For a long time now I, along with hundreds of other people, have been stressing the importance of the optimization of websites for mobile devices. Consumers are starting to use their handheld devices more and more today, and they are using their computers far less than they used to. Because of this, it is important to optimize for the mobile web. After all, advertising is all well and good, but if a consumer can’t even find their way to your website when they want or need to, then all of your money and effort are for nil. These are all facts that I have stated before and that most people have heard before, but Google has just released the results of a survey that really show how important mobile optimization has become.
In this world of constant connectivity, consumers expect to find the information that they want, when they want it – especially when they’re on the go. We know that this applies to their web browsing experiences on mobile, so we took a deeper look at users’ expectations and reactions towards their site experiences on mobile. Most interestingly, 61% of people said that they’d quickly move onto another site if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site. The bottom line: Without a mobile-friendly site you’ll be driving users to your competition. In fact, 67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site, so if that site’s not yours, you’ll be missing out in a big way.
While most of Google’s blog posts are strictly about the on-goings of Google, understandably, this is quite a unique and powerful post from the internet giant. Their study, called What Users Want Most From Mobile Sites Today, was conducted by Sterling Research and SmithGeiger, two independent research firms. The survey took information from 1,088 adult mobile internet users back in July, and the results were a bit shocking, especially this far in the mobile game. Aside from the information that was given in the quote above, Google also found that 96% of the surveyed adults had stumbled upon a site that was not optimized for mobile, even though 75% of them prefer mobile optimized sites. Here are a few of the more pertinent facts from the survey;
- 74% of those that visit a mobile-friendly website said that they would probably return to it.
- 67% of those that shopped on mobile devices said they were more likely to purchase things from websites that were optimized for mobile.
- 61% of respondents said that they were quick to leave a mobile site if they could not find what they were looking for right away
There was a lot of useful information taken from the survey, but with these facts alone, it should be clear how important mobile optimization is. Everyone has read about it, and everyone has heard how important it is, but it still seems as though some people are not getting the point. If people are still being forced to use sites that are not optimized, then mobile marketing will not be as successful as it should be anytime soon.
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