We’re living in a digital-first world. Mobile devices play an increasingly significant role in business, commerce, and everyday life. With 67.56% of website visits now coming from mobile users, brands need to prioritize optimizing mobile UI design.
Enhancing your mobile strategy presents a clear opportunity to connect with customers where they already spend time—on mobile websites and apps. To capitalize on this opportunity, creating an exceptional mobile user experience is key. In this article, we discuss five tips your organization can implement to gain a competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.
1. Reduce and Simplify Navigation
When it comes to enhancing mobile UI design, take the physical limitations of handheld devices—smaller screens and high sensitivity to touch—into account. A mobile site or app with lots of text means users will end up scrolling excessively. In addition, lots of form fields that require users to pull up keyboards and carefully enter information can be frustrating.
Simplify your mobile site or app. Reduce scrolling and data entry requirements. This will increase user willingness to engage and essentially improve conversion rates.
2. Delight the User With Animation
While simplicity is important, look for opportunities to add minor details that can increase engagement and user satisfaction. Animation is a subtle addition that creates a positive UX without inundating users with superfluous content. Animated introductory orientations, for example, can highlight the directions or processes for using the site. Screen transitions are also helpful so users can see changes occurring as they navigate, showing a responsive interface.
3. Incorporate Analytics for Stakeholders
Stakeholders investing in UX for mobile want concrete evidence to support their decision. To provide transparency and grant stakeholders more control over their investment, build an analytics page into the back-end. These analytics provide hard evidence of how specific aspects of your site or application impact user experience. By showcasing the impact of improved mobile UI design with data, you have a solid case to make future improvements.
4. Synergize Your Mobile Channel to Add Value
Your mobile channel is only one part of a larger, cohesive marketing strategy. Align your mobile experience with your website, social media, email, and other channels. You can add value across all channels by creating synergy between them.
A fitness mobile app, for instance, can allow users to track their workouts. Meanwhile, that data is aggregated on the desktop version of the website for long-term monitoring. Users can also share their data—via mobile or desktop—on social media to create a sense of community. Without adding unnecessary content to the mobile application, this strategy encourages mobile app use, drives attention to the website, and increases user engagement across platforms.
5. Monetize Your Content
At the end of the day, generating revenue is a key priority for any business. Optimizing mobile UI design is a means to that end. There are several approaches to monetizing your mobile app or website:
Selling ad space is one option. However, due to the limited screen space on mobile devices, ads can negatively impact the user experience.
A better approach is providing trial experiences that allow users to sample premium features. For example, Spotify’s music streaming app offers a free trial of its ad-free, unlimited song-skipping service.
When designing monetization features, focus on enhancing the user experience in a way that encourages additional spending. Be transparent about trial periods and avoid automatically enrolling users in paid subscriptions without consent. Prioritize building long-term customer loyalty over short-term revenue.
At UpTop, our team of mobile UI design and UX strategy experts can help you develop and execute a winning mobile website or application for your business. Contact us today to learn more about how we can take your digital product into the mobile-first era.
