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Why Mobile Optimization for E-commerce Websites Is a Must in 2023

With mobile shopping becoming second nature to Indian consumers today, e-commerce brands need to cater to these changing trends. In fact, mobile e-commerce is catching on twice as fast as desktop e-commerce. So if your website is not suitable for smartphone users, you stand to lose out on potential sales. That’s not all, Google also penalizes sites that are not mobile-optimized.  

Mobile optimization for e-commerce websites ensures speed, ease, and convenience for customers, which boosts traffic and sales. Better customer experience means better sales. But it also means better results in Google’s search engine page ranking, ensuring higher organic traffic.    

What does it mean to optimize for mobile? 

Another factor to consider is the nomadic nature of modern-day consumers. They don’t limit themselves to a single device. They may look up your product for the first time on their phone, use their desktop to compare prices, and make the payment on their phone again. By 2025, Insider Intelligence estimates that mobile commerce will account for 10% of all retail sales in India. This means that your e-commerce website’s experience should be consistent and seamless across devices. 

At first, mobile optimization can sound like a tedious and daunting task but it can be broken down into a few essential principles, such as: 

  • Simplifying design and ensuring hierarchy of information 
  • Optimizing the ratio of images and text 
  • Using white space strategically 
  • Ensuring high contrast and maximizing readability 
  • Maintaining consistency in visuals and functionality across devices
  • Making it easy for users to navigate between mobile and web versions 
  • Optimizing loading speed 
  • Minimizing the number of data fields in forms 

How many of these principles does your current website address? If the answer isn’t all of them, it’s time to consider mobile optimization. Here are a few points you should keep in mind when you kick-start this process.  

1. Focus on responsive design

Your website may look impeccable on a desktop, but if parts of the page or design get cropped out, design elements become difficult to navigate, or if there are problems with load time in the mobile version, you should consider responsive design. These types of websites automatically adapt to different screen sizes and ensure that your user can access all features of your site. You can also consider a specialized mobile-optimized website that is separate from your desktop website. 

2. Optimize your content 

Adding relevant content and high-resolution imagery is an important part of creating a good first impression. But it’s not always practical for mobile commerce. Having tons of text, videos, and images can make your website slow and inefficient, increasing the chances of drop-offs. When optimizing for mobile, your website should contain smaller images, fewer videos, and just enough content to convey all the salient information about your products.  

3. Make the sales funnel easy to navigate

An ideal mobile-optimized e-commerce website should push your consumers through the sales funnel in a seamless and friction-free way. This includes minimizing the number of pages, creating easy-to-understand buttons and forms, and ensuring a quick and optimized check-out process. Since an e-commerce website is required to have additional capabilities to facilitate order fulfillment, payments, logistics, and more, it is important to make this process as intuitive as you can – through single-page check-outs, autofill capabilities, and convenient payment options.    

4. Leverage device-agnostic shopping to your advantage 

Given the nomadic shopping tendencies of consumers today, syncing your e-commerce website across devices and touchpoints is essential to offer an omnichannel experience. Be it on a computer, a smartphone, or a tab, your customers should be able to move from one device to another seamlessly. Their shopping carts, wishlist, and any other account information should reflect throughout. 

5. Think about the smartphone experience 

There’s a popular rule when it comes to smartphones – thinking with the thumb. What does this mean? Ensure that all elements of interaction are placed strategically and within easy reach. Imagine the average smartphone user relying on their thumb to navigate the website. What parts of the screen are most optimal for a call-to-action? How large should each action button be to ensure easy navigation? Can you use other gestures such as swipe to enhance the shopping experience? These are questions you should answer when optimizing your e-commerce website for mobile users. 

Take your mobile e-commerce game to the next level 

Want to get into mobile optimization but have too much on your plate? We’ll simplify it for you. With Tenovia’s end-to-end e-commerce services such as marketplace management, technology, marketing, and analytics, you can get customized solutions based on your unique needs. Our digital transformation and marketplace support solutions will allow you to scale revenues and make the best of what e-commerce in India has to offer. Reach out to us today!

Prachi

Prachi

Hey there! I'm Prachi. I've always welcomed diverse experiences that have shaped my adaptability and broadened my perspective. Here, I share insights from my ongoing learnings in eCommerce, aiming to spark ideas and conversations. In my free time, you’ll find me volunteering with my crisis response dog or trekking in the high mountains. There really is no limit to how much we can explore, learn, and grow!