Mobile is now the main growth lever in BtoC e-commerce
In fact, you may be reading this article from your cell phone!
The growth of this channel has changed the rules of the game and retailers must now adapt in order to stay in the race. Rethinking the customer experience and adapting the contact points offered to customers are the new challenges of mobile e-commerce, which should be considered as a priority.
“55% of global traffic comes from mobile” (2020 Digital Experience Benchmark by Contentsquare)
A PWA front-end is not a question of copying what already exists on desktop, but creating a whole new universe and working on new interfaces adapted to mobile.
Which actions will optimize your e-commerce site on mobile?
Match the user’s speed of action and decision with a PWA front-end
Consumer practices are becoming more and more complex: short connections, impatience with page loading times, impulse buying… So many parameters to take into account to match your offer to the needs of consumers.
Connections on mobile devices are 1.5 times shorter than on desktop, the consumer leaves a page after 5 seconds of browsing in 50% of cases (6th edition international study Total Retail of PwC march 2017).
E-retailers therefore have very little time to address the consumer, they need to adapt to offer immediacy and responsiveness.
“Nearly 8 out of 10 Internet users do not return to an online store whose performance did not satisfy them.”(E-Commerce Nation)
More precisely, it has been proven that for each extra second its takes for a page to load, a site’s conversion rate decreases by 7%, and the number of page views decreases by 11% (E-Commerce Nation). These indicators confirm that the e-merchant has less and less time to address his user. And for some sectors, the number of page views required before purchase can be close to 80 …
Satisfy Google
Google recommends that pages should load in 1.5 seconds maximum, otherwise the SEO would be negatively impacted. Thus, being one of the few e-commerce sites to respect this recommendation and boost page load time could have a beneficial effect on SEO.
Simplify mobile navigation
The site’s pages must be clear (especially the home page) and adapted for mobile. “The home page should be ergonomic and contain a clear value proposition at first glance,” says Stanislas de Viry, Mobile Sales Specialist at Google. The consumer must be able to find his way around easily and return to the previous point at any time. Navigation must therefore be easy and intuitive with a clear architecture and above all content must be adaptable to all types of screens.
If it is possible to develop a website and a mobile application in parallel to meet the needs of users, this strategy remains costly and time consuming:
- apps for each iOS and Android system must be maintained in addition to the website,
- today, unless the user is exactly looking for your application, it is almost impossible to get out of the app stores first.
Google then recommends PWAs: progressive web apps. “PWA front-ends are universal web applications that offer the experience of a native application,” according to Google.
Streamline the purchasing process
Another challenge of mobile consumption is obviously payment. In order to make a purchase, visitors must have a certain amount of confidence in the brand and the platform they use to enter their payment data. But more than anything else today on mobile, it is the simplicity of payment that changes the game. The ability to pay directly with Apple Pay, Google Pay or Amazon Pay without having to take out your credit card and enter a lot of numbers makes the difference.
Some tips:
- simplify the input forms: help with colors (red in case of error, green to reassure when the input is good),
- assure the user of the security of your website: put forward the security logos, your banking partners, etc…
- diversify your payment methods: there are now many different payment methods and many consumers use Apple Pay or Google Pay for example. Maximize your chances of getting a payment by offering these options.
- allow users to automatically complete forms based on the data they have already entered.
Front-Commerce is constantly adapting to new uses and will allow you to be flexible without interrupting your business and increasing your performance. By customizing your e-commerce site with a PWA front-end, you will be able to fluidify the navigation and allow the most optimal user experience. Don’t wait any longer to offer your customers the mobile experience that suits them.