Mobile is the new battleground for brands who want to win customers, particularly with online shopping. If you can grab your customers in those key moments when they are browsing on their phones, you will boost your chances of making a sale. You have to first get them to your website and then keep them long enough to see something they like. Finally, they need to be able to check out on the go. Here’s how smart businesses win that mobile customer.

Optimise for Search

First, it is important to optimise a website for search. This means getting the right words and links on your pages, but not being overly keyword-heavy. It means adding keywords to images and into the content of your website so that Google has more context of what a page is about. Every area of your site should have keyword research carried out so you know what your customers are searching for and how best to optimize your pages. It also means making sure everything is responsive, so that you favour from Google’s mobile search results.

Be User-Friendly

Talking of being responsive, the website should be user-friendly even when viewed on a small smartphone screen. Similarly, on a larger tablet, that is in between a mobile screen size and a desktop screen size. This is a delicate balance, but simplicity is normally the best option. Don’t overcomplicate your user interface. The customer should be able to head to the shop page, filter their search, and view an item easily. Having clear and easy to find call to action buttons – such as “add to cart” – will also help with conversions. Websites that fail in this area are those with layouts that are more suited to a landscape-oriented screen, or buttons which are too small to press without zooming in. Strip away unnecessary elements of the page, so that the mobile process is as smooth.

Move Fast

Don’t bog your website down with huge images or complicated code. You need it to load fast so that customers can view the pages even when they are on mobile in an area with slower service. If they have to wait for a long time because your website is too slow, they might give up or go to a different website. They are not likely to wait around, especially when they still have to find the item that they want. Even when getting to the checkout process, a slow loading page could make them think twice. It could also lead them to have doubts as to whether their payment will register properly. Don’t let your conversion rate drop because pages aren’t loading quickly enough.

Easy Checkout

Make sure that you have a popular and easy to use shopping cart system. This is the most essential part of the process as far as an eager shopper is concerned. They are ready to purchase your item – but now the final hurdle could put them off. They want to see a recognised payment system, rather than having to sign up for something new and out of the ordinary that they might not trust. It should be as simple as selecting the items, confirming their basket, entering their short payment details, and receiving confirmation that the items are ordered. Don’t try to push for email sign-ups or force them to register a new account until after the order is completed. Those steps can kill your conversion rate.

Following these principles helps smart businesses to win mobile customers. They are an integral part of a high quality shopping process. Skip even one step, and you could find that your conversion rates drop dramatically.