Is your eCommerce store mobile friendly?

Mobile continues to play an increasingly important part in eCommerce success. According to Statista forecasts, retail sales from mobile eCommerce (mCommerce) in the UK are expected to exceed £100 billion by 2025, aligning with the widespread use of mobile devices. 

Customers use their mobiles to investigate purchasing decisions before making purchases in-store or on a desktop, in addition to completing the entire buying journey on their mobile devices. In 2023, nearly all individuals aged 16 to 54 in the UK owned a smartphone, and mobile appears to be the preferred channel for online shopping in the country. 

Customers’ comfort with mobile buying is ever-increasing, and as a result, the industry cannot disregard mobile’s importance in the eCommerce market when it comes to the design and user experience of their websites. Integrating data verification software, such as address verification, can also help create the experiences that keep customers coming back.

Mobile sites vs responsive sites  

You’ve probably seen the “m.website.com” domain before; it denotes a separate mobile website. That means the mobile version of your site is hosted on a different domain from the desktop version. Mobile websites are distinct from the desktop version of your website since they are developed exclusively for mobile devices. 

Responsive sites are much more inclusive for the modern-day user. Responsive websites can detect the type of device a visitor is using and automatically alter the layout of the content to fit the user’s screen size.  

Separate mobile sites can be more difficult to manage than responsive sites. Any updates to a single URL in responsive sites are made to that site rather than having to go in and update two distinct sites. Most crucially, a responsive site’s functionality and content are consistent across all versions. There will be no more debates over which features are best for desktop and which are best for mobile. The look and feel of the site will be consistent across the board. 

If the website is consistent for mobile users, they’ll be able to access all products and services wherever they are, which in turn makes your business completely accessible. Additionally, implementing address lookup software can enhance the user experience you deliver to your customers.  

Tips to make your website more mobile-friendly  

Website speed 

According to research, 53% of customers will abandon a mobile site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. You can do a few things to discourage the majority of those visitors from abandoning your site due to latency. 

Above-the-fold components can be served while elements farther down the page are loaded in the background. This is known as lazy loading, and it’s a frequent method for hiding the true loading time. 

However, when it comes to using lazy loading to hide latency, be mindful. Google warns that if you use lazy loading on your mobile site incorrectly, it may prohibit Google from crawling your content. So make sure you do your homework and get it right. 

You can also serve smaller-sized images for mobile pages. Techniques such as srcset (which defines a set of images for the browser to choose between, and what size each image is) make it possible to display larger images on desktops while serving smaller versions of the same images on mobile devices. Because you’re offering a smaller total page, you can use this to your advantage to reduce the loading time on mobile devices. 

Moreover, integrating address lookup software can streamline the user experience by reducing keystrokes by 90%. 

Minimise forms and make use of address verification 

The more effort required to complete a form, the less likely users are to complete it. That’s why the first guideline of form design is to make it as short as possible and eliminate all non-essential fields. 

An address lookup software can make the mobile checkout process so much quicker and easier. Instead of filling in up to 6 individual fields, the customer just begins typing their address (from any point, whether they start with the town or the street number doesn’t matter) and the type-ahead address verification makes suggestions from the first character. Once the correct address has been located using the address finder software, the customer simply needs to select it, and the entire address form will be automatically populated with validated information. 

Optional fields 

Consider whether you truly need to add optional fields in your form. Determine what data you truly require rather than what you want. In a perfect world, your form would have no optional fields. By minimizing the information required from customers, especially with the aid of address finder software, you not only enhance their experience by expediting the process but also increase the likelihood of their return. 

Optimise your mobile eCommerce with address lookup 

After browsing the above knowledge to optimise your mobile experience, you should consider the many benefits of an address verification or postcode lookup software. The main benefit of using a mobile device is that it’s already right in front of you, whether you’re at home or on the commute to work.  

Giving customers the ability to enter their full, correct, validated address with just a few keystrokes is the perfect finish to the convenient ease of a mobile commerce experience. It is the quick-fire tool your business needs to increase conversion rates and decrease cart abandonment. And of course, another financial gain your business will receive as a result of an address finder API is a reduction in failed deliveries as the human error of entering the incorrect address will be eliminated. 



Make payment methods easy 

Payments can be problematic for mobile users because large number sequences, such as those required for a credit card, are typically challenging to type. Instead, you may invite visitors to create an account on your website, where you can store their credit card information. Although be sure to also offer guest checkout, to avoid deterring customers who just want to get on with the transaction as quickly as possible.  

You may also make use of mobile payment methods like PayPal, Google Wallet, or Apple Play for customers. Offering wallets not only makes the UX smoother and simpler on mobile devices, but it also increases customers’ trust in your website, an important factor in mobile commerce. Integrating an address finder software into your checkout process can further enhance user experience by automatically suggesting accurate address options in real-time, preventing typos, missing characters and abbreviation.

The Fetchify difference 

We process millions of data transactions weekly for thousands of clients, from small e-commerce start-ups to large household brands such as LG, Heinz and RBS. Our flagship products, Address Lookup and UK Postcode Lookup, reduce friction on checkouts, leading to increases in conversion rates, and help reduce failed deliveries and customer frustration. 
 

We are proud to offer fit-for-purpose plug-and-play integrations with most leading business software platforms. We enjoy global coverage in over 250 countries, with businesses from various industries benefiting from our address finder offering. 

If you’re looking to boost conversion rates, eliminate failed deliveries, minimise human errors, and provide a seamless experience for customers on your platform, then look no further than the experts in customer data validation and address verification solutions – Fetchify. 

The best part is you can try out our 14-day Free Trial before committing to our services. Our excellent technical and customer support team is on hand to answer your burning questions. Make sure to Get in Touch and experience the Fetchify difference – like thousands of e-commerce businesses around the globe.