5 Reasons Why Mobile-Friendly Websites Boost Your Brand

In today’s digital world, consumers have the power to find and research brands on their own. In fact, 93% of consumers searched for local brands via Google in 2020. If you aren’t making it easy for users to find you online and access your website, they’ll look elsewhere – and their gaze will likely be met by a competitor.

It doesn’t matter whether you sell cars, clothes, or crayons; if your business isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing potential customers. A recent survey showed that 83% of consumers expected local businesses to have a mobile-friendly site.

If your website isn’t optimised for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), we recommend updating it before you lose any more potential customers. Here are five solid reasons why it matters if your website is mobile-friendly.

#1 Consumers are constantly on the go

Consumers are always on the go – they’re checking and replying to work emails from their car, ordering groceries from their couch, and even shopping for clothes in the lavatory when nature calls. If you plan to match their pace and stay competitive, you’ll need a website that allows your customers to enjoy remote shopping privileges. With more than 70% of mobile users expected to shop online this year, you may want to get a jump on it.

For example, if you’re in the business of selling camping equipment, having the most durable camp chair on display in your store’s window (with two cup holders) would do little for remote shoppers if it couldn’t be viewed via mobile.

People value their time. Knowing they could spend minutes viewing that chair while on the go, which would have otherwise taken them a couple of hours to see in person, is an easy win.  Similarly, if you’re running a business where customers need to fill out forms, a mobile-friendly website makes it easy for them to do so from anywhere.

#2 It’s a must if you want to rank well

If you’re looking to rank well on Google, you’ll need to provide an excellent user experience, especially for mobile. Your website needs to be easy to navigate and quick to load. If it isn’t mobile-friendly, you can expect people to lose interest fast.

A rule of thumb is that you want your customer to have access to everything using only their thumb. Scrolling up and down is pretty easy, but left and right can become tedious in seconds. Ensure your website’s design allows for everything to be accessed with minimal effort.

On the topic of customers valuing their time, you have very little of it to make your initial impression. If your website is slow to load, Google will consider that a poor user experience and rank your site lower in their search engine results pages (SERPs).

A study found that the average mobile site visitor will wait only three seconds for a page to load. Anything beyond that will see them tip their hat and bid you a good day. So, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, it’ll take longer to load and immediately turn off customers. If you intend to rank well in Google, you’ll need a mobile-friendly website. Naturally, an excellent ranking will take you a notch above your competitors.

#3 Responsive design is cheaper than developing two separate websites

If you’re considering developing two separate websites, one for mobile and one for desktop, you should know it’s cheaper to build a responsive website than two separate sites. A responsive website is one where the layout and design respond based on the device you’re using to access it. That means if you’re using a smartphone to access the site, the website will automatically adjust for that smaller screen. It goes without saying (that’s why we’re not saying it), that if you build a responsive website, you’ll only need that one. As you can expect, this will save you a fair penny.

#4 It helps establish your brand

Having a mobile-friendly website can help you establish your brand online. That’s especially important if you’ve got a brick-and-mortar business because you have less control over the narrative around your brand.

For example, continuing with the camping equipment store, you sell a camp chair with your logo on it. A fellow happy camper might see said chair on a camping trip, but won’t know much else about the chair (besides its stellar quality). That’s because they have no association with the chair as your brand hasn’t been strong enough to lay claim to it.

In today’s world, people are relying more on the internet to make purchasing decisions, which means you need to establish your brand online. Now, since the happy camper spotted the chair on a camping trip, it’d be a fair assumption that the only way they could check out your store at that time would be with their smartphone. We think you see where we’re going with this.

#5 Consumers prefer mobile-friendly sites

An exceptional user experience is imperative if you want to ensure that customers are satisfied with your brand. With the amount of time people spend on their smartphones, it makes sense that they’d expect a great experience when visiting your website. A bad website experience, however, can easily translate into a bad experience with your brand. Studies show that consumers prefer mobile-friendly sites. So, if you want to keep your customers happy, you’d do well to have a website that’s easy to navigate via mobile.

Conclusion

If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you won’t only be losing potential customers, but also money. The future is mobile, and customers know it. Businesses would do well to board that ship before it sets sail. Staying competitive means including modern marketing and branding techniques. Having a mobile-friendly website happens to be one of them.