A large portion of American adults make use of smartphones and mobile devices on a regular basis. It might be smart financial investment advice to get involved in this trend now as it's still working out some kinks, and if you want to put your business ahead of the competition, be one of the first to have a mobile-ready website.
Bring your own customers
The statistics on phone-assisted shopping are nearly staggering, according to a recent study by Google. With 90 percent of Americans using their phones on a daily basis, 70 percent say they have their phones out in stores to look at product information and compare prices, while 80 percent say they do at least some of their shopping entirely on a mobile device.
According to ReadWrite Biz, customers are more likely to talk about a company or product with others if they can shop for it online without the hassle of coming into the store. At the same time, the likelihood of a client visiting a store increased if they saw the products and services online first and were able to shop around easily after. Google pointed out that mobile advertising with smartphones and tablets increased visibility of a company, giving it better odds of a sale.
Business missing out
Despite the benefits, small businesses are still not taking action to make their websites mobile-ready. According to CIO Today, 40 percent of owners don't know whether a smartphone or tablet can access their company website at all, while an additional 85 percent know that their site is viewable but not compatible with new technology.
"It's essential for organizations to have a website if they want to create the right impression, engage with customers and boost business," said Gary Bates of Serif, a software design company, in an interview with CIO.
If a customer can't access business and product information easily, it's probably going to drive away purchases. CIO's respondents indicated 40 percent of the time that they felt it would be too difficult or expensive to update online stores to a format viewable with mobile devices, but with such a large chunk of a customer's experience now taking place in that setting, making the leap to new technology could be just the financial tip you need to get ahead of slow competition online.