Virtually everybody in the consumer world uses a mobile device at some point in their day-to-day lives, and the number of mobile purchases are on the rise. You can improve your web store’s mobile functionality by following the tips below.
Use a Responsive Theme
A responsive WordPress theme changes the website’s layout depending on the device the customer uses to access it. Your store may look superb on your laptop, but it may fail to load or load incorrectly on your customers’ phones and tablets.
Think About User Flow
User flow refers to the way in which customers look over your website. Their eyes usually start at the top of the screen, the go from left to right. Customers’ eyes should land on the most essential information right away. Hiding a product description near the bottom of the screen, for example, can lead to a missed conversion.
Optimize Your Images
Content accompanied by images has a higher level of engagement than text alone. However, poorly optimized images can reduce your page’s loading time. Use an image optimization plugin such as EWWW Image Optimizer, WP Smush, or Kraken Image Optimizer to help reduce image size without dropping quality.
Keep a Sense of Consistency
Once you have a layout that works for you and your customers, stick to it. Use new tools and plugins when they can add to your site, but don’t change formats at every opportunity. You should make sure that your customers know where to find important information, even after a long lapse in visiting.
Use Autocomplete
Customers on mobile devices have difficulty doing a lot of typing while they’re on the go. By implementing an autocomplete plugin such as WP AutoComplete Search, you give them an easier time of finding the information they need.
Think About Mobile SEO
Google and other major search algorithms now prioritize search results based on whether a website is considered mobile friendly or not. Make sure to use Google’s “Mobile Friendly Test” to make sure that your website use good SEO and shows up as mobile friendly in search results.
Avoid Large Downloads
Providing downloadable files such as ebooks and help guides can benefit your users, but you need to keep the file size easy enough to fit into a typical customer’s data plan. Assume that mobile users are using data rather than wi-fi and avoid downloads of 50 MB or more.
Keep Information Brief
Remember that everything you put online will likely be read by customers that have, at most, a seven- or eight-inch screen. This means that you should keep product descriptions, highlights, and other text-based information brief. Using bullet points to summarize important information can help you in this regard.
Install a Mobile Responsive Plugin
WordPress offers several plugins that can help create a responsive website that works well with mobile devices. The most well-known of these plugins is Jetpack, but WPtouch and WP Smush Pro also allow you to customize menus and displays to help users visiting your store on a mobile device.
Watch Your Analytics
Use WooCommerce Google Analytics to track sessions, analyze important data such as cart actions, product views, exit pages and so on. Knowledge is power in the sales world, and using the analytics available to you can help you get to know your customers better. You can also figure out what pages or sections of your website may need to be tweaked to perform better for mobile users.
Put Best Sellers at the Top of the Screen
When your customers visit your site looking for a specific item, they probably want your best-selling product in that category. You can streamline the process for them by putting your top sellers near the top of the screen. This reduces the amount of time the customer spends scrolling.
Test Thoroughly
Once you have your website optimized for mobile usage, test it thoroughly. This includes running through the web store on your own mobile devices (ideally both phone and tablet) and having other people test the website as well. Make sure you are out of administrator mode when testing your site so you can truly see what the customer sees. Also make sure to test it on various browsers.
Most of your customers will use mobile devices to shop. If you make it as easy for them as possible using the tips above, you can definitely improve your conversion rate.
