Running a website, especially for a business, can be a difficult endeavor. You have to adapt to survive and remain relevant. With devices and capabilities of everyday people growing over the past few years, the need to make changes in tech to keep up with demands is more prevalent than ever. Everyone expects sites to work not only on desktop but also on mobile, communication between you and your visitors will improve, and you will collect better data about how effective your PR and sales teams are, what your visitors are doing on your site, and more. Below are 3 of the biggest reasons, as well as the benefits of embracing mobile for your website.
You Will Enhance Communication
Nearly 25% of the world's population owns a cell phone, that's 2 billion cell phones in the world, and the number is still growing. 93% of Americans adults own cell phones and currently, the trend of smart phones that have internet connection are on the rise. Dynamically, businesses are always changing and evolving, and for this reason, development in communication and sales is crucial. In order to communicate new deals, features, and incentives that your website or business is offering, then going mobile will make it easier for your sales team and PR team to respond faster to those who are going onto the site during a 15 minute lunch. Also, changing to mobile brings in further mobile capabilities including cloud storage and enabled IM, which means better communication between managers, editors, and other that are in the company to make it operate like a well-oiled machine.
Everyone Expects It
Mobile is on the rise now that we use our cell phones for everything else, and your customers and visitors expect your site to have a mobile application and site that is readable on mobile. There is a very limited amount of space on a small mobile screen, and if you have ever had to scroll to view something on a site, you know how inconvenient and frustrating it is. If visitors are expecting you to have a mobile site, then you know that your competitors have already gone mobile or plan on doing it soon to fulfill their wishes. Not only does moving to mobile have benefits in its own way, but making the change before your competitors do it helps not only cement visitor loyalty, but also shows them that you care about their needs.
You Can't Afford Not To
In history, there have been times when not jumping onto the latest technical fad was optional and usually it would not hurt you because the tech had a limited lifespan. The case for mobile is not the same. Taking your website mobile will have profound benefits on your site in the long term, especially since mobile payment is projected to grow 154% over the next 5 years and overtake desktop. To not jump on that bandwagon and optimize your site for mobile is just unwise, especially since purchases from mobile devices were at $1.8 billion in 2013 and are expected to be at $189 billion in 2018.
So, even though mobile may have its challenges in the future, mobile is clearly not only becoming a trend, but a growing trend that is not going away. The long term benefits of going mobile outweigh any potential challenges in the future. Also, with evolving customer expectations and more websites than ever popping up, you and your team will be ready to be there for your customers, have better communication with your clients, and more.
Photos and Resources Courtesy of: Ohio University, "The Business of Mobile Payment" Infographic.