Mobile advertising post-click experience key to conversion: Google

By Giselle Tsirulnik

April 1, 2011

How frustrating is it being served up a PC site that needs to be scrolled and zoomed in and out of after clicking on a mobile banner ad?

Most of us have experienced this frustration because even after all this time, brands and marketers are still doing it: Failing to mobile-optimize the post-click experience. Since a lot of campaigns are routing clickers to a company's site, the first place to start is with a mobile-optimized Web destination.

“Starting out on mobile can be overwhelming,” said Vicky Homan, a member of the Google Mobile Ads marketing team at Google, Mountain View, CA. “Where do you start? How do you prepare for your first campaign?

“These are big questions that we hear every day,” she said is her blog post. “An essential part of any digital marketing campaign is the post-click experience from advertising.

“Is your Web site easy to navigate? Are there any hurdles to conversion that you can remove? These are the same questions that you should consider for your mobile user experience.”

Mobile readiness
Google conducted a study looking into the post-click experience for some of its largest advertisers on mobile.

The company used 200 diagnostic points to measure each advertiser’s mobile readiness, with criteria such as load time, device detection and mobile optimization.

Google found that only about 21 percent of its largest advertisers have a mobile-optimized Web presence. That means that more than 79 percent are serving up substandard mobile experiences.

Tips for design
Google has four tips for mobile Web design:

Prioritize what’s important – This means thinking of all the possible ways of making life easier for consumers who are on the go. Help them find directions to your business, find the hours of operation and click to call to get in touch with a customer service representative.

Take advantage of mobile-specific functionality – The mobile device’s screen is smaller than the PC’s and marketers need to keep that in mind. Place all of the most relevant information front and center. Additionally, let people use the touch, sound, sight and location on their mobile device. Create a mobile Web site with custom content that utilizes these capabilities.

Build for the mobile platform – Again, easy navigation is key to a great experience on the mobile Web. Mobile users have zero tolerance when it comes to having to search for the things they need via a mobile site. Google suggests focusing on easy navigation and remembering to develop a Web site with touch screens in mind. Eliminating any Web site elements that don’t work or are slow to load on a mobile phone will keep users engaged.

Test, test, optimize - Be sure to add mobile analytics to your mobile Web site so you can test different things and then optimize on the fly to improve performance.

Maximizing engagement
Google’s Ms. Homan gives an excellent example in her blog post of a brand that truly maximizes engagement on mobile: The American Red Cross.

The nonprofit ran a portion of its annual holiday campaign on mobile.  

The Red Cross really took advantage of mobile’s unique calls to action, offering the ability to donate via SMS, over the phone or with their credit card.

“However, making it easy to convert was only the first step in optimizing for mobile,” Google’s Ms. Homan said. “As part of the campaign, they created three mobile landing pages to compare what type of content resulted in highest click-through to one of their donation pages.

“By running three pages simultaneously, they could evaluate whether showing a photo gallery, video or recent news articles resulted in the highest donation interest,” she said. “This landing page experiment demonstrates how to test content and design on your mobile-optimized Web site in order to maximize user response.”



Checklist
Google has put together the following checklist to help advertisers test their mobile landing pages

√ Think about how your customers want to engage with your business on their phone. Should you offer the ability to get directions or does it make more sense to add a click-to-call button so they can connect with you directly? What mobile-unique actions are right for your business?

√ Evaluate what type of content is most relevant on mobile. By providing information that is relevant to a mobile user and also easy to access on a mobile phone, you will ensure your customers have a positive mobile experience.

√ Implement a mobile analytics solution in order to track and compare landing page performance based on the user response metrics that matter most to you.

√ Drive traffic to each of your landing pages and refine design based on what content results in highest user engagement. By experimenting and iterating based on what is working, you will create an experience that your mobile customers will remember and return to.

“Get ahead of your competition by creating a fantastic experience for your mobile customers,” Ms. Homan said.