Want to know what consumers want from mobile websites? Yesterday my husband and I went shopping for tile for our kitchen and our experience is a perfect case study. The good news? It’s certainly not rocket science — in fact, we consumers don’t necessarily need a bunch of bells and whistles. All we want and need are the facts. And quickly. Please.
Back to yesterday. We got in the car and started driving. He drove, I Googled. Sound familiar yet?
We are remodeling our kitchen and zeroing in on what we want to do for back splashes (marble) and countertops (Caesarstone – in case you’re curious). I Googled “tile shop kc” and here’s what I found:
I skipped the first result–it’s an ad, and I always skip it. Do you? I digress. I went automatically to the second selection, The Tile Shop | Store Locator, which is obviously a chain and a brand I recognized. Only problem, when I clicked on that link it took me to a broken page on their website. Here’s what I saw.
Guess what? That little glitch? It cost them the sale. And while we’re on that topic, you know, the value of a customer, let’s just say that the total spend for this particular project is probably about $5,000-$7,500. And we are shopping and ready to buy.
I went back to The Google and went to the next link, which was The Tile & Stone Warehouse. I groaned when I saw that they didn’t have a mobile website, and complained when I had to scour around and pinch and move the screen, looking for a location and their hours. Naturally I subjected my husband to a rant about how businesses are really missing the boat because they don’t understand what customers want, and they’re certainly not delivering when it comes to mobile. He’s used to these rants—but this time, he agreed.
As we headed over to The Tile & Stone Warehouse (who were indeed open on Sundays), we talked about how customers really want just a few things when they are searching from their devices. Here’s what they are:
Location
Days and Hours of Operation
Click to Call
It really is that simple. People aren’t getting out the Yellow Pages any more before they come visit your business. They don’t need to–they’ve got phones. And Google. So if you’re not serving them the information that will get them to your location or get them to buy, you’re missing the boat. Like The Tile Shop. One broken web page was all it took for me to punt them. Think your customers aren’t as impatient as I am? If so, you’re probably wrong.
To give The Tile Shop their due, while they may have a broken web link that shows up in a bad spot (and hopefully the SEO team they’re paying will get on that), they do understand the importance of mobile. And since the hubby and I were talking about this and I had only time to kill during the ride to the other tile store, I thought I’d check out The Tile Shop and see how their mobile experience measured up. They may have lost the sale because of a bad link, but they did get brownie points for understanding what customers want from mobile. Here are some screen shots that show exactly what I’m talking about:
Their Mobile Home Page
Note that it’s easy to read and easy to search. Also note the store locator in the top nav, easy to see and easy to access.
Their Store Locator Page
Notice how they’re a national chain, with locations all over? And see the handy “Locate stores near me using GPS” option? Sweet. Of course I clicked that. And here’s where the GPS button took me.
And this was the bottom of that screen, when I scrolled down, giving me the street addresses for those stores, along with their clickable phone numbers and store hours.
It took me exponentially longer to write this post about creating the perfect mobile experience for your customers than it did for me to decide where I was going to shop, drive there and spend money. And lest you think it’s just me who feels this way, the data supports this case study.
- 70% of all mobile searches result in action with 1 hour. (Mobile Marketer, 2012)
- 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action, over half leading to purchase. (Search Engine Land, 2012).
- 61% of customers who visit a mobile unfriendly site are likely to go to a competitor’s site. (Karim Temsamani at IABALM 2012, via IAB)
As you’re thinking about your integrated marketing strategy, please focus on your website, which is truly the hub of all your business operations. No matter what business you’re in. And as part of that, make sure you’re serving up a mobile experience that makes it easy for customers to (1) find you, (2) come to spend money during the hours you’re open and (3) call you if they have a question with one simple click. If you do, I predict there’s a good chance you’ll do enough business in no time to cover the cost of that website. In fact, if you’re a tile shop, one sale like ours would cover a whole lot more than your mobile website. Just. One. Sale.
Lead image by rachaelvoorhees via Creative Commons
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
