With the recent drive for businesses to go online it is important that your customers have the best mobile experience. The majority of your customers will be trying to find your business using a mobile device. Most businesses feel they need an app to create the best user experience. However an app designed for your business can be very expensive and may not be necessary for your customer base. Here are some ways to enhance the mobile experience for your customers:
1. Optimize Your Website
a. Ensure that your website is mobile friendly and easy to use. Try to reduce the number of clicks to book and/or pay.
b. Utilize the branded web widgets to ease booking and payment for your customer while keeping them on your website. Redirects are not necessary. Optimize the look of these widgets using CSS code and be sure to test on a mobile device.
c. Remove the “Not secure” message. Does this message show in your url? This can cause customers to not trust your website. All that is needed is an inexpensive SSL certificate to remove this message and put your customers worries at ease.
2. Educate Your Customers
a. Provide a video on your website that teaches people how to use the booking system or payment options. The video will reduce questions and is a great tool to help your customers.
b. Teach your customer how to add your website to their home screen on their mobile device. This gives the look and feel of a custom app without any of the price.
3. Test Your Website Every Couple Weeks
a. Ensure all links are working as they should.
b. Make any necessary updates.
c. Refresh any widgets.
d. Have friends test your site on their device and give advice on how to improve the customer experience.
4. Improve Your SEO Organically
a. Ask customers for Google reviews.
b. Create Google Posts in Google My Business.
c. Post on your website regularly. This may be a blog or other relevant information.
d. Link to other reputable sites or blogs.
Your customer will most likely seek you out via a mobile device and then take action to book and/or pay via your website. It is important to make this experience as easy as possible and very simple. Enhancing the mobile experience creates repeat customers and brings in new customers without the cost of expensive apps or broken mobile experiences.