It's 2024 and yet brands are still struggling with getting mobile experiences right

Despite the preference for mobile, there is still work to be done on the shopping experience. Almost half of global respondents (49%) for a study by VML said that they felt that mobile purchasing still lags behind desktop and laptop, with 40% claiming that they find shopping on mobile difficult.

When it comes to checkout, consumers are split in their view – with 42% agreeing that the checkout and payment process on mobile is frustrating, compared to 31% who disagree. Astoundingly, 66% of global consumers claim that retailers and brands should work harder at making their mobile experiences better.

The study also said that there is a belief amongst consumers that mobile phones are right for some types of shopping and not others. In fact, 44% reported that they don’t think their phone is for making serious, expensive, or critical purchases.

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According to Ben Geheb, global chief experience strategy officer at VML, being mobile-first requires a shift in how we view the role of a business’ digital experience. Mobile enables shopping anytime, anywhere, resulting in fast, micro on-demand shopping for fast comparison or impulse buying or continuous shopping, not stretched through one long experience, but done over many small shopping “episodes”.

“The result requires experiences built around the customer, erring on simplicity, and focused on facilitating quick, meaningful engagements. To enable this shift, businesses should reinvestigate where, how and when their customers are shopping,” he said.

Geheb urged businesses to:

- Understand the customers’ jobs to be done (functional, social, and emotional) and the situational moments they are shopping, helping architect experiences that can facilitate inspiration vs. accelerating the path to purchase.

- Embrace design constraints of a mobile-first experience, tuning the design (both UX and UI) to be optimized to the situational moments.

- Ensure content structure and creation is pulled forward in the design process and matches the expectations in those moments in the form factor of a mobile device.

- Ensure the technology and design prioritizes simplicity, enables fast load times and powers a persistent experience.

“Today, retailers and brands aspire for the best, most exhaustive version of their brand, but all too often consumers expect a mobile experience that is simple, fast, and relevant to their situation,” he said.

“Winning requires businesses to accept and embrace the constraints of a mobile-first experience, designing around the customer and their moments rather than a brand’s aspirations,” he added.

Where are brands falling short?

Razmel Razali, senior business analyst for The dUCk Group said that the disconnect appears given that most businesses are more familiar in optimising for desktop, given that is the platform used most day-to-day. Hence mobile can often be an after-thought. In addition to that, with a mobile view, there is less information that can be showcased.

“Take us for example, all this while we've been reviewing our web journey from a desktop view, when majority of our traffic came from a mobile web view. Only recently have we optimised our mega menu, banners and new features with mobile first in mind,” he said.

With a concerted effort Razali said that today The dUCk Group has gotten more comfortable putting themselves in the mobile users shoes. He added that the first point of discussion will always start from a mobile point of view. A non-negotiable for the company is also that any new feature must "fit" the mobile view. If it doesnt, then it becomes less of a priority to roll out.

“I think one of the main reasons is that businesses and brands prioritise desktop development and design because that has traditionally been the go-to for online transactions,” said Zeeshan Khan, head of marketing at Legoland Malaysia. Moreover, the form factor for mobile platforms can also get more complex with varying screen sizes and device capabilities, and it can get challenging to optimise the entire user journey, especially for secure transactions.

“Additionally, there are limitations with legacy platforms and systems which might not necessarily be mobile-friendly and there are no instant fixes,” he said. Khan added that at Legoland the brand takes a learning-based approach to continuously improve the mobile experience.

“For a brand to claim mastery in this space is next to impossible so there is a constant process of iterations and changes that are involved which means conducting A/B testing to see how different designs, checkout flows, and navigation options perform, allowing us to learn what works best for our users. This can get even more detailed if we factor in key metrics like bounce rates and conversion rates to diagnose possible pain points,” he added.

Key non-negotiable areas for Khan and his team include a smooth checkout process, responsive design, and fast loading times. “Our focus in on ensuring that users can complete transactions easily without friction, and we frequently iterate based on what we learn from data and testing,” he added.

Beyond mindset and habit, Wilson Wong, marketing director, Price.com.hk argued that some online retailers may face limited technological resources needed to develop or maintain mobile apps, which explains the high demand for eCommerce SaaS platforms in Hong Kong. He added that some brands may think they don’t necessarily need to make frequent improvements and updates to their mobile platforms.

“Needless to say, mobile experience is important. Ongoing improvement and optimisation are key, which is why our company invests significant resources in our technological capabilities, including experienced programmers, UX/UI designers, and project managers,” he said.

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