Making sites "mobile compatible" now seems vital

We have been tracking device statistics now for 18 months and are now convinced that "mobile compatibility" is essential.

In September 2010 we started compiling statistics on 10 of our clients' sites (the busiest ones) to track how the sites are being accessed and the rate of increase in viewing on mobile devices has suddenly become exponential.

In the first 6 months, the AVERAGE increase of all ten sites being viewed on mobile devices was running at about 12%. Since October 2012, this graph is showing a rapid upward curve, and on 6 of the sites, the rate of increase is growing substantially. On one site, we are seeing nearly 30% of visits occurring on mobile devices and every day that number increases.

When we compare devices to actual sales, the checkout_success rate is slightly lower than that of conventional devices (computers), indicating that people who shop on their mobiles are "frustrated" if the site is not easy to use when viewed on a mobile device. Tracking is through Google analytics using funnelling and goal-setting.

In November we did a split test on one site by applying a mobile-friendly template and the results are extremely encouraging. The checkout_success rate for this site for the mobile browser is showing to be almost TWICE that of users using conventional (computer) devices.

Interestingly, shoppers using conventional devices are also checking out more often, as the template is much less "cluttered" and the "path-to-purchase" is faster and much more simple.

We have also found that FEC substantially improves purchase completion - particularly on mobile devices. One client now using a mobile-compatible browser has DOUBLED sales (gross revenue) since November.

Also of note is the "minimalist" appearance of the shop-front. We have dispensed with MOST of the "conventional" sideboxes that were popular in the past, favouring only those that are essential to the purpose of putting PRODUCT in front of the customer as quickly as possible.

By abandoning many features that add to page loading speed, we have further improved the UX. We use CSS buttons throughout, and product images are compressed to a high degree. To assist with mobile limitations (chiefly screen size) we are also embedding "accordion Show/Hide" features, (currently on an experimental basis) that reveal elements as they are needed during the purchase process.

Our general conclusion is that many of the "conventional" approaches to online selling (particularly resource-heavy elements like image carousels and a cluttered landing page) are fast making way to a minimalist approach where the objective has to be to get the customer to the product they are looking for in as few steps as possible (one step is the goal). Similarly, checkout must be in two or three steps only.

This will present additional challenges (up-selling and cross-selling) and we are also looking closely on how this "minimalist" approach influences search Engine page ranking.

But one thing is blindingly clear... the RATE at which mobile devices are being used is growing much faster than we expected. By June or July this year (if the rates we are experiencing are typical), we expect nearly HALF of visitors to our sites to be accessing them through mobile devices.

And within a year or two, the MAJORITY of visitors will be on mobiles.

If your template is not mobile compatible, then you could be heading for the doldrums...

Schoolboy, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. I can only agree strongly with you. Speaking for myself I do a large majority or my browsing on the fly and therefore shopping online. I probably even do a lot of website building on my phone and rooted kindle fire turning only to my laptop for the trickier things as and when.

That said I have yet to go mobile optimized but it's been on my to-do list for a long time.
Can you recommend any particular template or jQuery systems please?

We are trying out several options - including browser detection options which apply the template according to the device. Also looking at the "viewport" meta tag to see how this can be best used.

We purchased a premium "responsive" template from zen4me.com a couple of weeks ago to evaluate it, and I must say I am generally impressed with it. Please note, this is NOT an endorsement of their templates. I have no commercial interest in zen4me. All I am saying is that their responsive template is meeting our design expectations so far... We have not yet applied it to a live, commercially active site, and we want to see what sort of effect it may have on SEO before we suggest it to our clients.

It departs quite radically from the "conventional" concept of a zencart template, and I am impressed with how it behaves. In general, it is a very good "one-size-fits-all" solution because it completely adjusts the style depending on screen-size. Even images zoom smaller and larger as the screen-size changes. There is a point at which the template "recognises" a very small screen, and then it does some interesting stuff - auto-reshaping the whole UX, changing menu systems, and getting rid of all extraneous material. So far we are encouraged by this... As I said, the acid test will be how well the template behaves in the real marketplace.

We have picked up some errors in their code (like the omission of a closing </head> tag !!!!) and there are a few other validation issues.

It is, I think, NOT a template for novices to tackle. To get the most out of it, one needs to be pretty good on ZC.

But this would go for most of the other systems we are looking at... Preparing a site for optimal performance on mobile devices has been quite a learning curve for us. And we are reasonably knowledgeable of internet stuff.

This is perhaps the "rub"...

Small "mom-'n-pop" eComm sites may not have the resources to invest in getting their sites "mobile compatible", and in time may suffer (commercially).

One HOPES that some "philanthropic" template developer will create a suite of FREE, mobile-compatible templates that can be applied in a "plug-'n-play" manner.

But it is now blindingly clear to us... mobile-compatibility is no longer something that can be "put off" by anyone who is running a "serious" business on the internet.

I reckon you have between 6 months to a year before it is downright essential...

Thank you again for your input, I shall keep an eye on this thread for sure while I look at ways to go mobile.

Some interesting info there for sure.

However, I was wondering, do your tracking records indicate the difference between mobiles phones and tablets?

I ask because my gut feeling tells me that the effects you are seeing is the result of cheap (and not so cheap) touch tablets that seem to have exponential growth in the last 6-12 months. Even our own household has acquired no less than 4 of these devices since last October. In fact most people that I know of that are 'into' computers now seem to have some sort of tablet.

Not that this (tablets vs mobiles) makes any difference in regards to future eCommerce needs, because there is no denying that this is the way of the future for many people.
I'm not saying that desktop systems are on their way out, some of us could never live without a full size keyboard with at least two monitors hooked up to a powerful PC.

Cheers
Rod

We can only go by what the analytics are telling us - either via Google or the internal server stats, so it is fairly broad, but there is a significant number of iPad users.

We don't have the cash to conduct a full research campaign from actual customers, though we are trying to persuade our clients to each put in a few hundred pounds so we can employ eConsultancy to do the work for us. (cost will be in the region of £20,000).

But either way... the migration to mobile is rapidly gaining speed, and apart from getting a site "ready for mobile" we are also trying hard to understand how people are actually USING these devices when they shop online.

We do know (from observation and reports) that a LOT of people take their mobiles with them when they shop on the high-street and when they are looking at actual goods on a shop shelf, they are searching for better prices on their mobile. High-street shops are becoming little more than "showrooms" for internet retailers... People use them purely to "kick the tyres", then they go away and shop online. for branded goods, this means PRICE is now the principal determinant when people make a purchase decision.

The upcoming zencart 1.6.0 will have a new, responsive template that is supposed to be mobile friendly:

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?199322-Roadmap-for-v1-5-and-beyond&p=1161947#post1161947

So is this going to make all current templates obsolete?

I have the free zencart bootstrap template loaded on one of my secondary sites and sometimes activate and play with it. But Schoolboy is correct, it's not an easy template to work with. I haven't even been able to change column widths.

SPH:

So is this going to make all current templates obsolete?

Ultimately, yes... we have built many of our own templates, and based others on contributions from developers like picaflor azul, and these seem to render very well on iPads, but as you start getting to smaller and smaller screens (in the phones realm) the template must be intuitive, and must alter to suit the nature of the device.

"Standard" templates simply get smaller - and one uses a "magnify" feature on the device's browser (as you know), but this is a navigational headache for users, and if it's taking 4 clicks to get to something on your site, and one or two clicks to get to the same thing on a competitor's site, guess who's going to get the business... ?

So... templates for phones MUST be intuitive and render a completely different display.

This requires a new set of marketing disciplines, and it will be some time before us "dyed-in-the-wool" marketers will adapt our strategies to how people use these devices. This is why I am very keen to start examining the BEHAVIOUR element of device usage, not just the technical stuff that re-shapes the display of data.

SPH:

I have the free zencart bootstrap template loaded on one of my secondary sites and sometimes activate and play with it. But Schoolboy is correct, it's not an easy template to work with. I haven't even been able to change column widths.

I've spent nearly 40 solid hours working on the zen4me bootstrap template and am starting to get my head around some of it. The secret is not to "over-egg" the omelette... SIMPLICITY is key, and this means "sacrificing" a lot of trinkets we were used to bolting on to many webshops.

In general these days, people want to get to a SPECIFIC PRODUCT as quickly as possible... not to some "welcome to our site" page, where the site owner goes on a long rambling diatribe of why the customer should shop with them.

SO... we are split-testing a real store where we are just dumping PRODUCT in front of visitors and we are looking how we can optimise the content in the product_info pages to leverage Search Engine rankings. It's not going to be easy...

I am curious what the differences are between zen4me and ultimate zc templates. And I looked at the jsweb mcommerce one but it's 1500 quid!! I want to make the switch and, at least for $95 for the ultimate zc version that's (apparently) ready to rock, it's a low investment if it does everything it needs to.

Jamie's stuff (JSweb) is usually very reliable - but the price is a little on the high side, I agree. Perhaps a rep from JSWeb could join the discussion and alert us to the benefits of their offerings and how they stack up with others.

I am quite new to the "technical" side of this activity - having focused for the last few months on gathering and interpreting data - but one things is becoming clear... It is very important that eComm site owners configure their sites for efficient and effective "mobile" operation. The results of not doing so could be dramatically detrimental to their business operations, and as I said, it looks like we've all got less than a year to get our acts together on this.

I have also heard commentaries on how the search engines will be looking at this. A respected "SEO consultant" I chatted with a month ago at a function in London said that it is likely than mobile compatibility will soon start to influence page rank, where search engines will identify the device on which a search is made, and will then favour sites in the SERPS that are most likely to deliver an "appropriate User Experience" for that device. This seems to make practical sense... given that Google in particular wants to ensure that the results it delivers are of the highest relevance and quality, and that they can be easily viewed on the device in question.

A lot of sites are now re-shaping their major landing pages to adopt a really "minimalist" approach, making clever use of accordion-type displays, where the visitor can "show/hide" elements as and when this is needed. This approach can obviate the need for separate menus (often in a side-panel or header which can both laterally and vertically expand the resolution) because the "menu" is contextualised ... ie: "menu offerings" are embedded in the vertical screen-scroll, and can be "concertina'd" by the viewer on the basis of "I need to know more / I need to know less".

It's exciting and challenging - and is reshaping many of the core principals of page construction.

My feeling is that eComm site owners who are "serious" about online selling must embrace these developments sooner rather than later. The pace of change is rapid, and a small investment made now may mean the survival of your business down the line.

For most of us rank-and-file zenners, tinkering with a standard template and getting it to look nice is difficult enough. Sounds almost impossible with the new responsive templates.

Hopefully the upcoming zencart 1.6.0 responsive template will look good and be very useable out-of-the-box. To give the template design talent time to catch up. Or perhaps the new zencart template will be relatively easy to work on, despite being responsive.

tinkering with a standard template and getting it to look nice is difficult enough.
I've always thought that to be the wrong approach...I consider the standard template as only a demonstration of the various stock options of how data may be packaged, and certainly not as an example of design.
A template should be designed in a graphics program as a coherent whole, not by making minor changes to an outdated style.

I assume the upcoming template changes in 1.6 are only to encourage new users to not run away at first sight, as they make the mistake of thinking the underlying code is as retro as the template.

Having too good a stock template can lead to many sites looking the same, its easy to spot the Prestashop template these days!
But, it does allow people to start selling quicker, which can only be a good thing.

Interesting argument , mobile question is top priority for me also this year .
Not many options for choosing from :

http://zen4me.com/
http://themeforest.net/item/##########-responsive-zencart-template/3750041?WT.ac=portfolio_thumb&WT.seg_1=portfolio_thumb&WT.z_author=dasinfomedia
http://www.samuelsena.com/

Don't really know what to do ...

My host is offering a special deal with this outfit http://gomobi.info/ don't know what you guys think.

discoverytdi:

My host is offering a special deal with this outfit http://gomobi.info/ don't know what you guys think.

There is no indication on goMobi's site about HOW their system integrates with zencart. They talk in vague terms about being able to "render" a site built for desktops, but they don't say anything about complex eCommerce systems.

I suppose one could just ask them, but I am not interested in this SaaS route...

schoolboy:

There is no indication on goMobi's site about HOW their system integrates with zencart. They talk in vague terms about being able to "render" a site built for desktops, but they don't say anything about complex eCommerce systems.

I suppose one could just ask them, but I am not interested in this SaaS route...

I Agree

solo_400:

Interesting argument , mobile question is top priority for me also this year .
Not many options for choosing from :

http://zen4me.com/
http://themeforest.net/item/##########-responsive-zencart-template/3750041?WT.ac=portfolio_thumb&WT.seg_1=portfolio_thumb&WT.z_author=dasinfomedia
http://www.samuelsena.com/

Don't really know what to do ...

There is also the ultimate zc template. I might go with that one and give it a spin.

lankeeyankee:

There is also the ultimate zc template. I might go with that one and give it a spin.

i think thats the template im using on https://www.onyourbike.co.uk, has 1000 or so products if you want to take a look

bn

solo_400:

Interesting argument , mobile question is top priority for me also this year .
Not many options for choosing from :

Here is the free zencart bootstrap responsive template:

https://github.com/IronLady/Zen-In-Boot

I just activated it again for awhile on a secondary site. Looks pretty good. Couple issues top of mind:

1. Some 30-40 validation errors. But haven't yet seen a clean validated responsive site as of yet.

2. On product page, the product and add to cart is further down the page (on reduced screen size) than I'd like.

But on phone with my sister as I type this, she thinks our sites look fine as is in her phone.

Delia also has a mobile template available:
http://www.zencartdelia.com/zen-cart-store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=10

Best,
Doug