Mobile Shoppers Rarely Give Second Chances

Many eCommerce sites are flirting with mobile buyers; some eTailers have fully committed. But a recent Harris Interactive survey makes this clear: if you fail to perform during a shopper’s first visit on your site, don’t count on getting a second chance.

More than 70 percent of U.S. consumers use their smartphones to shop, and among those shoppers, 88 percent have had a negative experience. Most of us can relate to the frustration of having tried to make a purchase via smartphone only to abandon our cart mid-way through the experience. However, according to this study, an alarming 30 percent said that they would never return to that particular retailer’s mobile website again.

How can eCommerce businesses prepare for the shift to mobile?

Whether or not you have a mobile site now, it’s time to treat it seriously. Perhaps you quickly created a basic site a couple years ago to respond to the trend of mobile shopping, or you’re just thinking about moving to the mobile space. Whichever stage you are at, there are some common Mistakes to Avoid when optimizing your mobile site.

Forrester Research, in its 2013 paper Mobile Trends for Marketers, announced that “mobile on the cheap is over,” and suggested that businesses treat it as a strategic priority rather than an afterthought.

The top complaints of mobile shoppers are:

1. Retailers’ websites are harder to navigate and use on a mobile device than on a desktop (51%)
2. Product images are too small to make a buying decision (46%)
3. Concerns over security on a smartphone (41%)
4. Checkout process is a pain (26%)

If these problems sound familiar for your own mobile site, take these proactive steps to improve the experience for your customers. You can start identifying what your mobile site needs by reviewing best practices, as outlined in the Whitepaper “Site Search and the Mobile Experience.” Then set up a site critique for specific, personalized recommendations on how to increase your conversions and boost your average order value, both on your web site and mobile sites.

Mobile shoppers are not the most patient or forgiving crowd. Considering that there are now more than a billion consumers with smartphones and more than 150 million tablets sold, it’s crucial to recognize that consumers around the world are driving a shift in how purchasing is done. By launching a new mobile site or optimizing your existing one, you’ll attract, engage and keep customers coming back.