SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




'Mobile First' Idea Brings in Better Sales Leads from the Mobile Web

Inside Sales Lead Management Featured Article

'Mobile First' Idea Brings in Better Sales Leads from the Mobile Web
 
January 28, 2015

Share
Tweet
  By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor
 


Most companies are aware that they need to be “going mobile” today. A majority of Americans own and use smartphones and tablets on a daily if not hourly basis. For sales organizations, the conventional wisdom is to go where the customers are, and in 2015, they’re on their smartphones.


A high percentage of customers begin a buying journey with a Web search. Increasingly, that Web search is not done on a desktop computer, but on a smartphone or tablet. For salespeople, this means that the mobile device has become a powerful tool to generate leads, if the process is done correctly. Unfortunately, according to a recent article by Randall Standard on the real estate Web site Inman, the process is seldom done correctly. Too many companies simply try to adapt their Web site for mobile users, and it doesn’t work.

“There is a danger in taking a shortcut by offering a scaled-down (responsive) site developed for a desktop computer,” wrote Standard. “For many consumers, your responsive site won’t be very responsive. Users will often find your site is slow to load and weighed down with CSS (News - Alert) files, none of which are required for a quick and efficient mobile search.”

Despite what the mobile companies say in their marketing materials, most mobile phone users don’t have the kind of cell phone signal that can be found while standing in New York’s Times Square. More often than not, consumers are working with just a few bars of connectivity. Trying to navigate a busy, graphical Web site designed for the desktop simply won’t work.

The way around this is to build the mobile site first before designing or redesigning the regular Web site. This is called a “mobile first” approach and it has become one of the most important ideas in business today. It’s a way to circumvent mobile apps (if your business isn’t suited to one), particularly since most apps see poor download rates and even lower rates of actual usage.

“Mobile-first is a functional approach to Web design that develops the mobile interface first, and then builds up to the traditional desktop website,” wrote Standard. “Mobile-first uses ‘progressive enhancement,’ the process of enhancing a mobile interface until it’s a fully functional desktop website.”

The process is so important that it may even require a switch to a different vendor from the one who normally builds or maintains your websites,” noted Standard.

“Quality mobile site development requires a different skill set than traditional Web design,” he wrote. “These folks are hard to find and expensive to retain. Besides, they already have jobs: They are working at mobile-first and app development companies.”

As tempting as it might be to “make do” with what you’ve got – your existing mobile website – the Mobile Web has simply become too important a way to attract customers and generate sales leads today to leave the process to chance. 



Inside Sales Lead Management Homepage ›





Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2024 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy