Need for Speed

We live in a world of “got to have it now,” “want it immediately” and “don’t keep me waiting!” This is especially true for consumers using mobile devices. We want to navigate our way through our applications at the speed of light, with no expectations for delays.

It is imperative for marketers to recognize this “need for speed” and eliminate any issues that may cause slowdowns (if they want to keep the attention of the users). Once we humans get online, we are not unlike small children who expect immediate gratification. That’s probably because most times we get it!

It has been ingrained in our minds that the answers we seek are at our fingertips, able to be accessed immediately. We expect our mobile devices to come through for us as we shop, research, or seek directions and/or instructions. Statistics indicate that 60% of consumers claim to make purchase decisions much quicker now then they used to, and they accredit this to their mobile online activities.

Recent research has revealed that 70% of mobile online users that leave a site, dissatisfied, do so because of lumbering load times. An additional 29% of smartphone users do not hesitate to move on to another website if their browsing experience becomes complicated or difficult. This includes not being able to find the information they are looking for due to a complicated or non-user-friendly application.

The good news is that there are a few simple steps that can be taken to improve your mobile design and to increase the speed and effectiveness for the users.

Keep Things Simple by Eliminating Steps: Nobody wants to have to jump through hoops in order to make a transaction or glean information from their mobile device. The more steps that must be taken to accomplish the end goal (whatever that may be), the more likely the user is to make an error.

Different marketers have different goals for their app. They may be trying to increase calls or visits-perhaps they want to drive engagement or mobile commerce, or encourage registrations. Whatever the case may be, it is important to cut out as many steps as possible to get to the end goal, making it easier for the user.

Here are a few examples of how to facilitate the user’s experience:

• Make streamlining mobile sales or registration possible with a one-click feature
• Provide GPS-powered driving directions
• Place click-to-call buttons in strategic places on the site

Anticipate the Needs of the User:

Marketers should understand that in order to be successful, they must know the needs of their customers … before the customers do. Learning what users are doing on your mobile site by analyzing your top mobile content and searches is imperative. With that knowledge you can anticipate their moves and incorporate the necessary facilitators to accommodate them, such as:

• Assure that the call-to-action button for the primary activities is placed in an obvious spot on the homepage (further calls to action may be placed behind menus).
• Don’t discount the importance of the global positioning system (GPS) capabilities provided by smartphones. Research has proven that 61% of smart phone users are more apt to purchase from mobile sites and applications that customize the pertinent information to their specific real-time location.

Load Time is Key:

The cold, hard fact regarding load time is that if your mobile site lags too long, the user will abandon ship and move to another site. Research has proven that 40% of mobile users seeking travel or retail information will give up if the content has not loaded in three seconds or less. For this reason, it’s crucial to know the load time of your site and take measures to increase the speed if needed. This is not only true for your mobile site, but for your desktop site as well. Retailers have found that for every second of improvement made to their load time, they experience a conversion rate increase of up to 2%!

Key Points:

1. Consumers, just like the rest of the population, demand speed and user-friendly technology. Every brand marketer should know what action they want users to take on their mobile site or app, how long it takes to perform it, and how easy it is to accomplish. If it takes longer then a couple of minutes, it’s time to start streamlining.

2. The brand marketer must determine which functions of the mobile site are absolutely necessary for the customer, anticipating their needs and facilitating the process as much as possible to meet those needs.

3. Analyze the load time of your site and make whatever improvements are necessary to achieve the fastest results possible.

   Genius Monkey is the industry’s leader when it comes to creating effective mobile ads, and programmatically placing them in front of the right people at the right time. However, these ads will only be as successful as the website that we send traffic to. This effectiveness can be achieved through easy navigation and the fulfillment of the consumers’ need for speed.