eCommerce SEO and Responsive Design: Marketing & Branding
In today's hyper-digital age we find ourselves more and more attached to our mobile devices. Their processing power has evolved, the screens are now larger and more vivid; and at the core of the convenience factor, they are also extremely easy to carry around. Mobile devices have become a part of everyday life and brands are always on the lookout for how to adapt to this continuing change in user behavior.
As we speak to different clients from different industries, there seems to be one commonality that binds us all. That shared perspective comes in the form of always trying to look ahead; to see what's next, how to get there, and what to do in order to maximize every minute spent growing the business.
If we look at most active companies today, the website is at the core of how we explain our purpose, extend what we do to our global community, as well as convert leads and accumulate sales. But this is exactly where things have gotten a bit tricky over the last few years; we would like to break through the clutter to explain what you need to know.
UX Design and Responsive Web are terms flying around everywhere, but many companies have yet to fully understand what these terms mean to the bottom line. The ones who have, are enjoying benefits from more sales to better customer retention, as well as elevated social sharing and positive word of mouth.
Now let's take a step back and look at an example. When a client comes to Eventige with an advertising goal, we never dive into the direct response strategy until we fully understand the internal sales-flow, how the company is aligned to capture potential leads, as well as the current conversion rate on their money site (a term frequently used to describe the last step in the online consumer's behavioral process). In many cases, the most important thing to note is the conversion rate because it lies at the core of all transactions as the multiplier effect.
So let's say you want to advertise to bring in new business but your website isn't responsive and doesn't provide a great user experience on mobile phone or tablets. If we generalize and say that 33% of traffic comes from Desktops, 33% from Tablets and 33% from mobile phones, well then it is pretty easy to see that if we do advertising and attract 99 new users, only 33 of those users are having a decent experience. The rest (66% of the user base) are now left with a less than desirable UX (User Experience) and will most likely find their frustrations leading them to a competitor site.
When you compare brand marketing on different devices, it is very easy to see which company is investing into their customers and which is not. That is the key to understanding what UX and Responsive is all about... users look at a lackluster online experience as the brand not caring about them. If the user experience is poor, their perception of your brand becomes poor, their likelihood to spread positive word of mouth is diminished and they are now going to search for a brand that is better aligned to understand their device, their way of finding information and their way of digital life.
As technology evolves there are shifts in information delivery that change the way we need to think about our customers. Now more than ever, our brand teams are working with clients to re-align the offering to be laser-precise in providing the most powerful experience possible on mobile devices first, then tablets and desktops last. This is also referred to as "Mobile First" methodology and it is the only correct way to look at today's approach to web design. Now the question still remains: Why is this a Gold Rush? Well, the quick and simple of it is that if Mobile and Tablet users are trending up and desktop is trending down, then whoever is first to respond with a beautiful UX-driven mobile responsive design wins. Just like in the Gold Rush of the 1900's, every brand is out for themselves and some are doing it better than others; or even more importantly: faster than others.
By faster we mean literally faster load speed. Another example of what it means to have foresight into the future of global commerce. As more and more countries around the world advance, a direct benefit of being aligned on mobile is the ability to reach a massive audience that simply doesn't have desktops or the internet at home. Many countries have now become mass consumer markets for retail. What this creates is massive opportunities for transactions to take place directly on mobile phones of users across the globe. Another key element in the functional design is understanding how to code and compress media for the fastest possible load-speed on a slower 3G/4G Connection. This requires planning, design, development and understanding that what you do today is going to directly affect the bottom-line tomorrow.
For companies that have made the transitions, the benefits are fruitful. For those that have questions, we urge you to contact our brand team and submit your website for an audit. As an e-Commerce marketing company, we'll be able to tell you if you're setup properly and what you need to do in order to capture the most possible sales by providing the best possible user experience.
