Mobile technology has changed the social world. Not only has it altered the way we communicate and interact with each other, it has also greatly affected consumer behavior. In order to capture sales, retailers have created a dual path on mobile devices via sites and apps; thus, no matter how consumers prefer to purchase, they have an easy solution. Understanding consumer behavior and how shoppers use their mobile devices is now critical in conquering the path to purchase.

Mobile Shopping Frequency

According to a study by Google Marketing Insights, nearly half of U.S. consumers with mobile phones use their devices weekly to shop. One in ten people states that they shop via mobile daily. These are huge numbers, especially when coupled with the fact that 60% of consumers use a mobile website to shop. Despite the proliferation of apps, it seems that a user-friendly mobile website is preferred by shoppers.

Information vs. Convenience

In general, mobile shoppers find that mobile websites offer more information. While 64 percent agree that shopping apps load quicker and 60 percent say they are easier to navigate, the path to purchase seems to flow more easily through a mobile website. This makes a strong case for all retailers having device agnostic or responsive websites. Having a website that scales based on device is key to capturing a majority of shoppers.

Incentives Make Apps Attractive

If a retailer is interested in making sure their app is part of the path to purchase, including special discounts or exclusive deals via the app seems to be the way to go. Thirty-five percent of mobile shoppers state they download apps specifically for discounts. Additionally, making sure the app is secure will also ensure more consumers use it; more than 70 percent of smartphone owners who download apps cite security as a deciding factor.

If you're looking for ways to streamline your path to purchase or simply want to learn more about mobile- and app-based shopping trends, please contact Energyhill today. Our team of expert marketers is ready to help you capture and cash in on this mobile revenue stream.

Few things are more annoying than a slow-loading web page. But when does a user's aggravation cross over to serious frustration and eventual abandonment? It's been widely reported that all websites should strive to have a page load time of two seconds or less. However, that's not always feasible. So, how important is this two-second benchmark? Let's examine a few ways that page load time affects bounce rate and if it's something you and your organization should really be concerned with.

What is Bounce Rate?

Bounce rate refers to the percent of your site visitors who try to visit your web page and then don't stick around before the page fully loads. This measurement was the precursor to the newer term of "engagement;" it was one of a handful of ways to see if people were engaging with your content. Per Visitor Insights, when a page load takes longer than 2 seconds, more than 35% of site visitors will abandon the site.

Why Does Bounce Rate Matter?

You don't want to lose over one-third of your site visitors before they even have a chance to see your website. That could translate easily into missed sales, a loss of leads, or just overall disappointment with your brand. However, since 2016, website size has increased by 900kb and the amount of video being used has increased by 300 percent. It's the ultimate catch 22: these two factors can lead to slow page load time, but in order for your company to be competitive, you've got to have a good-looking website displaying the most engaging user experience.

What Can You Do?

If you need more interactive content on your page, even though it may result in slower load times, what can you do to ensure your site visitors stick around? Well, it's not just load times that matter to engagement. In fact, almost 80 percent of site visitors report they are satisfied with slower websites. That is, as long as the site provides an engaging experience. Website content, messaging, and functionality all work together to create a satisfactory website visit. Make sure your website looks good and reads well, contains no broken links, and that any video content is interesting. The worst user experience is waiting for a video to load only to discover it adds nothing to the user experience.

Speed is important online, but sacrificing quality for speed won't get you far. When examining your page load time, think about what you want your users to take away from visiting your site. Shoot for the two second load time; but if you don't quite make it, just make sure your website is worth the wait. For more information on how to make your website better than ever, please contact Energyhill today.

Sure they fall at the same time every year, but the holidays always seem to sneak up on us. For a business, that can be problematic. If you sell primarily to consumers, raising your profile during the holidays could greatly impact your annual sales. Even if you are primarily a B2B vendor, staying in customers' minds during this time of year is important. Your first weapon to combat the holiday haze is your website. It is typically the first stop for many customers to find out more about you, your products, and your offers. Below are some ways to ensure an increase in website traffic for the holidays.

Google Shopping Feeds

Google is the world's largest search engine and the cornerstone of many business' marketing plans. You can make their reach work for you by using a trio of services that will put your product images front and center during relevant searches. You will need your shopping feed, Google Merchant's Center, and your Google Adwords account working in tandem to take advantage of the added exposure of these feeds.

Holiday-Specific SEO

Effective search engine optimization is a marathon, not a sprint; but you can optimize some pages on your site specifically for the holidays. Consider adding a few landing pages specific to your holiday offerings and make sure the SEO on these pages is targeted to holiday shoppers. Also, spend some time clicking around your site to test for things like load time, image quality, and calls-to-action. You don't want a consumer to have any reason to leave before making a purchase, so be on the lookout for areas that might hinder a conversion. Slow load time is often the key culprit to consumers clicking out of the site, ultimately resulting in less valuable website traffic.

Pay-Per-Click Holiday Campaigns

Similar to shopping feeds, PPC campaigns can put your products in front of consumers who are searching for specific keywords. This gives you a direct line to consumers who are ostensibly looking for your product. Remarketing campaigns are also highly effective during the holidays. Customers who have previously visited your site, but haven't purchased, will see ads for your products while they're clicking around the Internet. It's a good way to stay top of mind.

Make Social Work For You

Lastly, don't forget about your social media feeds. These channels can pump up your promotional efforts with interesting content and clever community building campaigns. Just make sure that your site is ready to handle the traffic from a social media push.

No matter what tactics you use, the holidays can be a huge opportunity for you and your business, and they can generate website traffic you don't normally see throughout the year. If you have any questions regarding how to make your site holiday-ready, please contact us at Energyhill today. Happy Holidays!

It's no secret that Google holds the purse strings when it comes to online indexing and search results. After all, the ubiquitous search engine has become a noun and a verb. However, online search activity migrating from desktops to mobile devices is bringing about a change in Google's initial search assumptions. Here is a quick rundown of what Google's result announcement regarding the implementation of a mobile-first index says:

How Google Determines Search Results

This definition is going to require a little explanation. Currently, when a consumer searches Google on their mobile phone, the search result order is based on an index. The index has been developed by Google through a combination of search crawlers, indexing, and ranking. Google ranks different websites based on keywords and content. Part of the search algorithm decides how relevant a site is to the search terms based on these characteristics.

How Google Determines Mobile Search Results

Currently, Google ranks sites based on desktop searches. This ranking is device-agnostic; the results still rank primarily based on desktop index, even if the search is conducted on a mobile device. However, the inclusion of additional mobile keywords that the Google search crawler is looking for may help to give some sites a bump.

How a Mobile-First Index Changes Things

So, Google recently announced that this method of determining search results on mobile devices will migrate to a mobile-first index. Accordingly, mobile search results will be returned based on mobile-focused criteria, including a responsive mobile site, a separate mobile and desktop-based site, and the lack of a mobile site.

How This Affects Businesses

If you don't have a responsive mobile site, make one. This will have the most influence on your business' mobile index ranking over just about anything else. Rankings will still primarily be at the page level; so do your best to make as many of your website's pages mobile friendly as possible.

If you are interested in finding out more about mobile-first indexing or search optimization in general, please contact Energyhill today for a consultation.

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