How to verify if your e-Commerce is mobile-friendly?
If you're selling products, you must make sure that your eCommerce is mobile-friendly. If it's not, you might be losing out on potential sales from customers who visit your site from their phones or tablets. In this post, we'll explain why being mobile-friendly is important and then show you how to check if your website passes the test for being mobile-friendly.
1. Mobile-friendliness test
A Google-recommended way to find out if your website is mobile-friendly is by using their Mobile-Friendly Test. You can do this free of charge, and all you need to do is enter the URL of your site into the search bar. The tool will then tell you if your eCommerce site passes or fails for being “optimized for mobile” according to Google’s standards.
If you don't have access to a smartphone or tablet device, then another viable option would be using an emulator (an emulator simulates devices like iPhones and Android phones). That way, you can use any computer that has an internet connection without having to physically change anything about its configuration.
2. Loading time
Loading time is one of the most important factors in determining whether a user will stick around on your website and make a purchase. A slow-loading site can cause visitors to bounce, or worse, never come back again.
Measuring your site's loading time is easy to do with tools like GTMetrix and WebPageTest. You should have all three tests completed before publishing anything publicly because they'll provide different insights into how well you're doing overall.
Improving loading times depends on how fast your server is able to process requests from users' browsers—a task that's often complicated by third-party scripts running in the background without your knowledge (think Google Analytics). If these processes are slowing down your site significantly, try disabling them temporarily while running tests again to see if there was any improvement made.
3. Check out the forms
The checkout process should be simple, or it can lead to a high abandonment rate. Customers will gladly fill out forms that have few fields and are easy to understand. Forms should also be consistent with the rest of your site, so make sure they match your brand's look and feel.
One thing you should avoid is having too many fields on your forms in general, as this will make them daunting to complete and could cause customers to abandon their carts without completing their purchase.
4. Navigation
The navigation of your website should be easy to find, easy to use and consistent across all devices. Your navigation should also be easy to learn and remember.
To make sure that your navigation is mobile-friendly, consider the following:
The main purpose of the mobile website is different from that of a desktop site and therefore it needs its own unique design. Therefore, it’s important you don’t simply replicate the same layout on both platforms because that would make things more difficult for users as they won't know where things are based on their screen size alone
If possible, avoid using dropdowns whenever possible because they take up more space than buttons
5. Mobile eCommerce content
Mobile content should be short and easy to read. Make sure to avoid jargon and use plain language, bullet points, lists and tables to make it easier to scan the page. Use images and videos to break up text where appropriate.
If you want your customers to buy from you via their mobile devices, then make sure they don’t have a terrible experience when they do so!
Mobile is quickly becoming the preferred method by which consumers browse and purchase goods online—and it's only going to get bigger from here on out! So if it's not already part of your current strategy, then now might be a good time to start thinking about how exactly you can make sure that all aspects of your website are optimized for this medium.
KEY TOPICS
1. MOBILE-FRIENDLINESS TEST
2. LOADING TIME
3. CHECK OUT THE FORMS
4. NAVIGATION
5. MOBILE E-COMMERCE CONTENT
