We pulled the analytics for a Greensboro plumbing company last week. In December 2010, mobile traffic was 11 percent of total visits. By the same month a year earlier it was under 4 percent. Their website, like most Triad service business sites, was built for a desktop monitor. The mobile bounce rate was 78 percent.
The Smartphone Tipping Point in the Triad
iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry adoption across Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point has accelerated dramatically over the last 18 months. Comscore data shows roughly 30 percent of US mobile subscribers now own a smartphone, and the Piedmont Triad tracks slightly above that average because of strong corporate device deployment in the insurance and banking sectors.
What Breaks on a Smartphone
- →Tiny text: Visitors have to pinch and zoom just to read your service descriptions. Most leave before they finish.
- →Flash content: iPhone does not render Flash at all. Any animated headers or galleries built in Flash appear as a blank box.
- →Phone numbers as images: A phone number that is part of a header graphic cannot be tapped to call. You force the visitor to copy and dial manually.
- →Wide layouts: Anything over 480 pixels forces horizontal scrolling, which mobile visitors interpret as a broken site.
- →Slow load: Triad mobile networks are still 3G in most areas. A 4MB homepage takes 20+ seconds to render.
The Two Approaches in 2011
Most Triad service businesses can choose between a separate mobile site (typically m.yourdomain.com) that detects mobile browsers and serves a stripped-down version, or building one website that adapts to screen size using newer responsive techniques. The separate-site approach is faster to deploy on an existing site. The single responsive approach is the better long-term investment because it eliminates the need to maintain two codebases.
What the Mobile Version Must Have
- →A tap-to-call phone number in the header on every page.
- →Driving directions link that opens the device's native map app.
- →A short contact form with large touch-friendly fields.
- →Hours of operation visible without scrolling.
A High Point auto repair shop that launched a separate mobile site in late 2010 saw mobile-originated phone calls climb from 4 per week to 23 per week within 90 days. Same traffic. Different experience.
Mobile is also where SMS marketing comes in. Read our companion piece on SMS marketing for Triad service businesses, or have our digital marketing agency rebuild your site for the smartphone era.