As a business owner, you are always on the lookout for ways to attract more customers. If you have “become more mobile friendly” on your to do list, you are wise; Annalect notes that the smartphone-loving millennials are more likely to expect the places they shop to have a mobile-friendly website or app. With this in mind, the following tips can help your business operations to mesh with mobile technology:
1. Incorporate Responsive Design
It’s imperative to have a business website that is easy to access on a wide variety of devices. The responsive design method involves using flexible layouts and images and will let the site determine which screen size the potential shopper is working with, and then alter the layout according to this information. Thanks to responsive design, website developers can make a site that customers can view on smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops, instead of creating a separate mobile-friendly website.
2. Have a Solid Social Media Presence
While some of your customers will learn about you solely from your business website, don’t underestimate the power of social media. Post your various social media links on your most important social media outlet and post regularly to keep your content fresh and the audience engaged. A great example of a company that handles social media very adeptly is LifeLock; on its Twitter account, LifeLock regularly tweets stories pertaining to current issues that relate to identity theft. For example, a recent tweet was about new microchip credit and debit cards and how they relate to identity theft. The company’s Twitter page is clearly well-managed and the numerous tweets encourage customer engagement.
3. Make Sure Site Contains Easy to Use Buttons
It is extremely frustrating to visit a company’s website, only to discover that it’s virtually unusable because order buttons and other touchable links are too small and/or unresponsive. The same is true for the font size—the last thing you want is for your customers to X out of your site because they don’t have their reading glasses handy. To be as mobile-friendly as possible, the font size should be at least 14px and buttons need to be around 44px by 44px. This will help your customers to navigate and order from your site, as well as encourage them to return again.
4. Post Deals & Coupons
If you have a brick and mortar shop, post all of your specials on the website. Bear in mind that not all customers will do their shopping with you from the comfort of their couch; some will pull up your site on their phones while they are standing in your store. If you are offering a 40 percent off deal on a product this week, make sure it is available on your site and is something your cashiers can easily click on and access to give your customer the savings.
5. Make It Easy to Pay
As Seeking Alpha notes, the mobile payment platforms are rapidly growing; as options increase, retailers will have to get on board or risk losing business. While it might seem obvious to have numerous payment options, there are a surprisingly large number of companies that put up a PayPal log on their payment page and call it a day. While PayPal is great for payments, you want to make it as easy as possible for customers to pay, so provide other options like various credit cards and even direct bank transfers.
