With the number of mobile phone users globally expected to rise to 5 billion by 2019, it is paramount that businesses are at the top of their game when it comes to mobile. Not only do you have the pressure of customers’ expectations but also you need to adhere to Google’s Mobile-First Index. With nearly 60% of all traffic coming from mobile devices and expectations for this number to continue to grow – should businesses prioritise the mobile experience over desktop?

The short answer is yes, the importance of mobile is essential when establishing your online presence. Yet, many sites continue to subject their consumers to mobile user experience (UX) nightmares that could easily be avoided. Here’s how:

1. Page speed too slow

One of the most frustrating experiences for users is waiting for a page to load; in fact 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. A fast site provides a good user experience and a satisfying UX leads to a greater percentage of conversions.

Looking to limit the number of files required to download, keeping images at a low resolution and reducing the use of JavaScript are all valuable options when it comes to providing a faster mobile site speed.

2. Different content across devices

The average household has 10 connected devices and this is predicted to increase by 2020. It’s paramount for sites to maintain consistency in their content across all devices, particularly as more and more of us are using multiple platforms for searching.

Say you’re browsing to purchase a new car. Early one morning, you start researching new cars on your laptop and find something you like. In the evening, whilst you relax on the sofa, you grab your mobile to relook at the car you had found earlier. However, what you saw and read on your laptop is different to what you see on your mobile.

This could be confusing for the customer. Inconsistency of content through different platforms could significantly disrupt the customer journey to conversion.

First of all it’s important to maintain good content balance on mobile sites, especially between having enough necessary information and not overloading the content which could require too much scrolling.

Some sites edit their content drastically from their mobile to desktop platforms. If you condense your information, ensure you’re consistent with the key detail of any product or service on all platforms rather than cutting or changing content dramatically.

Ensuring your mobile site is of a high quality and that it provides the best user experience could require additional funding. Should a redesign be needed to allow your site to be suitable for all devices, it could mean switching to a new content management system (CMS). Consider your budget or the loan alternatives available to you when looking to fund the improvements on your mobile website.

3. Barriers when checking out

An example of a barrier a customer may experience when checking out online is if they’ve taken the step to purchase and clicked ‘checkout’, yet find themselves facing mandatory sign ups or returning customer logins to complete before they can purchase their goods. These barriers could stop the customer in their tracks and lead to them abandoning the transaction all together.

If the user is a returning customer, you are asking them to remember which email they used previously and the correct password. If your user is a new customer, you are asking them to decide whether they want to register their details with you. Either way, it unnecessarily stops the customer in their tracks from attaining their goal – buying your product or service.

As we mentioned earlier, over half of all traffic is now coming from mobile devices. With this in mind it may be worth allowing consumers the option to sign in as a guest to ease the process of purchasing from you. If they become a repeat customer, they are then more likely to sign up once they have got to know your brand better.

4. Long and fiddly forms

When browsing on your mobile you are looking for quick and easy answers. How many times have you gone to fill in a form on your mobile that has frustrated you?

Whether that’s because the form is clunky, too long and because you haven’t got the time to fill it out, you decide to look elsewhere: or you experience scrolling problems, continually changing keywords from letters to numbers; or the field boxes are so tiny that your fingers keep pressing the wrong box. Forms that are too long and fiddly to complete could be putting your customers off and you could be losing potential conversions.

Try to keep forms as simple as possible by only requiring details that are really necessary and that will lead to the next step towards conversion. Consider implementing dropdowns for quick answers or checkboxes. To make it easier for the user use input type ‘number’ for fields that require phone numbers, this way the numerical keyword will pop up automatically.

5. Scrolling to the menu

Your mobile is only a small screen in comparison to your desktop and can only display so much information, so it’s no wonder you’ll be scrolling down for far longer to find what you are looking for.

However, if you wish to navigate to a different part of the site, this could mean scrolling all the way back up to the top to access the menu. This can be annoying and repetitive for the customers.

This is a simple problem to solve and could provide a smoother user experience. Consider implementing a sticky menu, so no matter how the user scrolls or uses your site, the menu is always easily accessible. This could even be a smaller version of your main menu so your content still stands out on the page.