How to Develop a Mobile-Friendly E-commerce Website

About half of the internet users do their online shopping through smartphones. So, if you want to create an ecommerce site, it’s essential to consider smartphone users.

To serve the mobile using population, creating an ecommerce site and hiring the best ecommerce development company should be on top of your list when designing your site or online store. If your ecommerce site has a poor shopping experience, customers might move on to your competitors.

We’ll walk you through the practical tips on designing a mobile-friendly site to prevent this from happening. But first, let’s walk you through the basics: 

What is a mobile-friendly website?

In a nutshell, a mobile-friendly ecommerce site loads and runs quickly on smartphones. An ecommerce site that allows users to browse through and make purchases via smartphones is a mobile-friendly site. 

An excellent mobile-friendly site lets shoppers and users easily navigate the site with little to no issue. The faster the site loads, the more perks your site will have. 

Tips on How to Make Your Ecommerce Store Mobile-friendly

1. Make sure your website is responsive

A responsive design means your content will look the same regardless of device, browser, or operating system. It is because a responsive web page lets you detect the orientation and screen size of the visitor so that the layout can adjust. 

At Sytian Prductions (website design philippines,) we always tell clients that because of responsive design, the days of developing a separate mobile-friendly site are over. It means less work for mobile apps developers, and you won’t be penalized by search engines for having duplicate content because you won’t have two different sites with the same content. 

2. Smooth checkout process

You risk losing customers if you ask them to proceed with additional steps in the checkout process. By making it a requirement for customers to register for an account and enter additional personal information, you’re adding extra friction to the process, which can easily discourage them from making a purchase. 

That’s why accepting different payment methods is essential. Make sure your customers can access PayPal, ApplePay, and other mobile or digital wallets to complete the transaction. 

It would be best if you also considered accepting guest checkouts. This feature will make it possible for visitors to purchase from your site without logging in or signing up. Users don’t have the patience to fill in multiple steps in your site or a vast number of fields. 

They want to complete the checkout process as quickly and painlessly as possible. Your site should show everything clearly, from color options, descriptions, and shipping charges. 

3. Excellent quality images and proper descriptions

Choosing high-quality images and great descriptions is one of the basics of having an ecommerce store. For the images, make sure that they’re appropriately sized so that they’ll load quickly. Also, choose high-resolution images to give your site a more professional appearance. 

Here are different image files and how they pertain to mobile optimization:

• JPEG: Often used for photos
• GIF: Animations and other moving icons
• PNG: High-quality graphics

4. Integrate your website with social media

Two of the leading social media sites in social selling are Pinterest and Instagram. Incorporate these channels in your ecommerce site to capture more leads, and gain more sales from mobile users. 

The Rich Pins and Buyable Pins on Pinterest show the customers the price and availability of your products. Shoppers can purchase items immediately rather than visiting a separate web page to check out. 

On Instagram, you should tag products on the feed using Shoppable Posts. These tags often lead to a optimized product catalog where users can shop on your feed, then go directly to the product page of your site to purchase. 

Track how many visitors visit your site through these platforms. You can offer them specific promotions and discounts on these channels, driving mobile sales. 

5. Simplify your navigation

Customers don’t want to put much effort into surfing through a site. They tried to navigate your site easily. Place a single menu icon opening a drop-down menu when it’s tapped. Also, ensure this is consistently placed throughout your site. That way, users will always know where it’s at. 

To stand out from the rest of the pack, you must create easily navigable content with the thumb or index finger. If this isn’t the case, your content might be too small or not compatible with mobile devices.

6. Your webpage should load quickly

The experience is different from a user browsing on a desktop computer or laptop. Data speed and an internet connection can be slow, and users tend to get impatient. Approximately 40% of shoppers abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. 

The bottom line is that you must ensure your page loads quickly. So, test your page’s loading speed with the mobile-friendly test tool Google. As an alternative for sites with lots of sub-pages, you can also try out the free tool offered for both mobile devices and desktops by EXPERTE. Providing similar data to that of Google’s Lighthouse engine, it gives a useful overview of where the problem areas on your site are.

7. Position CTAs properly

It would be best if you had a clearly defined call-to-action to enhance engagement and revenue, especially a prominent Add to Cart button. 

Your CTAs should be placed above the fold or in the front and center. However, other experts argue they’ve achieved higher conversion rates when CTAs are placed below the right amount. 

8. Make contact information easy to access

Users want to contact your business via a phone number, business hours, or simply a location close to them. 

The easier it is for visitors to access your contact information, the better experience they’ll have. So, make sure this information is secure.

9. Keep testing

You must test it several times after you’ve finished a mobile-friendly ecommerce website development. Ensure you test on multiple devices, including your Android, iPhone, and Windows phones. Also, check if the design is working correctly on all mobile devices. 

Final Thoughts

By this point, you already know why a mobile-friendly ecommerce site is essential. It isn’t optional in today’s digital climate. As more and more people shop using their mobile phones, it’s already a standard for your site to load fast, working well with mobile. Doing so will help you attract a wide range of users, giving your business a boost. Good luck!