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Mobile Use and Mobile Web in 2013

We meet and speak with lots of different businesses.  Our clientele is a very culturally diverse ecosystem of companies in varied industries and of many different sizes.   Having this large breadth of first hand information to work with has given us the insight and advantage to see what’s going on out there and where things are going.  That being said we’ve noticed some major changes over the last 18 months, the crazy fast adoption of mobile by consumers.  Now, I know what you’re probably thinking…just what the heck is “mobile use” exactly and why do I even care?  Prepare to get your learn on, but I’ll try to keep this short.

Mobile use, simply put, means when somebody uses a web site or app to access a company or brand’s information VIA their mobile device (a smartphone or tablet).  At the beginning of 2012 we saw most Quad Cities’ web sites (that we manage) hovering around 6% – 12% mobile usage…meaning 6% to 12% of the people using the web site were on their smartphone or tablet.  Now we’re seeing most sites checking out around 30%, and some as high as 60%!   So what does this mean to you? It means more than likely 1/3 of your customers are visiting your web site on their phone or tablet.  Why is that a big deal?  I’m glad you asked, great question, kudos to you 🙂  It’s a big deal because that means if your web site is not mobile optimized then 1/3 of your customers aren’t experiencing your web site/business in the way they should.

Have you ever visited a web site on your phone or tablet and it didn’t work right, menus were inaccessible, things didn’t touch or you simply couldn’t read it?  Well, that’s a not a mobile friendly web site.  So what exactly constitutes a mobile friendly web site? Well, that would be a web site that appears differently on a mobile device VS a desktop or laptop computer.  Mobile sites are developed in way that makes the page perfectly suitable for phone or tablet usage.  There’s two methods to accommodate mobile users, mobile dedicated sites and responsive design.  Mobile dedicated sites are sites that look almost completely different than the “normal” web site, they have images design for smart phones, touchable menus and different layouts.  Most of the time mobile dedicated sites will have less content and a different focus than the desktop/laptop site.  A responsive design means the regardless of what device you are using the web site is consistent, the layouts flex, the images may appear to be smaller and some content may drop off the page, making the site appealing to the mobile user.

So how do you know what to do and when? Take a look at your web site traffic, is it 20% or higher?  How many customers is that…200…2,000?  Don’t you want all your customers to have the best possible experience when dealing with your business?  If so, then you need to consider updating your web site for mobile, you can discuss with your web developer which of the aforementioned mobile methods is best for you.  It’s a new landscape out there and it changes by the minute, the key is adapting to the change.   Even if you don’t use a smart phone or tablet to use the web your customers probably are…and you can’t ignore your customers.

Happy Webbing.

To learn more about QC Total Tech’s mobile web site design offerings, visit the mobile web site page on this web site.