These days, mobile traffic contributes to more than half of the internet traffic worldwide.
As such, it is safe to say that more and more consumers will access your online store through their smartphones.
But that does not mean you should squeeze your entire e-commerce site into a small screen.
That’s because consumer behavior differs between desktop and mobile.
And your mobile conversion rate can prove that.
Defining Mobile Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the number of site visitors who did a specific set of actions. So, if you have 100 site visitors in your online store today and only 10 of them bought something, you have a 10% conversion rate.
Meanwhile, mobile conversion rate refers to the conversion rate that occurs on your mobile website or app. Hence, you do not account for your mobile conversion rate against your entire conversion rate. Instead, you based it solely on your mobile visitors.
Still, it uses the same formula as calculating a desktop conversion rate:
Conversion rate = (conversion / total number of mobile visitors) * 100%
Why You Should Care About Mobile CRO
As mentioned earlier, mobile traffic comprises more than 50% of the internet traffic worldwide.
But just because you have plenty of mobile site visitors does not mean you can have a high mobile conversion rate. That’s because user behavior between desktop and mobile visitors varies.
For one, desktop users are sitting in front of their computer while searching. Second, mobile search users are often on the go and browsing on a small screen.
That said, let’s share with you 13 actionable tips on how you can boost your mobile conversion rates:
1. Use mobile-friendly website design
On your website, having mobile visitors is essential. It means that you should present your content that can fit a smaller screen size without compromising quality.
We are talking about aptly-sized text and CTA buttons that are large enough but not taking the entire screen.
That way, your site visitors do not have to strain their eyes when reading your content. It also means allowing them to tap a button without having to zoom out. Otherwise, you are making it less convenient for your audience to consume your content on mobile.
And when that happens, it is as good as giving your audience away.
If you want to test your site and check whether it’s mobile-friendly or not, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
2. Pay attention to your mobile load speed
Here’s the thing: 40% of users abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. That’s why you need to ensure that your site loads quickly.
Usually, the critical aspect of a mobile page load speed is rendered start time, also known as RST.
This is how long it takes for content to show up on a screen. Usually, sites that have great mobile RST tend to have more engagement. More engagement means more conversions in the long run.
3. Make your Buy button prevalent
When a user lands on one of your product pages and becomes interested in a particular item, they will likely scroll down to know more.
Once they’ve read a thorough product description and excellent customer reviews, most of them are convinced to buy.
However, when they finally make that purchasing decision, they can’t find that buy button on your site. Most likely, it’s placed on top of the page or somewhere down below.
Mobile shopping is unique in the sense that the journey of the user is based only on limited screen space. Therefore, if the buy button isn’t there, and the visitor wants to purchase something, you could potentially miss out on revenues.
Using several annoying buttons that customers can click through isn’t the solution either. What you need to do is to help visitors in a less intrusive manner.
4. Design for the “Thumb Zone”
The thumb zone is one of the most critical contributors to your business’ mobile conversion rate. This is the general area wherein someone holding a device in one hand can reach.
Elements like CTAs, share buttons, and other navigational controls are valuable elements for web design and they should be placed outside the thumb zone.
Meanwhile, negative buttons like delete or log-out should always be placed outside of the zone. When you put necessary controls out of reach, then you risk reducing the ease of browsing and hurting your conversion rates in the process.
5. Leverage the power of personalization
You probably heard how personalization marketing could help you secure more leads. But other than building a rapport with them, do you know why personalization is powerful?
Well, with personalization, consumers can easily see your content and offer that they find relevant. The moment mobile users land on your site, you can ask them about topics they want to know more about.
While this section will vary depending on the niche you’re in, the value you get from this information is the same.
When you get to know your mobile site visitors, you can produce content that caters to their needs. As such, they would rather have transactions with you than anybody else.
6. Produce video content
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much more with a video? Research has shown us over and over how product videos can be a highly effective method in boosting your conversion rates.
Now, when it comes to mobile conversion optimization, videos can be powerful tools.
7. Simplify your forms
Mobile devices have made it easy for us to look up, purchase, and communicate on the go. Everywhere you look, almost every person has their heads buried on their phones. That’s because mobile makes it easy for us to get entertained, informed, and connected nowadays.
So, if you think you have a valuable piece of content to offer to your audience, ensure that it is mobile-friendly. This includes filling out an online form.
Keep your forms simple. Don’t throw in the obstacle of letting the user fill in many form fields that will outweigh your content’s value. Make it a fair trade of information for all personal data.
Make sure that when asking questions, ask the bare minimum in the conversion form. Make sure that you only include what you think will nurture and filter your audience. Don’t ask for questions you wouldn’t be willing to fill out yourself.
It would also help to come up with smart forms that allow you to remember someone’s information from a previous form completion. Then, all you need is to use auto-fill fields.
8. Offer mobile payment options
The thing is, asking customers for their bank details can be a mobile conversion killer. Yes, even if you think that your mobile store is trustworthy enough.
Customers don’t like the idea of spending two minutes typing in their bank details when making a purchase. Or they may start entering them, but things go wrong halfway through.
One of the best solutions is to offer third-party payments getaways like Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and PayPal.
This allows customers to use pre-set up accounts that will automatically fill in the details for them. Overall, it’s a simple and effective solution if you want to remain competitive in the e-commerce industry.
9. Display trust badges
If you’re trying to boost conversion with desktop users, then you probably know how important trust badges are in your site. In a nutshell, trust badges are those tiny icons or symbols showing a credible, legitimate, and trustworthy brand.
Without these, users are more hesitant to do business with you and look into other offers instead.
The same principle goes with mobile.
To improve your mobile conversion rates, you need to ensure that your site displays trust signals. Doing so will allow your visitors to gain more confidence in your brand.
But more than flaunting your trust badges, make sure that you take proactive steps to secure your site and your customers.
The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a complex system for internet safety that will encrypt information sent over the internet. Usually, these trust seals are issued when these security systems are already implemented.
10. Take advantage of analytics
As website traffic is no longer limited to desktop, the same thing goes for web analytics. Mind you, analytics tools even allow you to break down what mobile browser or device site visitors use to view your site.
If you’re running an e-commerce store, you also want to know how much revenue you’re getting from mobile device visitors.
Why is this helpful? Well, it will demonstrate clearly how many people come to your site via a mobile device. As such, you can figure out how to improve your mobile conversion rate.
You can also take it a step further. With Google Analytics Search Console, you’ll know which pages bring in the most traffic from mobile. Make sure that the copy, images, buttons, and forms are also customized for mobile users.
11. Come up with mobile-specific campaigns
Another thing that you need to do is to come up with mobile-specific campaigns.
Come up with a unique discount code that customers who are shopping on the mobile version of your site can only be used.
Usually, the exclusivity of these offers can serve as an incentive for your customers to complete purchases. Hence, boosting your mobile conversion rates.
You can promote these offers in several ways, such as email marketing campaigns or implementing a simple pop-up on your mobile site.
12. Streamline the navigation menu
One of the things that make mobile browsing challenging is having a cumbersome navigation menu.
If you’re trying to port your desktop navigation menu directly on the mobile site, then there’s a high chance it will be clunky. Hence, hurting your conversion rates.
Ideally, you should provide your customers with a comprehensive menu. This includes highlighting essential products and making it easy to access any part of your website.
If you want to redirect traffic to your content, product, offerings, and landing pages, using a handy tool like JotURL will connect every prospective touchpoint and distribution channel through a single link.
Its seamless link tracking and sleek and simple interface make it easy to monitor your marketing campaigns.
It starts with branded tracking links. This tool allows monitoring campaigns and channels a breeze and knowing which revenue sources work best. It also drives conversions and engages prospects through content creation. All you need is attached a customized call-to-actions (CTAs) on every content or link you share.
It also targets visitors to produce the best conversion rates and track events with the most downloads, leads, and sales. And the best thing about JotURL is that it can be used with almost any medium. This includes social media, forum sites, blogs, and newsletters.
13. Shorten the purchase path
The more clicks you’ll be requiring users to make a purchase, the more you’ll hurt your conversion rates in the long run.
That’s precisely the reason Amazon created a one-click ordering system. This feature makes it an integral part of the entire shopping experience.
Ideally, they want to make it as easy as possible for users to place products on their shopping carts and then make a purchase.
Do you know that 59% of smartphone users favor companies with mobile sites and apps that allow one to buy products quickly?
Chances are, customers will leave your site if they find the whole checkout process difficult and cumbersome to use. It leads to some people abandoning the entire transaction altogether.
So, as much as you can, decrease the number of checkout steps needed.
If you have to use multiple steps, ensure that you use a progress bar. This is to show visitors how well they’re progressing through the entire checkout process. Then, make sure that you also implement a guest checkout. That way, users don’t have to create an account if they don’t want to.
Ideally, the goal here is to make the checkout process as smooth and seamless as possible.
14. Deep Linking Features
One of the indispensable means to be able to improve your mobile conversion rate is to rely on a service like JotURL for the creation of reliable deep links.
Deep links are the most convenient tool to improve a user’s residence time within an App, and also allow users to switch from one app to another without the risk of being redirected to the browser’s landing page.
JotURL offers two levels of Deep Linking, one allows you to quickly create links to the most famous third-party apps such as: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, etc.
This tool can be very useful for promoting campaigns that you may have started on social networks or to improve conversions within the most popular apps.
The second system allows you to configure Personal Applications with JotURL to get the most out of your product. By setting the Advanced Deep Link you can redirect your users within your mobile app, alternatively you can send them to the Google / Apple store to install the App, all with a simple click. This ploy will also allow you to earn a lot of installs, and thus improve conversions over the phone – since user operations will be primarily mobile.
Deep Linking is a formidable technology that not everyone knows yet but which is essential to improve the user experience on mobile and which will surely help you bring home extraordinary results.
Final Thoughts
Mobile conversion optimization (CRO) doesn’t have to be daunting. As long as you implement the strategies we have mentioned, you will be on your way to better conversions.
Also, make sure that you test different ideas and approaches since CRO best practices provide varying results. It will still depend on you to determine which specific approach mobile visitors respond well to.
About the Author:Kenneth Sytian is the Owner and CEO of Sytian Productions Web Developer Philippines. He has been designing websites and developing web apps for more than a decade. He is the driving force behind the company and influencer in the industry of web design and development in the Philippines.
