By Robert Duross, Digital Performance Consultant, Compuware Professional Services
It looks like a merry, mobile holiday season ahead for retailers. Merchants will use new apps, enhanced web sites, social media and other mobile strategies to drive e-Commerce sales, which are expected to grow by 13% to 15% this year, according to the National Retail Federation.
During a season in which many retailers obtain one-third of their annual receipts, the last thing they want is a tech glitch. Psst — hey Santa, all merchants want for Christmas is no IT fiascos!
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So how do retailers make that wish come true? First, remember that mobile web browsers are always unpredictable and during the holidays, the mobile landscape becomes even more complicated, with highly clogged networks and more urgent, frantic mobile users.
To navigate, here are a few suggestions to help you deal with those digital nuisances:
- Reduce animation on your mobile web site or application. While you may think that it will catch mobile users’ eyes, the reality is that too much animation can look as if your page is still loading. Especially during the holidays, consumers are visiting your site for a specific reason — such as to browse or make a purchase — and animation only slows them down.
- Pare the number of complex and rotating content containers, such as carousels, usually used to give offers and exposure for internal groups — this is not really what your customers seek. Reducing them will allow your page to load faster.
- Lessen reliance on third-party tags on your web site. When networks are congested — as they will be on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and beyond — mobile apps will often render your content based on which items take less time to load. This means, non-user-facing content will load first, delaying the display of your real content — the stuff that sells products.
- Decrease social network integration without diminishing it. Simply provide the links to social networks as icons that users can click to connect to Facebook, Pinterest and more.
- Eliminate page clutter. Decide which items are essential for customers and eliminate the rest.
- As previously mentioned, mobile web pages rarely render in the expected or wanted order. This is largely due to mobile browser behavior and the inconsistent speed of cellular connections. The simple fix? Keep your page as light as possible.
- Really understand the purpose of your mobile site and what customers want out of it. Then, provide it and get out of the way. If your main goal is to sell online via mobile, get users through product information and into the cart with minimal distraction.
- Check the performance of your mobile device and any holiday-specific app often to ensure that it is working smoothly throughout the season.
Mobile isn’t where consumers go to browse and be convinced. They use mobile for targeted, urgent searches. They’re often poised to buy and just need clarity on a few product details — you simply need to close the sale. This holiday’s digital lesson: make it as easy as possible for the right info to reach the right customers in the quickest amount of time.
Robert Duross is a digital performance consultant at Compuware Professional Services.
