How to improve eCommerce UX to boost mobile conversions

To improve your online conversion rate, getting the online user experience right on mobile is vital, so here are a few ideas that should be considered in the context of your users and their goals.

[Tip #1] Design for the “one-thumb” user

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The majority of people (85%) use their smartphone with one hand and for the 75% of thumb-only users, the size of larger mobile screens means that the amount of content within easy reach is reducing, so remember to keep key actions within easy reach when designing the interface. This also leads to inaccurate tapping, so avoid putting irreversible actions like ‘empty basket’ in areas where it could be accidentally selected.

[Tip #2] Make it easy

People don’t like thinking too hard, and as they use their mobile in short bursts, it is even more important to make it easy for consumers to interact with your site. With these insights, you can identify the important actions that users need and want to undertake, and you can drill down to identify how to simplify these as much as possible.

Using the right keyboard inputs, for example, numerical for credit card details, reducing input fields to the bare minimum, chunking down lengthy forms into manageable amounts, using smart defaults and previous input data can all help speed up and simplify tasks which require mental and physical effort.

Here is an example from Luke Wroblewski, Product Director at Google, whereby stationery store Staples in the US reduced their online checkout process from 22 fields to just 5.

[Tip #3] Gesture control

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Tinder used gesture control as a key part of their online experience and taught the world what it meant to swipe right. Fluid gestures like hold, swipe, drag and pinch are some of the gesture actions that can be used instead of tapping and typing. However, with no universally accepted or consistent standards on using gestures, they should be applied with caution. If tapping or swiping doesn’t result in the outcome that a user expects, then your site will fail. You need to educate your users what the gestures achieve on your site and keep it simple to start with.

[Tip #4] Streamline processes

There are a number of common processes or ‘workflows’ that you might expect users to undertake on your mobile site, from account registration to content download, completing a contact form to making a purchase.

There are certain actions that consistently frustrate users, such as ‘signing up’ and ‘logging in’. Research shows that over half of users will quit rather than doing yet another site registration and 92% will give up if they forget a username. 82% of people forget their passwords and the 75% of people who recover a password won’t complete the checkout process. Similarly, long checkouts are one of the leading causes of abandonment. Providing the option of a guest checkout can boost usage by 30-40%.

It might mean that to create the best experience for your users you need to create a bespoke solution outside of the typical, off the shelf checkout platforms.

When you are designing for conversion rate optimization on mobile, you need to scrutinize all user processes in order to refine them as much as possible. You might also consider linking a website registration process to a Google or iCloud account to enable cross-device synchronization for a more seamless journey. This will enable users to continue their journey even when they switch device. For example, they may start a product search on their mobile and continue it seamlessly when they switch to desktop, allowing for a smooth buying lifecycle.