Gartner Identifies Three Essential Elements That Marketing Leaders Must Address to Deliver a Results-Driven Mobile Website

Multichannel marketers report that mobile-friendly websites have emerged as a dominant engagement channel for their brands, according to Gartner, Inc. In fact, Gartner predicts that, by 2020, mobile marketers will drive 80% of engagements through mobile websites. However, Gartner research has found that too many organizations build their mobile websites without accurate knowledge about, or regard for, their customers' mobile preferences.

“While many marketers recognize the need to design for smaller real estate, intermittent connectivity, and fast, simple interactions, often the needs, goals and expectations of the end users are omitted from mobile strategies,” said Jane-Anne Mennella, senior research director at Gartner. “This results in mobile websites that are just scaled-down versions of desktop websites with identical content and features. Not surprisingly, these mobile sites have high abandonment and low conversion, turning into a source of irritation and frustration for customers.”

The importance of mobile — especially mobile as the primary or only device used to connect to a brand — continues to grow, making a mobile-optimized website an essential requirement for all brands.

To successfully create a results-driven mobile website, Gartner has identified three essential elements that marketing leaders must address:

1.     Determine the why, what, how and where — Customer behavior, needs and motivations on mobile devices differ from those on desktops. Marketing leaders should determine what role their mobile site serves for their customers and prospects, what they want to accomplish and how they use their mobile site. Mobile sites that translate this knowledge into focused, validated mobile experiences have high adoption and customer satisfaction levels, and deliver conversions.

2.     Make data-driven content choices — A mobile site should never be a condensed version of a desktop site. Marketers must take a data-driven assessment of content to ensure that their mobile site has the amount and type of content and functionality their customers need to accomplish their goals.

3.     Research and test beyond speed and performance — Many organizations test their mobile site's speed and performance but stop their testing efforts after that. Marketing leaders must conduct user research and testing on mobile sites before, during and after development. This will reveal where interactions are confusing, where customer journeys are prolonged or get interrupted by environmental as well as design elements, and where content gaps exist.

“As mobile usage continues to grow, so does the importance of mobile websites. Marketers must understand why customers are visiting their organization's site and what content they need to accomplish their goals,” added Ms. Mennella. “It is only by putting the customer first that going mobile will work.”

Additional details on how to create or improve your mobile website is available to Gartner for Marketers clients in the report “Use 3 Essential Elements to Improve Your Mobile Website.”

About the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo

Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo provides marketing leaders actionable advice about the trends, tools and emerging technologies they need to deliver business results. Gartner for Marketers analysts address the biggest opportunities, challenges and priorities marketers face today, including data and analytics, customer experience, content marketing, customer insight, marketing technology (martech) and multichannel marketing. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/marketing-symposium-us. Follow news and updates for the event on Twitter at #GartnerMKTG.

About Gartner for Marketers

Gartner for Marketers provides the objective, expert advice and proven tools CMOs and other marketing leaders need to seize the right opportunities with clarity and confidence, and stay ahead of the trends that matter. With in-depth research and analysis, Gartner for Marketers helps you focus on the opportunities with the greatest potential to deliver results. More information on Gartner for Marketers is available online at www.Gartner.com/marketing/.

Gartner, Inc. IT, is the world's leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities today and build the successful organizations of tomorrow.

Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. We are a trusted advisor and objective resource for more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries — across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size.

To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of business, visit gartner.com.

— WebWireID246584 —