3 Tips to Enhance Your Mobile eCommerce Efforts

Mobile computing has intertwined itself into our daily routines, and few of us can remember what it was like not having the Internet in our pocket. The ability to surf the web on our mobile devices has also presented an opportunity for companies to design mobile versions of their websites with functionality that allows them to sell their products and services online.

So-called “mCommerce” is the mobile version of eCommerce, or shopping online through the use of smartphones and tablets. This new trend in mobile computing offers tremendous opportunity for small businesses wanting to connect with current and potential customers via their mobile device.

Globally, in 2013, mobile devices generated $1.5 trillion in transactions and are expected to generate $3.2 trillion by 2017, according to Juniper Research. Here are three tips you can utilize to capture the attention of mobile users and capitalize on mCommerce opportunities:

1. Identify your mobile customer
Before you begin selling products or services to mobile users, it’s important to characterize your typical customer to recognize their specific needs. Use a service like Google Analytics to find out how they found your mobile site, what they’re searching for, where they’re from, and what devices they’re using.

By knowing how your customers found your site, where they’re from, what they want and which mobile devices they’re commonly using, you can prioritize future development to reach your target audience faster.

For example, if you own a small sandwich shop, you might learn that the majority of your mobile order purchases come from tourists with iPhones who find your location while navigating Apple maps on their mobile device. By understanding your typical mobile customer, you’ll have a better understanding of what development you’ll need to do to best serve them on your mCommerce website.

2. Design a scannable home page
When designing an mCommerce website, it’s important that the home page is easily scannable, offering an overview of the content at a brief glance. The reduced screen size of mobile devices demands that graphical elements be limited in nature. Design elements need to emphasize the major sections of a typical mCommerce website. For most online storefronts, the product or service categories are the most important portals because that’s where most customers go to consider what they will buy and find details like pricing and availability.

If mobile shoppers can’t easily navigate your site, they will likely leave and not return. But if they can easily navigate your site, they’re more likely to stay and consider purchasing your product or service.

3. Streamline the checkout
Mobile users are more likely to make impulse purchases on-the-go when there are few barriers to completing the checkout. Convert mobile visitors into shoppers by reducing the number of steps required to check out. Test convenient and secure payment methods that don’t require lengthy registration or entering credit card information. Also, don’t interrupt the checkout process with any message to buy another product. You should wait until after customers have completed the purchase process before presenting messaging for related products and services.

The bottom line
Mobile computing is here to stay, and it offers countless eCommerce opportunities to increase your customer base. By having a firm understanding of your online customers, a scannable home page with limited graphical elements, and a streamlined web storefront, you can reach mobile customers through mCommerce.

Tell us about your experience shopping on your smartphone – do you make purchases on the go, often? Why or why not? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.