It’s 2016, and by this point there’s no denying that mobile computing has taken over the world. Mobile sales are at an all-time high, and new emerging connected devices (such as TVs and wearables) are entering the market almost daily.
If you’re landing page isn’t mobile-ready, you’re left behind when people will make a fast decision. Even if they’re not willing to buy from you right there and then, they may still convert from prospect to lead - can you afford to lose out on that?
Even if your market isn’t overwhelmingly mobile, just think of the SEO benefits of a mobile-ready landing page. Or rather, consider the penalties of one that isn’t: Google will rank your page much lower.
You can have the most focused landing page, with images and text that sings to the souls of your market - but if your prospects encounter it as badly formatted to their mobile device, it'll mean not only an abrupt end of your campaign, but a big hit to your brand image.
Luckily, it’s not hard to avoid. We’ve listed a number of things of which you need to be mindful when building multi-platform campaigns, as well as some helpful tools to speed up your audit process. You'll be ready for anyone viewing your landing page anywhere.
How to be mobile-ready?
Because mobile is so omnipresent, most tools are already well-established for creating a platform-independent landing page. These three tips will help you smooth the edges further.
1. Keep your copy short
We’ve mentioned this already, but it is doubly true for mobile. Larger devices may be on top of the device trends, but screen size is still the biggest challenge to overcome.
Responsive frameworks take over the font sizing and line breaks to format your page for any device, so short, snappy language is your greatest asset. In particular, make sure the text on your buttons isn’t overly long: most responsive designs don’t handle it very well, and it can break your entire page flow.
2. Make your images light
Shifting the balance from text to images is a good strategy, but keep in mind that images are much less flexible when it comes to resizing. Use visuals large enough that they remain sharp on any screen - including the increasingly high-definition desktops with retina or 4k displays. But as you do, make sure the file size is as small as you can get away with to accommodate slower mobile network speeds.
3. Look for keywords such as “responsive” and “mobile-ready”
Often overlooked, when you look for a pre-made template, search for keywords that show you the ones marked mobile-friendly. If a template doesn’t say in its description that it’s mobile-ready, assume that it isn’t.
Test, test, and test again
With the number of different mobile technologies and devices available, the only reliable measure you can employ is testing your page on as many of them as you possibly can.
1. Physical testing
Though this sounds so obvious, it doesn’t occur to many people. Do you use an iPhone? Grab an Android to test on - and vice versa. Just because the page works on your particular device doesn't mean it won't be completely broken on someone else’s.
2. Use your browser
You can test how your page behaves by simply resizing your browser window - you’ll be able to spot the most severe problems right away.
Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox also offer the ability to “pretend” you're using a different device by changing the user agent and displaying the page for a particular screen size.
How? Right-click on your page, select ‘Inspect’, and look for the ‘Toggle device mode’ (in Chrome). The most popular mobile devices have presets, test them all.
3. Analytics
When studying your analytics, look for the mobile statistics: in Google Analytics you’ll find them under ‘Audience -> Mobile -> Devices’. If you notice a particularly high bounce or drop-off rate, it can possibly signal an issue on that particular device.
Congratulations!
You now have all four of the core elements - focus, design, communication, and now platform-independence - a landing page needs to succeed.
The story, however, isn’t quite over yet. What are you going to do when people are interested, but not yet convinced? How are you going to cut the drop-off rate and loop them back into your funnel?
The next step after creating the landing page is to establish the follow-up, let that be email or something else - so get to work!