video, ads, and pop-ups and focus on what counts: the products, the product details, the shopping cart, and the payment transaction.
Keep the copy brief. One of the ways you can ensure fast loading and maximum engagement is to keep the copy you display brief and concise. There’s a time and a place for in-depth and poetic marketing language, but your mobile-optimized website is not it.
Favor scrolling rather than clicking. Customers are used to scrolling when they use social media. It’s a great way to provide them with the information they need as opposed to the need to endlessly click through to new pages, which could add to the waiting time and risk screens freezing.
Keep important information “above the fold.” For your most popular products or promotions – think special sales or featured products – offer them up at the top of the site so customers don’t have to dig deep to find them.
Ensure your digital payment is easy. One of the things customers value the most is a variety of choices when it comes to digital payment methods. While it might be convenient for you to steer customers toward your payment vehicle of choice, it may result in several lost sales from customers who would rather use PayPal, for example, than input card information. Seek out options for digital wallets, embedded payment methods, and even cryptocurrency to offer customers as many payment options as possible.
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