Today is the kickoff of Magento Imagine 2017, and one of the hottest topics of this year’s conference is the explosive growth in mobile commerce. According to Jon Higby, Paypal Manager- Solutions Engineering, Paypal has experienced a 55% YOY growth in mobile payment volume.
What makes the market staggering is that the conversion rates on mobile lag behind desktop by a whopping 66%, so improving mobile conversion rates, even by small amounts, can mean a big increase in revenues on your commerce website.
Most everyone is designing their commerce website in a responsive mode, but that is not enough. Simply having responsive design does not equal an increase in mobile conversions. The main reason most shoppers abandon their cart in a mobile experience is they are forced into too many “clicks” to complete their purchase. Mobile carts generally consist of a single or few number of items. This indicates a focused shopping experience as compared to the casual browsing done within the desktop. Mobile consumers know what they want buy, and want to complete the purchase as quickly as possible.
Tips to keep in mind for the mobile shopper:
1. Checkout flow must be made simple. Conversion rates are significantly higher when a customer’s details are remembered. Remember mobile users tend to make far more typing errors than desktop users. The goal should be as little user input as possible.
2. Cross-sell/upsell tends not to be successful in the mobile environment, and increases buying friction. Try A/B testing your mobile experience without these add-ons.
3. When surveyed, mobile users ranked product reviews as significantly less important than desktop users. This would be another area to reduce or eliminate in a mobile commerce experience.
4. Limit or eliminate any unnecessary fields. In the world of mobile conversion success, simplicity is king.
Explosive growth in mobile shopping is not expected to slow down anytime soon. Online retailers that adopt the principle of “less is more” will be the ones who maximize mobile conversion rates going forward. Sometimes the simplest strategies are the most successful.
