6 Common Mistakes of User Experience on Mobile
By: Tashina Alavi
Tags: Conversion Optimization, Digital Analytics, User Experience, Data

6 Common Mistakes of User Experience on Mobile

With the mobile trend rising, an excellent mobile web design is crucial for companies that want to win customers over

Today, the average user spends around 2 hours and 51 minutes per day on their mobile device, and checks their phone at least 63 times/day. Mobile web traffic accounts for half of the global web traffic currently, and this number is only increasing. According to The World Advertising Research Center (WARC) almost 73% of internet users will access the internet using only their smartphones by 2025. Needless to say, mobile usage is here to stay and will soon overtake desktop usage.

However, despite the shift of web traffic, many companies today have a website design that is entirely centered around desktop-traffic. This “one size fits all” of website design doesn’t work anymore. With the mobile trend on the horizon, having an excellent mobile-friendly website is crucial for companies that want to win customers over. Companies that don’t prioritize their mobile user experience will have lower conversions than their competitors, and ultimately get outcompeted.

To prevent the bounce rates and increase conversions, avoid these 6 common mistakes among mobile UX design.

1. UX Designs Not Based on Data

I often see companies design new elements on their website based on their own opinions and not their audiences. This results in common mistakes such as designing from a complete desktop perspective, while not being aware that the majority of the traffic coming in are from mobile users (and then wondering why their mobile conversion is lower than their desktop conversion).

Every so often I also see companies copy-pasting designs of one company website to another company website. This is a huge mistake as what might work for one company might not work for another company, since they all have different target audiences with their own needs.

As a digital analyst, I provide tailor-made solutions to companies based on their own unique data of traffic and user behavior, which always results in increased conversions and overall happier users.

Before making changes to your website, remember to always check your own data to analyze your audience behavior.

2. Slow Speed

Contrary to popular belief, the number one reason mobile visitors leave a website is not because of navigation, but speed. Simply put, the slower the site, the higher the bounce rate. This point is especially true among mobile users who are more often on the go and therefore more impatient.

The recommended page upload should be under 4 seconds. A very simple way of increasing the speed for a site is to compress the images. It doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult, and there are many plugins in the market that can easily compress your pictures without tedious manual work.

3. Small Navigational Icons

The second most common reason visitors leave is because of difficult navigation. Small navigation icons that are too close to eachother and/or difficult to reach can cause a lot of frustration among your users.

When creating the icons, remember to always design for the “fat finger”, and have clear, bold icons that are easily clickable. Common features such as menu icons should be placed in easily accessible areas. One research found that 50% of people rely on their thumb when navigating on mobile. Keep this in mind when placing the icons, and make sure they are easy to reach with the thumb.

Leave a bit of space between the icons too, so that users don’t accidentally take undesired action by clicking on the “wrong” buttons. And do not forget to optimize the hamburger-menu as it plays a huge role in navigation among mobile users.

4. Vague CTA-Buttons

Website users and especially mobile users are impatient and want to find what they are looking for fast. When this doesn’t happen, they bounce off. Unfortunately, many website designs today favor aesthetics over clarity, leaving the visitor frustrated, not knowing where to click, and how to find what they are looking for fast enough. In one Google research only 24% of customers replied that they find the attractiveness of a website important, compared to 66% who found it very important to easily find what they were looking for on a site. That should say something about the huge importance of functionality of a website design.

CTA-buttons play a huge role in conversions and mobile functionality, and should be triple-checked when created. Remember that CTA-buttons can look different from different devices; a clear CTA-button from desktop might look extremely vague from mobile, causing decreased conversion rates. Thus, when creating a new CTA-button, always, always investigate it from a user perspective on mobile, and watch your conversions grow.

Also — don’t go on functionality-overload please! Keep the functionality as a priority, but also keep the spark and excitement of the website going with pretty design.

5. Small Texts

Instead of reading in detail, most visitors, and especially mobile visitors scan a website and connect words with icons and images. Having clear icons and headlines when displaying content and categories can help visitors immensely as they can get a quick overview.

Overall, when designing a mobile page one should always have in mind to have easily digestible material, such as large texts, clear icons, and headlines. Remember that mobile users are dealing with smaller screens, and thus the same readable text on desktop might be much harder to read on mobile.

6. Not Testing

When introducing new designs and elements to your site, make sure to A/B test it. Test early and test often. With each round of testing, you will get to know your visitors’ needs more, and be able to find new ways of improving your site, and ultimately increase your conversions.

Any recommendations you’d like to add into the mix? Let me know in the comments below. :)

This article was originally published on my blog. For more reading check out my blog page https://tashina.se/blog/