[Build Backlinks Online] So You Have a Mobile-Friendly Website. What Now?

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'So You Have a Mobile-Friendly
Website. What Now?'

Posted by bridget.randolph
This post is based on a presentation I gave in October at SearchLove London
2013. The full slide deck is embedded at the end of the post. Also, use this
link to watch the video of the presentation for free! :)


----


Lots of people can tell you why you need a mobile-friendly website. And lots
of people can tell you how to build one. Including me. There have been countless
posts and articles and guides written about how to build a mobile-friendly site,
and how to optimize it for search, and how to track mobile visitors, and why
mobile is important.


So at this point, most people would agree that having a mobile-friendly
website is a basic requirement for any online brand:

57% of users won't recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site, and
40% have turned to a competitor's site after a bad mobile experience.

If you're just starting to think about it, you're falling behind. And you
don't need me to convince you. Instead, I want to talk about what happens next.
This post will cover some big-picture trends, case studies, examples and
tactics, but the overall theme is "online everywhere."



By the year 2017, it is predicted that 85% of the world's population will have
3G coverage. (It could be even more; initiatives like Facebook's Internet.org
campaign have the goal of bringing internet access to 100% of the world's
population.)


Mobile data in the year 2012 was 12x the size of the entire internet in the
year 2000. In other words, it grew by 1200%. And by the year 2018 it is expected
to grow 12x again...meaning the rate of growth is now twice as fast as when we
started (12x growth in 6 years instead of 12).


What all of this means is that we're becoming more connected than ever. And
mobile is now a channel which can empower you to reach people you can't reach
any other way, as the number of mobile users worldwide is set to overtake the
number of desktop users in 2014.




We are increasingly living in a multiscreen, device-agnostic world.


And this means that "mobile" can't just be an add-on anymore. My boss Will
Critchlow likes to say "there's no such thing as mobile." I would disagree
slightly: I'd suggest that instead, "there's no such thing as mobile for the
user."


Mobile is not a separate channel; it's a technology. So although at this point
there's "no such thing as mobile" for the user, don't be fooled: Making it easy
for users is really hard. We can't be lazy. What we need to be doing is asking
the right questions.




What does this look like? Let's take 3 scenarios: Companies A, B, and C.


Company A (call them the "Average Joe Corp.") are asking the question: "how do
we do 'mobile'?" And this means they'll be getting answers based on what
everyone else is doing, regardless of whether it's right for them or their
users. For example:

a separate m. website
an app
SMS promotions
etc.

Company B ("Early Adopters Ltd.") have a slightly better question: "how do we
stay ahead of the next big mobile technology trend?" They're not interested in
what everyone's doing already; they want to be ahead of the curve. So they'll
end up investing in things like

big data tools
Aurasma technology for their app
fun stunts like including a solar charger in their print ads

But Company C is different (let's call them "User-Driven Business, Inc.").
They're looking at it from a different perspective: a user-centric one. They
ask: "how can we take advantage of new technology to anticipate our users'
needs?"


We all need to become more like "User-Driven Business, Inc.", because our
customers are people, and technology is for people. Instead of asking about how
to 'do' mobile, or how to stay on top of new technology, we need to have the
mindset of making mobile a core part of the customers' journey, and keeping the
user at the center.


Which looks something like this:




Phase 1: Discover

77% of mobile searches now take place near a PC. What this means is that
mobile devices are rapidly becoming the device of choice, even when other
options are available. And with new behaviors like sequential screening and
multiscreening, mobile is increasingly an integral part of the customer's
discovery phase. 90% of users use multiple screens sequentially to accomplish a
task over time, and 98% move between devices in a single day. Smartphones are
the most frequent 'companion' devices used while multiscreening (i.e. using
multiple devices at the same time).


So the first big trend we need to be aware of here is the need for a seamless
and consistent user experience across all devices.


There are three main areas in which mobile technology impacts on the Discover
phase:

website
search
social
1. Website

We've all heard the people who say that responsive design is always the
answer. And responsive design is fine. But it's a basic approach. And if you
don't approach it properly, you can end up with a subpar user experience.


Example: Starbucks


Starbucks made a beautiful responsive website; but on the smartphone version
the 'BUY NOW' button has dropped to the bottom of the page, under many many
reviews, a video and other non-essential content.


Desktop version:

Mobile version:

Small Steps

Consider using dynamic serving instead of pure responsive: this allows you to
serve different HTML based on user agent, while maintaining a single URL for
simplicity.
Think in terms of "content everywhere:" the concept of "Create Once Publish
Everywhere," discussed in more depth in the book by Sara Wachter-Boettcher.
"Content Everywhere" is a system which allows you to relate different types of
content using markup for a more search- and user-friendly approach, regardless
of the platform used to access your content.
CASE STUDY: BBC Food used this approach for their recipes and saw an increase
of more than 150,000 visitors weekly from search alone and overall traffic
doubled, from around 650,000 weekly visitors to around 1.3 million. (data from
Content Everywhere book)

Use long-term cookies for login: keep people logged in longer and remove the
extra step of needing a sign-in each time your users visit your site
Sync user accounts across all platforms:
a great EXAMPLE of this is Amazon Kindle: if you leave off in the middle of a
book on the iPhone app, and then pick it up on your Kindle, it will know where
you last left off (cross-device)

Test, test, test: start by visiting your site on a mobile (or use the built-in
emulator in your favorite browser).
TIP: Make sure you test for all the devices your customers use, or at least the
majority (you can find out what these are from your analytics data).

Mobile CRO and user testing: there are loads of tools available for this type of
testing; three that we like at Distilled are Qualaroo, CrazyEgg and Optimizely.
2. Search

The first big trend to keep in mind when it comes to search and discovery:
it's the same person regardless of device. So context and user intent become
more important than asking whether it's a mobile phone or a laptop.


CASE STUDY- Bravissimo


Bravissimo used a tool called WeatherFIT to customize their PPC campaigns
based on individual user context. Basically they would only show lingerie and
swimwear ads to users who had sunny/hot weather in their area.


Results: 600% increase in PPC-driven sales revenue and 103% increase in
conversion rate.


Example: Google


Google is huge for online personalization and context-based content:

Google Implicit Search can understand the context of a query (such as 'how tall
is Justin Bieber?' followed by 'how much does he weigh?') and return the correct
answer.
Google Now aims to provide you the information you need before you ask for it
(such as bus times, weather, metro service information, etc) by figuring out
where you are and what you are doing.

This leads us to the second big trend for discovery via search marketing:
anticipating your users' needs before they themselves are even aware of them. If
you can do this, you will be getting your brand in front of a whole new
audience.


Small Steps

If your business has brick-and-mortar locations, consider optimizing for local
search. Local can be a big vertical for mobile search.
If applicable to your audience, consider applying to get your business
integrated with Google Now (although be forewarned, it's not terribly easy at
this stage)
3. Social

Social is a huge channel for mobile. Four out of every five people who use
Facebook (daily) and Twitter do so on a mobile device. So social marketing is
mobile marketing.


But social is tricky, because brands no longer own the conversation. And the
first big trend we see in social marketing is that permission's not enough
anymore. There is now so much content and so much information available that we
don't have time to read all the emails we sign up for. This has led to 'filter
bubbles'.


You're probably all familiar with the Mark Zuckerberg quote: "A squirrel dying
in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than
people dying in Africa." This may sound extreme but the mindset it shows has a
very real impact on our marketing efforts.


Between technology (like Facebook's EdgeRank, which shows more content for
pages we engage with more frequently) and the people our customers follow (who
only share and curate the content they find worthwhile), we need to be thinking
in terms of peer-to-peer marketing if we want to have any hope of our target
audience even seeing our content. One quick sense check for this is simply to
ask yourself: "is it good enough to tell my friends about it?"


A final point: make sure any content you want to share via social channels is
also mobile friendly. Given that 80% of these users are on mobile devices, you
don't want them to be faced with this:




Small Steps

Allow your social media team to engage in a conversational (rather than a salesy
or overly formal) way.
Create content which people will want to share.
Ensure that all content for social sharing is mobile-friendly.
Phase 2: Explore

Once your users have discovered your brand, that's just the beginning; they
may need to explore their options a bit more before deciding to purchase from
you. And you need to be aware of that whole journey from start to finish.


There are four main areas impacted by mobile in the Explore phase:

Tracking
Showrooming
Personalization
Online/offline integration
1. Tracking

Track the person, not the device. Other people (like Avinash Kaushik and Craig
Bradford) can explain this much better than me, but the short version is:


Stop tracking each session as if it's a different user. Instead, track people
throughout their journey from start to finish - irrespective of device.




In the image above, wouldn't it be better if we knew that:

The 3 online visits + single conversion (CID 111, 222 and 333) and the offline
visit + conversion (CID 444) were actually
One person using 3 different devices plus making an in-store visit with a
second conversion (UID ABC)?

Small Steps

Implement Universal Analytics: this is a great first step towards user-based
tracking. Be aware of the limitations, however: users have to be logged in to
track them across device.
2. Showrooming

It's easy to panic about showrooming (when people look up your products
in-store on a phone and find lower prices online from your competitors).


But this sort of thing is never a good idea:




...and it's unnecessary. Instead, we should view showrooming behavior as an
opportunity; to reinforce the value that our products and our store provide.


CASE STUDY: Best Buy


In 2012, Best Buy decided to tackle showrooming head-on: giving specially
trained staff members tablets to search comparison sites for the lowest price,
and allowing them to match that lowest price in order to complete the sale.


Results: It was successful - I don't have exact metrics, but in February 2013
they rolled out a permanent price matching policy based on the positive results
of this pilot.

3. Personalization

Personalization is huge, and especially so on mobile devices which are much
more 'personal' devices than most (think how frequently laptops are used for
work/school, desktops for families or in other shared environments like
libraries - but smartphones are primarily used by individuals in leisure time).


Small Steps

Implement a recommendation engine for your logged-in customers. You can also do
a form of this with non-logged-in users - Medium are a good example of this.

CASE STUDY: LK Bennett/Qubit


LK Bennett recently ran a campaign using the Qubit tag management system to
personalize their website content by user context. The first test was targeted
at UK-based visitors who had not purchased online within nine months, but had
visited the site more than three times. These users were shown a special offer
for free delivery if they were about to leave again without purchasing.


Results: an 11% increase in conversions from that visitor segment. Another
test offered UK visitors free 14 day returns, and this saw a 14% conversion rate
increase.

4. Online/Offline Integration

Because mobile devices are portable, there are many more opportunities for
integration between the online and offline worlds via mobile devices.


What does this mean? The obvious example would be something like a QR code in
a print ad or on a billboard. A more sophisticated version is something like
Debenham's virtual pop-up stores at famous UK landmarks, which users scanned
with a special app and then were able to view and order clothing (after
virtually trying it on, of course!).


My favorite example of online/offline integration is from IKEA:


Example: IKEA catalogue app


IKEA created an augmented reality app for their recent catalogue, which
allowed users to use their device's built-in camera to try out how different
pieces of IKEA furniture would look in a given location in their home.




All of these examples - Best Buy encouraging showrooming and matching the
lowest price, IKEA allowing people to 'try out' the furniture before they buy,
and LK Bennett providing personalized offers about shipping and returns - play
into the overall brand experience of your users, and help to determine whether
they decide to buy from you or not. Basically, these are all different ways of
helping potential customers past the "uncertainty" phase and giving them the
extra little push to feel confident that they're making the right choices.


Ultimately, whatever examples we use, the big trend for the Explore phase is
to recognize the value of every touchpoint/interaction along the customer
journey. The purchase isn't the only thing that matters anymore. ...and last
click attribution is the devil.

Phase 3: Buy

This is all very well, but...what about the actual conversion? Well, the big
trend here is to make mobile checkout EASY.


There are two main areas we can improve in order to engage mobile users more
effectively in the purchase process:

Smarter checkout paths
Online/offline integration (yes, again!)
1. Smarter checkout paths

We need smarter conversion paths for mobile. My rule of thumb for this is
KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. ;)


Small Steps



Link the form fields to the correct keyboard - have you ever tried to use a
form on a phone and had the wrong type of keyboard pop up? This is actually
surprisingly easy to fix:



For phone number fields:


<input type="tel" />


for a numeric keyboard, use this:


<input type="text" pattern="\d*" novalidate />


for any email fields, use this:


<input type="email" />


to disable autocorrect:


<input type="text" autocorrect="off" />

Keep people logged in long-term: The fewer steps people have to take to
complete a purchase, the less likely they are to abandon it. Mobile devices
(smartphones in particular, tablets perhaps less so) are often only used by a
single individual, so it is often much more convenient to use websites and apps
which don't require a login every time. By using persistent cookies (on
websites) and saving password details in the phone (for apps) you make the
process easier for your users.
Don't neglect microconversions: It's all very well trying to convince people to
make big purchases via mobile; but don't forget about the smaller stuff. Things
like email signups and social sharing are very important and sometimes don't
work well on mobile devices.
2. Online/offline integration

If you have a physical store location(s), in-store mobile payment can also add
convenience to checkout.


Example: PayPal


If you accept PayPal payments, you can allow people to use the PayPal app to
checkout in-store as well as online.

Phase 4: Engage

Once your customer has purchased, you may feel that you can relax. But you're
not home free yet! You need to keep customers engaged with your brand and your
services/products even after they purchase in order to turn them into repeat
customers and, eventually, brand advocates.


There are three main areas in this phase which are important for mobile:

Apps
Email marketing
Social
1. Apps

The first question you should ask yourself if you're considering creating an
app is: "are you sure you need one?"


The benefit is, of course, that it's a walled garden. The downside is that
it's a saturated market: there are 900,000+ apps in the Apple Store and over 1
million on Google Play. And despite the high volume of apps, only a few rise to
the top: 10% of all iPhone app store revenue in Nov 2012 came from only 7 apps.
So unless you really do need one, it's not worth the extra effort and hassle.


How do you decide? Ask yourself, does my app (idea):

Add convenience?
Offer unique value?
Provide social value?
Offer incentives?
Entertain?

These are the attributes of a successful app. If it doesn't do any of these
things, you shouldn't build it.


CASE STUDY: Tesco Homeplus


Tesco Homeplus, in South Korea, are an excellent example of how to use apps to
retain customers (and this is also a great example of using online/offline
integration in the Buy phase). As a mid-/large-sized supermarket brand (trying
to compete against a bigger rival), they knew that their target customers were
very busy, working very long hours and lacking free time to go shopping for
groceries. So they created a 'virtual store' in the subway, which allowed app
users to scan items they wanted to purchase and checkout on their phone. If they
did this before 1pm, the groceries would be delivered to their home that
evening.




Results: their sales increased 130% in three months, and their number of
registered users went up by 76%


Ultimately, the key when it comes to apps is creating a unique experience and
meeting a specific user need. If you can't do this with your app, you probably
don't need one.

2. Email marketing

62% of emails are opened on mobile devices. So email marketing is mobile
marketing. And remember, you can send push notifications via email (dependent on
the user's settings) which gives them a benefit we might have associated
previously only with apps or SMS promotions.


Small steps

Send emails your customers want to open
Example: Innocent Drinks are a great example of email content which is fun,
full of their brand personality and regardless of whether I always have time to
read the emails, I never consider unsubscribing because I don't want to miss out
on it.

Use personalization and context: the average open rate for 'triggered' emails is
4x higher than for email newsletters (45-55% vs 10%)
Example: Smythson - in a blog post on email marketing, Lucy Wilsden described
how Smythson sent her the following email in September (just around the time she
was thinking about purchasing a new diary for 2014). Note the
individual-specific personalization - they used her initials in the product
image.



Use mobile friendly templates: MailChimp and Campaign Monitor are two services
that offer this.
TIP: If your preferred provider doesn't offer this, you can use one of these
services to build your email and then export the HTML into your preferred
provider's template.

Test your email campaigns: we like Litmus; there are also other options.
3. Social

Social isn't just part of the discovery process; it's also a great channel for
maintaining customer loyalty.


Example: Red Bull Wings


Red Bull has an incredible social campaign called Red Bull Wings. They monitor
mentions on Twitter of keywords like 'allnighters', 'midterms', etc; then
contact the tweeters to mail them a care package containing a Red Bull 4-pack
and a personalized note.




This is just one example; but the big trend with post-purchase social
engagement is: make current customers feel appreciated - and make it
individually personalized, if possible.


---

Bonus example

I've covered a lot of things in this post, so now I want to share a campaign
which I think pulls a lot of these together. It's a great example of how to
merge the online and offline worlds...but more importantly, it's an example of
one of the key takeaways from this post: the value of extreme (individual)
personalization and context recognition.


BMW's MINI Salutes You (part of the #MININotNormal campaign)






I love this campaign because it keeps the (individual) customer at the center.
It makes great use of personalization and context, as well as online/offline
integration. And it hits the 'post-buy engagement' part beautifully by showing
loyalty to current customers.


Results: As part of the online aspect, it also had great social reach (as you
might expect). That video alone (part of a larger campaign) showed 1,941 offline
customers were reached during that time...but there are 58,139 views (to date)
of the video on Youtube. (The main campaign video has 1,661,042 views.)



So â what are the final takeaways?


Well, to "do mobile" right:

Make it a core technology
Keep the user at the center
Ask yourself: "How can I use mobile technology to anticipate and fulfill my
users' needs?"

You might be thinking, "surely these are all just marketing principles,
though". Well that's TRUE.


Because mobile isn't separate anymore. In some ways, it's just another
"browser", and we need to test and optimize and create content for it just as we
would for any other browser. This won't be easy, but it will be worth it. So
let's buckle up and enjoy the ride!


----


How do you think we should be approaching the rise of mobile technology in
2014? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.


Here are the slides from the presentation this blog post was based on:






So You Have a Mobile Friendly Website ... What Now? from Bridget Randolph


If you'd like to watch the presentation video (for free!), head on over to our
video store page using this link: http://dis.tl/1hqEyd3. With a free account
(just a username and password), you'll get free access to the video to download
and stream at your hearts content.


If you enjoyed this post and the presentation video, you might also be
interested in our upcoming SearchLove conference in Bostonâparticularly in
the session by Adam Melson, titled "Listening to Your Customersâ Wants to
Achieve Their Needs." It's happening Apr 7-8 at the Joseph B Martin Conference
Center. We'd love to see you there!
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!



You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/fZRxgrYEB-8/so-you-have-a-mobile-friendly-website-what-now

You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Backlinks Online
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com