Gone are the days when you could just assume that visitors are going to browse your website only through laptops and desktops. Handheld tablets and smartphones are taking over the digital arena. Since this change happened so fast, not all conventional websites were made keeping in mind the sudden rise in mobile usage for browsing the internet. As surprising as it is, even in this mobile-dominated century, a large number of businesses don’t bother testing for the mobile readiness of their website.
In general, mobile-friendly websites display well on Android and iOS smartphones along with tablets. Mobile optimization means the website can easily adjust to the comparatively smaller screen size and provide a user-friendly interface on mobile devices. Some parameters include larger text that’s easier to comprehend, user-friendly navigation touch-friendly page elements and buttons, and a fast speed of downloading.
Did you know that 91% of smartphone users keep their mobile devices nearby, ideally, at an arm’s length throughout the day? Think about how they are gonna react if they have to keep squinting their eyes at the screen zooming in and out while struggling to click a link. Well, if they constantly have to scroll side to side to be able to read your content, they are most likely to hop on to competitors that are just a click away.
On that note, in this post, we are going to take a look at whether your company’s website is ready for mobile. We’ll also go into details about testing your mobile readiness as well as take a look at some insights on mobile testing along with other related usability aspects. Let’s start out with why you should test your website’s mobile readiness before it reaches your customers.
Why Should You Check Whether Your Company’s Website Is Ready For Mobile?
It doesn’t matter what device your users have to get to your website. It all comes down to how positive you make their experience when they are browsing through your content. It’s important to have a mobile-friendly website for enhanced search visibility, lead generation, user experience, and brand identity. Those are just a handful of reasons why businesses nowadays can’t get away with non-mobile-friendly website designs.
One prominent area in which smartphones have already taken over is the e-Commerce sector. Even if your customers aren’t buying online, they are highly likely to conduct their initial research using their smartphones. According to Google reports, post-2010 has been a time when the number of mobile searches has quadrupled.
What used to be an exception decades ago made the norm in the past decade. In April 2015, Google rolled out a massive update that negatively impacted websites that didn’t adhere to mobile-friendliness standards. The language was no bar and the update deeply affected search results. Now that it’s clear why you should check your company’s website for mobile readiness, let’s move on to how you can find out whether your company’s website is ready for mobile.
Is Your Company’s Website Ready for Mobile?
Whether the end goal of your website is to make sales, capture leads, inform potential customers or educate. Ensuring compatibility with smartphones is mandatory. Here are some ways to determine whether your company’s website is ready for mobile. Let’s take a look.
Test for Responsiveness
The best way to determine the responsiveness of a website is to test whether all the crucial details display and work properly on a variety of smartphones and tablets. A responsive website renders content in a way that users don’t face any trouble while using the features and functionalities of the site. To test for responsiveness, you can opt for a tool that allows responsive testing for multiple devices in a single go. LambdaTest offers an online mobile friendly tester – LT Browser that gives more than 50 device viewports and also facilitates the generation of screenshots and records issues.
You can test your company’s website on different viewports, and resolutions. It features a side-by-side view with a sync scroll which eliminates the trouble of switching between numerous devices. You can also add custom device resolutions and keep track of all your tests with full-page screenshots and video recordings. Just a single click and you can also get a detailed lighthouse performance report detailing statistics such as SEO, the scope of improvement, accessibility score, and key performance metrics.
Some other features include testing on different network conditions, responsive design test with hot reloading, double speed, marking and annotating bugs, better collaboration, and 24/7 support from tech experts. Besides testing on mobile, you can also test website responsiveness on custom resolutions of tablet, desktop, and laptop screen resolutions.
Are Thumb Clicks Working?
Since we’re talking about browsing the internet with handheld devices, it’s important to make sure that your website works well when it comes to clicks. Nothing irritates the end-user more than pinching the screen and zooming to click on a button or a link. If users have to go through this trouble, it means that the size of your graphics and text is not smartphone-optimized. Thumb clicks are a must for a mobile-friendly website.
Check for Clutter
While testing your website for mobile responsiveness check for clutter and if you find anything haphazard, it’s time to declutter! Only an unfussy and clean layout can add to positive results. Complicated website designs and clutter don’t do a good job convincing users that your website can cater to their needs.
There is a limit to how much visual information the human mind can process. More elements than required scream too many bells and whistles. That clouds key information by distracting viewers towards unnecessary elements. In addition to that, the website loads slowly. That’s why it’s recommended to use limited and necessary graphics along with clear text and plenty of white space.
Test The Load Speed
If a website doesn’t load within a second or two, chances are, your visitors are never gonna come back. There is no shortage of competitive websites offering lightning speed with a brilliant design. To gain an edge over your competitors or at least stay on par with what they are offering, it’s important to test your website for mobile load speed. Moreover, a faster loading website will offer your viewers clarity in a smaller amount of time, thus, prompting them to take quick action. Isn’t it a good way to boost conversions and of course, by extension, ROI?
Are All The Forms Working?
All prospective clients need your contact form to flawlessly work so that they can reach out to you. The same goes for other forms that gather vital customer information. Check the responsiveness by tapping on the ‘Contact’ page. Can you easily fill out all the information? Does it properly respond?
Is Your Content Placement Proper?
While structural optimization is crucial for mobile readiness, you should always check your content placement to know whether your core focus is in place. A website’s content has the power to make or break the buyer’s journey. Therefore, the content hierarchy on your mobile website should be on par with the kind of interactions you want your visitors to have with your website.
For example, are you sure where the call to action buttons are leading? Can visitors see all the important buttons easily? You can also check content placement with this 3-second method. Open your website on a smartphone and pinch your fingers on the screen till you are unable to shrink the browser anymore. If the content seems to cut off or spills on the screen, it’s an indication of non-mobile-friendliness.
What Goes Into Creating a Mobile-Friendly Site?
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to instantly make a site mobile-friendly. Fortunately, it’s not as hard as you think! If you have a well-coded and well-designed website with a database-driven CMS, all you need to do is test and update your current page templates.
One of the best ways to go is to adopt a mobile-first approach. In other words, this method involves designing the mobile version of a website or webpage first. After that comes the addition of other enhancements and functionalities to the desktop version if required. You can also follow an adaptive approach that involves refitting an old webpage to make it work flawlessly with newer and smaller screen sizes. If you are creating a website from scratch, making responsive sites has to be your primary goal.
Summing It Up
The best way to rise above the digital dust is to adapt to this mobile-dominated world. In other words, businesses should start acknowledging that they are missing out on loads of revenue if their websites are not mobile-ready. If you haven’t already tested your website for mobile readiness, now is the time! When visitors get a beautiful design, easy navigation, and a pleasant interface at their disposal, it boosts your business’s online visibility. Besides, it opens up new horizons for your company by bringing in more customers.
Do you think petty issues like slow loading and text spilling are worth losing potential customers? The answer has to be a resounding no. To cater to the surging number of mobile visitors, it’s vital to offer them an amazing user experience. After checking whether your company’s website is ready for mobile using the above pointers, it’s important to fix related issues right away as quickly as possible.