Do you care about your mCustomers?

Today, two out of every three dollars in eCommerce are spent through a mobile device. Without question, the time of mCommerce has come. This means that your online store has to be 100% mobile-friendly if you want to continue growing. But what should you take care of? And what changes are necessary to satisfy modern mConsumers? Let’s conquer the mobile commerce world!


In this article, we are going to base on the recent report published by Twisto.pl, which is an online payment platform dedicated primarily to online stores. In their Koszyk Roku 2020 (The Shopping Cart of the Year) report, you can find tons of practical knowledge that will help you enhance your offer and make your store more mobile friendly.


Mobile commerce on the rise


First and foremost, today, over half of all online traffic happens via mobile devices1. The vast majority of consumers have a smartphone or a tablet. Our phones are online 24/7, and we can use them literally everywhere. According to Oberlo.com2, this fact has a significant influence on the way we buy online:

 

  • The share of mobile commerce sales in the global eCommerce sector has increased by 28.2% from a 52.4% market share in 2016 to a current 67.2%
  • This mCommerce growth is predicted to continue and reach 72.9% by 2021


Your store is no exception. Most likely, even today, your eCommerce business enjoys many visits and purchases done via mobile devices. If you use analytics tools like Google Analytics (you should!), you can quickly verify how many of your customers are mCustomers.


This begs the question: Do they feel welcome in your store? The answer to this question is vital to your success. Read on and see which of the adjustments we are going to talk about should be implemented in your store.


Get ready for mobile customers



Generally speaking, there are five crucial elements on the mobile version of Customer Journey:

 

  1. Browsing your store’s website
  2. Placing an order
  3. Signing up
  4. Payment and delivery
  5. Summary


Let’s take a closer look at each one of them.


BROWSING YOUR STORE’S WEBSITE


Here, there are three essential elements: The main page, navigation, and the search engine. Pay extra attention to these elements. First of all, take care of your mobile site’s performance. Mobile users don’t want to wait. Your page should load as quickly as possible. You can check your current load speed at Google’s PageSpeed Insights.


Next, put all the vital elements (logo, navigation elements, menu, sign up icon, shopping cart icon) on top of the screen. The search engine should also be easy to find.


Keep in mind that small mobile screens are the reason why many customers make typos. If the given query did not produce any results, recommend some other products or suggest what can be done to improve the outcome. Also, more and more companies offer voice searching and barcode scanning in order to find the requested product. Fashion stores are especially keen on offering this type of option. Perhaps you could implement such a feature in your store as well?


If the opposite situation happens, and your customer receives too many results, divide them into smaller sections. When a customer reaches the end of one section, recommend that they “load more results”. This way, you keep everything neat and in order.


The next important question: Enable adding products to cart without leaving the specific product’s tab. And finally, don't overdo it with the amount of content and details. It’s best to hide all the secondary information under various expanders and tabs. Your mobile site should be, above all, transparent.


PLACING AN ORDER


The first part of placing an order is all about getting acquainted with the product. Make sure your product tab is concise and legible. The mobile-friendly product tab should comprise the following elements: 

 

  • High-quality photos and videos of the product (provide the ability to zoom in)
  • The possibility to choose the preferred product variant (size, color, version, etc.)
  • Information about the product’s availability
  • Reviews and opinions about the product
  • The possibility to ask questions directly from the product tab


Next, we go to the shopping cart section. Every time a customer adds the product to the shopping cart, they should be informed that the product was added successfully. Deleting products should be equally straightforward. Moreover, it’s good practice to show (with a digit next to the cart’s icon) how many products are currently in the cart. Additionally, show customers how much every single item costs and what the delivery fee is. 


At this point, many stores offer several other features that come in handy in many instances:

 

  • The possibility to add a discount code
  • A counter showing how close you are to getting free delivery
  • Opportunity to book a product in a chosen stationary store


CALCULATORS


It's worth noting that many stores, primarily operating in the fashion and construction industry, offer various counters and calculators that help customers make an informed decision. For instance, OBI, which is a Polish home-improvement center chain, provides the possibility of counting how many batches of tiles you need to buy to redecorate your 5-sqm bathroom. It's a massive simplification! The same rule applies to fashion stores. For instance, you could help your customers pick the perfect shoe size based on the foot length.


SIGNING UP


For starters, it’s good practice to allow customers to place an order without creating a new account. You could also think about providing alternative login methods. Today, many stores offer the “Log in with Facebook” or “Log in with Google” option. This way, customer details are quickly shared between entities so that customers don’t have to input the same data twice. If, while creating an account, any error occurs, report it instantly and show what needs to be corrected.


If a customer wants to create a new account, allow them to do so via a mobile site. At this point, we advise you to read our additional article about cybersecurity. Make sure the password is strong enough, and don’t ask customers to enter it twice. Instead, allow them to verify whether the password is correct by displaying it.
To be GDPR-compliant, ask only for relevant data. Limit information needed to open an account to the minimum necessary.


PAYMENT AND DELIVERY


At this point, it’s essential to show available delivery options along with associated costs. If a given delivery option is free, emphasize this information. If you provide the personal collection option, share details like opening hours and a chosen store location.


What about payments? It’s actually the same thing! Offer various options and show them to your customers. Make sure you have at least one payment option that can be done entirely via a mobile device. For instance, BLIK offers such a possibility. Furthermore, offer convenient payments using online wallets: Masterpass, GPay, or Apple Pay.


And lastly, do not show all available payment methods in one place. Limit yourself to only the most popular ones (show the rest after clicking the “show more payment options” button).


What are the other options you could think of?

 

  • Express delivery (according to Twisto, only 15% of online stores offer this option!)
  • Predicted delivery time (only 14% of stores have this feature)


SUMMARY


At the end of the process, show all the relevant information in the order’s summary. Such an outline should consist of:

 

  • Ordered product with details (size, color, version)
  • Delivery address
  • The overall cost should consist of the product's price, the delivery cost, and the cost of any additional services. Show how much each one of these elements costs separately.


We recommend you leave this section with no ads. What you should place, though, is the chat icon or a hotline number so that your customers can quickly call/write in case they want to change something in the order.


Accessibility is essential


With the Customer Journey covered, you can focus on accessibility. Accessibility means that your store is legible and user-friendly, even for customers that are not tech-savvy. What should you take care of here?

 

  • Return policy: Make sure your return policy is straightforward and can be viewed on the mobile version of your store
  • Forms of contact: Enable various forms or direct contact with your store (chat, hotline, messenger, etc.)
  • Simple language: Don’t try to be too silver-tongued. Your main goal is to sell, and your customer’s primary goal is to purchase. Don’t complicate it!
  • Large text and large clickable elements: Bear in mind that among your customers, you will find older adults, the visually impaired, or others who aren’t fully functional in general. Make sure your text and its font are clear and legible. Clickable buttons should be large and, if possible, separated so that no one clicks anything inadvertently.


As you can see, there are many principles you have to stick to in order to satisfy mobile customers. mCommerce really can be a tough beast to tame! However, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze. A fully functional mobile version of your website is, by far, the most straightforward way to grow sales and acquire new customers. So why wouldn't you make the most of it?
 


[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/

[2] https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/mobile-commerce-sales

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