How to Build Perfect Mobile Landing Pages

If you aren’t using mobile friendly landing pages, you’re losing out on conversions and you’re wasting money. Here’s how to fix that.

Let’s get this straight: mobile landing pages and desktop landing pages are not and should not be the made same. If you aren’t using mobile friendly landing pages, you’re losing out on conversions and you’re wasting money.

You know, we know, everyone knows by now that you have to be on mobile because its a key platform that facilitates numerous touch points along the buyer journey. Google’s data tells us that mobile is the likeliest starting place for online activities, whether it be researching a product through reviews or comparing prices, that can ultimately culminate in a sale down the line. In the past, in the case that research that started on mobile ended in a conversion, that conversion would most commonly occur on desktop.

That’s not the case any more. The growth of mobile commerce is outpacing traditional e-commerce according to ComScore reports. A third of all online sales come from mobile devices now.

Mobile tasks by category
Source via Google

So for the sake of winning more conversions, getting more sales, and just plain making more money on mobile, this article breaks down exactly how to build the perfect mobile landing page.

1. Design with Speed in Mind

Source: pexels.com

Mobile users demand instant and easy to digest information that cuts to the chase. They are fast and furious – any latency or slow load times make them agitated and immediately turns them off. Building landing pages for mobile users demands attention to user experience. That means quick load times, short forms, and catchy copy. Make sure you’re optimizing so that you have no slow-loading content.

In same cases, getting rid of images all together in favour of concise copy might work better. Page load times factor into strong user experience which contributes to higher conversion rates overall. Search engines also factor load times into their ranking process as well so keep in mind that slower mobile loading times can throw off your search results and ultimately effect your bottom line.

2. Keep Your Copy Short and Sweet Without Losing Clarity

Keeping your headlines concise is just general good practice. But on mobile, its even more important because of how easily distracted users are. Remember, mobile users are always multitasking and so their attention is already often divided. Don’t distract them further. Worst yet, don’t annoy them by making them have to read so much.

You know this first hand through your own mobile user behaviour. How often do you really read a full article through from A to Z? How often do you just briefly scan a page for the bare minimum info? Why do you think point form listicles are a thing now? Because we live in an age of short attention spans.

Thus, for mobile landing pages headlines should be as short and succinct as possible while all other copy should be minimized. The best way to practice writing clear and concise copy is by writing then editing, over and over and over again until you have the bare minimum that works.

3. Use Strong and Immediate CTAs or Click to Call

Keeping CTAs above-the-fold on mobile landing pages don’t always work, simple due to the variety of screen sizes out there. So the above-the-fold rule doesn’t necessarily always apply. That being said, you should still make sure your CTA is clearly visible and easily clickable by a user’s fingers (and also that it works).

Make sure you’re also optimize for smaller screen sizes. That means making your buttons fairly large. If click-to-call is applicable to your business, swap out your normal CTA for a clickable phone number instead.

Look at the difference between this desktop landing page:

moto 360

Here is the mobile version:

moto 360 mobile version

4. Keep Forms Short and Reduce Optional Fields as Much as Possible

We’ve mentioned already that mobile users are really distracted and easily agitated. So unlike on desktop where visitors may be willing to fill out long forms and provide additional information, mobile users are immediately turned off by too many forms.

The reasoning? Screen size. Forms are hard to fill out on small mobile screens what with our giant thumbs and these tiny little fields. Nobody has time for that! Even dropdown menus can be problematic on mobile as well. How often have you been frustrated by dropdown menus and millions of fields on a mobile landing page and just went “Urgh, forget this”? So then you know what I’m saying!

Our advice? Avoid them if you can so that you reduce the likelihood of visitor resistance.

Here’s an excellent reduction of form fields from desktop to mobile:

Source: smashingmagazine.com

5. Avoid the One-Size-Fits-All Mentality

Don’t you just hate when you land on a mobile page and you have to pinch the screen to zoom in to see what the message is? Or an image loads and its so big, it doesn’t even fit on the page and then you get distracted about why you even came to the page… and before you know it, you’re out of there.

For the love of conversion, don’t treat your mobile landing pages like desktop. Make sure your designs are either a) responsive or b) adaptive.

A responsive landing page automatically resizes to fit any screen size. With responsive, no matter the device your audience is using they should be able to see your landing page seamlessly across screens which is a good thing because there are multiple user touch points in the buyer process on numerous devices. It’s important the responsive designs for landing pages are used to maintain strong user experience and drive conversion.

Here is an example of responsive landing pages from Skinny Ties.

Source: dtelepathy.com

Adaptive landing pages  on the other hand are a little different in that the content of the landing page conforms or “adapts” to the screen size by displaying only the most relevant and important components. Adaptive landing pages are like the nutshell version of a desktop landing page or website.

Here is an example of an adaptive landing page:

Information on a adaptive website is different on different platforms
Source: venturebeat.com

 

Key Takeways

  • Optimize your landing pages for fast load times
  • Keep copy short and sweet (without sacrificing clarity)
  • Use strong CTAs or Click-to-Calls
  • Keep your forms short and minimize distractions
  • One-size does not fit all landing pages

Keep these key takeaways in mind when you set out to start your next campaign. Build better landing pages and watch your conversions grow.

Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com


Closing the Mobile Gap with Performance

Mobile advertising spend continues to grow, but it is still punching well below its weight.

A year ago the IAB published their definitive 2015 report on advertising expenditures and usage trends in the US market across all media channels. The report clearly demonstrated the huge $25 Billion gap that exists between time spent on mobile devices, and mobile media’s share of total advertising budgets in the USA.

What’s the mobile gap?

Talking specifically to the Canadian market, IAB projected that mobile media ad expenditures will increase by up to 55% in 2016 to reach a total of $3.21 Billion for the year. Over the same period, total Canadian media expenditures were projected to grow at only 3% over 2015.

With print and radio losing significant ground, and TV and digital growth relatively flat, we’re now seeing the dynamic presence of Mobile in our media landscape. However fast forward to 2016 and time spent on mobile devices is now approaching 3.4 hours daily. Mobile time spent is exceeding time spent watching TV by 65%, while equaling Digital time spent. Despite the data, the mobile media gap is still not closing fast enough.

So why does mobile remain an under-valued and under-utilized vehicle for Canadian advertisers?

Is it our national risk aversion and lack of knowledge regarding mobile that emphasizes a need to follow rather than lead? Or is it inertia and shortsightedness in our strategic and media agencies that’s effecting our ability to adapt? In agencies where annual TV buys and even some long-term digital commitments already in place, longstanding pre-established profitable pricing schedules may be what reigns. Change, even towards improvement, can therefore be a challenge.

If 75% of Canadians own smartphones, and people are checking their phones more than 150 times per day as reported by Business Insider, then it is time for advertisers to embrace the mobile opportunity. To reach broader, more engaged audiences, media buyers needs to tailor their messages on the devices that surround every facet of their lives.

For decades, savvy marketers have understood the need to move customers progressively along the Marketing Continuum from Awareness on-wards towards Loyalty. In our newly evolved digital world this now must embrace ENGAGEMENT/RE-ENGAGEMENT as the ultimate destination to replace that somewhat intangible Loyalty factor.

road_to_loyalty-copyRe-examining the Funnel

Applying this as an overarching strategy to media planning, dictates a deeper examination of the Funnel Theory:

funnel_theory

This approach clearly presents significant opportunities for Digital Media to impact programming success at each level of the funnel and specifically to drive the Re-Engagement process via targeted mobile marketing initiatives. Placing real value on Engagement remains an inconsistent practice despite all the conversation on how to get consumers engaged. However, quality time-spent by a qualified target customer interacting with your brand should be considered an invaluable metric and as indicator of on-going customer retention.

Adapting to the Mobile Challenge

Consistent technical development of the major publishers and content producers in the digital and mobile space has resulted in an ever richer data pool behind consumer demographics and usage trends. For successful advertisers, selecting media sources with advanced data profiling and aggregation resources is key to optimizing your media investments. Selecting vendors with access to first-party data, for example, can present significant incremental marketing efficiencies. Via the application of contextual and projected ‘look-alike’ profiling as well as real-time optimization of creative executions, targeting the right audience at the right time can now also happen at the right mobile-moment.

It’s time for educated marketers to challenge their media planners, whether on-staff or at an agency partner, to build integrated campaigns that use digital and mobile media to amplify the impact and effectiveness of the ad dollars spent. As our digital landscape continues to evolve, planners need to demand performance KPIs that build your brands.


kevin_astle_round_largeKEVIN ASTLE
is President of ClearPier’s Blyk Mobile division. A veteran marketer with long-standing industry experience across the Digital/Social/Mobile space.

Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com