Delight Mobile Shoppers: 6 Seamless Touchscreen Tweaks

Understanding Mobile Shopper Behavior

Ever found yourself scrolling through a shopping app and loading your cart, only to suddenly dump the whole thing and exit. Of course, you have. We all do this - on impulse, no less. I think we can agree that mobile shopping experiences are not always seamless, despite what the brands might claim.

There’s still some friction for shoppers. We’ve all experienced it - a typo while entering a phone number or a pesky product page that takes forever to load. Shoppers on their phones are looking for an easy online browsing experience - they want to be able to easily scroll, click, add to cart, see promotions and discounts clearly, fill out forms quickly and check-out without any interruptions.

The mobile screen can’t display as much information as a laptop or desktop screen so everything must be on full display - in an aesthetically pleasing way. And because online shoppers today are more discerning than ever before (yes, even your cousin), it is up to businesses to provide a seamless shopping experience. Brands often try different tactics like offering one-time discounts on the first order or showcasing free shipping pop-ups at checkout but these tactics won’t work if the rest of the journey is filled with pain points. I suppose there might be no way of knowing what goes on in someone’s mind while they’re browsing online but brands can always track actions through their analytics dashboard.

If people are checking out quickly and often buying multiple products at once - they appear happy with your site’s experience. More or less. If people are taking their time browsing and then buying one high-value item at check-out - they're very likely enjoying your site.

If people add items to their cart and then don’t take any action - it's probably time for you (the brand) to revisit your user experience strategy - especially for mobile shoppers who tend to dump carts because of poor mobile experiences.

Optimizing Navigation for Quick Access

Ever wondered why some shopping apps feel so easy-breezy while others seem to demand a 3-hour navigation course. It’s not just design wizardry or great branding. Sort of.

I think the thing that makes all the difference is typically how well you can get around. Touchscreen shoppers are probably a goldfish breed - blink and they’ve found a competitor selling the same product for less. That means making it quick and obvious is probably more than a ‘nice-to-have’.

‘Quick access’ doesn’t mean loading every page like it’s waiting for dial-up in 2003 - although that helps too. Nor does it mean shoving so many categories on your home screen that you now need the aforementioned navigation course to tell you what each icon means. It could mean one or two things - maybe both even, if you’re feeling brave. It seems like number one is of course, figuring out what needs to go where and what doesn’t need to go anywhere at all - keeping it simple is key, as we all know.

Number two is planning your category placement in a way that makes sense to the user and also ensures that nothing important is hidden behind 8-9 taps. This applies to both native apps and mobile-responsive websites - and no matter which side of the Android/Apple war you’re fighting from. The way I see it, a good thumb rule is placing your most used navigation bar right at the bottom of a user’s screen - saving them the trouble of having to adjust how they hold their phone or do any weird thumb acrobatics. The top or the hamburger menu is a good secondary spot for less-used features, but if there’s something you want people to use often enough, it goes in the primary nav bar.

The main thing with quick access navigation is putting yourself in your user’s shoes when designing your app and site journey. What are occasionally they most likely to look for. Where would they first try to find it. How can you make it easier for them.

Small tweaks here and there can go quite a long way with this one.

Implementing Feedback Mechanisms for Improvement

Ever wondered what shoppers really think when they’re tapping their way through your mobile store. In a world where everybody and their nan has something to say, there’s no excuse not to listen. At least, that’s the sort of guiding principle now that people are more than happy to share anything from a casual emoji review to a full-blown essay on why your delivery took three days longer than anticipated. They’re all opportunities for growth, if you look at it optimistically.

Whether it’s live chat support or some sort of rating system, any way you can get your shoppers talking directly to you is helpful. It’s so easy for brands to get caught up in what they think their audience wants, or relying solely on analytics and statistics to infer how somebody might feel about a particular aspect of the customer experience. While those numbers are important, there’s nothing quite like receiving honest, nuanced feedback straight from the horse’s mouth.

If it works for your store’s branding, consider adding more fun (and on-brand) customer satisfaction surveys into the mix. I’ve seen it work with stores trying out brief quizzes on what could be improved while people are nearly always actively shopping - just a quick pop-up as they browse adds heaps of context for customers who may have some thoughts but aren’t motivated enough to go through the hassle of reaching out directly. When you incentivise these little additions with a discount or coupon code (it doesn’t even have to be generous), shoppers become much more likely to respond honestly.

All these tweaks help build trust with your customers and offer valuable insight into how people are actually using your mobile store. There’s plenty of ways to implement them, so don’t get too bogged down with the specifics - instead, figure out which options make sense for your team at the moment. Keep iterating as time goes on; eventually you’ll arrive at the perfect mechanisms that offer enough context into your shoppers’ experience without being intrusive.