In this installment, Greg and Mark from Think Around Corners talk about thumb-friendly, responsive web design priciples and how to design effective pages for the most effective mobile user experience. The key points covered are essential when deploying mobile marketing solutions.
Mobile Landing Pages exhibit easy reading and simple layout logic.
Small text makes for a poor experience.
Same Landing Page, Different User Exerience.
Although viewed on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, mobile landing pages are a different user experience entirely. And that user experience could be the difference between a quick sale, and no sale at all.
At Think Around Corners we help our clients address the 7 basic design points that are essential when designing mobile landing pages.
7 Key Design Points for Mobile Landing Pages.
#1 – Keep It Simple
Mobile landing pages must incorporate a simplified layout with a good vertical rhythm and this includes fewer — but larger — elements on the page in order not to confuse the reader.
#2 – Thumb Friendly
Mobile landing pages must feature thumb friendly design…why? Because there is no “hover” functionality, which is what allows full page designers the ability to deploy JavaScript trickiness like changing colors and drop-down boxes in response to your pointer position. Your thumb is not the same and is only “on or off the element”, so the mobile page design has to be optimized to compensate for this and other challenges like implementing smaller buttons and cursors.
#3 – Direct Contacting / Click To Call (CTC)
On any mobile platform it’s essential to have a direct contacting method such as a “Click to Call” button or even your phone number. This allows the visitor to immediately complete the call to action (to call you) and these digits must also be easy to copy/cut and paste.
#4 – Fast Load Times
No one wants to wait for slow web pages to load, no matter what the device or connection type used. Reducing your load times can be achieved using a variety of mobile optimization techniques, including but not limited to;
- Simplified design with fewer elements to load
- Using streamlining tools to help optimize image sizes/page payloads
- Utilizing Content Delivery Networks to host static data
Images are a big part optimizing page load times, so consider replacing larger images with thumbnails or even eliminating them completely, as well as any item that does not affect mobile conversion or engagement. This is an area where many clients need technical guidance and Think Around Corners is available to help you.
#5 – Easy Navigation
When designing mobile landing pages, implementing easy navigation is critical. Visitors must be able to move easily from one page to another, your mobile page design must accommodate this. Techniques used include larger (and fewer) buttons and icons and single drop-down menu buttons. Your information architecture will dictate what type of simplified navigation you need, but in our opinion, it should be a single drop-down button or no more than 5 buttons across the top.
#6 – Obvious Direction / Calls To Action (CTA)
You must implement a strong call to action on every page that drives the visitors towards conversion. Besides the contact button, nothing is as important as a prominent call to action (CTA) button. This can get complicated when multiple calls to action are resident on the same page.
If dealing with multiple segments, breaking it down simply with easy navigation path this is critical. For example, when selling clothing, in our experience having multiple call to action button(s) or drop-down with selections for and works best. It’s also important to have all content and imagery point the visitor to complete that call to action on each page.
#7 – Test It
At Think Around Corners we feel this is the most important point when implementing a mobile design … test it! This can be as simple as having five or six friends spend 15 minutes testing the functionality and we find as much as 80% of the items needing to be fixed will be revealed.
In our experience, these problematic items, if not addressed will decrease your conversion rates by at least half and that’s a huge problem. Make sure the test includes multiple devices and connection providers/locations as well to insure accuracy of results.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we strongly believe that implementing these 7 design techniques when building mobile landing pages can increase your conversion rates significantly.
Looking for help in crafting a mobile landing page strategy to increase your conversion rates? Then why not contact Greg and Mark at Think Around Corners today at 203-297-3372 or via email.
