Although smartphones are a relatively new invention, they are now as ubiquitous in our pockets as our keys and wallets. Statistic estimates that there are approximately two billion users of such devices across the globe, while Cisco reported that global mobile data traffic grew by 74 per cent in 2015. This means that around 60 per cent of internet traffic now comes from smartphones or tablets – and the face of websites is changing as a result. Brands have to be able to make their websites mobile-friendly or they risk missing out on valuable custom.
According to Netbiscuits, 76 per cent of consumers won’t even try using a website from their phone that hasn’t been optimised, suggesting they will go to a competitor’s that has been instead. Furthermore, Google now includes mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal following a big overhaul last year, significantly altering search and leading to sites that aren’t compatible being pushed down the pages of results. This is going to have a big impact on website design for hotels – and if you haven’t considered mobile optimisation for your property yet, then now might be the time to do so if you don’t want to be left behind by the competition.
Mobile site design essentials When designing a mobile hotel website, you need to make sure that only the content people need ends up on the page – it has to be a pared down version of what you’ve got on the desktop, otherwise there will be too much clutter. Would-be guests have to be able to find the information they want quickly and easily if you are to avoid damaging their perception of your brand, so make navigation as simple as possible and calls to action obvious. You should also optimise images to prevent pages taking too long to load, minimise code and avoid using Flash, as mobile devices might not support it and users could get a blank space instead of what you intended. If you want extras like videos, use HTML 5. Pop-ups are another no-no, as they can be really difficult to close on a small screen without a mouse.
Although they might be useful for providing discount codes and other purposes on desktops, get rid of them when designing mobile sites if you want to avoid annoying people. You want to ensure that you’re as concise as possible with your content, so make the text large and easy to read and consider editing existing landing pages to make them shorter and snappier while still containing all the necessary information. Titles, URLs and meta descriptions also need to fit this brief, so give them the once-over too. Don’t forget to take a look at your call-to-action buttons, as they might need to be larger for mobile sites than desktop versions so people can press them easily. Not everyone uses a stylus and some fingers might be more sausage-like than others!
One other very important consideration is whether you want responsive or adaptive web design for your pages. We covered this in detail last month, but responsive web design refers to the way a site responds to the size of a browser at any given point, while adaptive web design relates to how sites adapt to the width of a browser at specific points in the viewing experience, at which stage the layout of the page will be altered. There are pros and cons for both, but responsive might be better for simple sites with just a few pages of content, while adaptive is likely to suit sites with more videos and other flashy content.Content management systems It might sound complicated and time-consuming – not to mention expensive – to get your site optimised for mobile devices, but this doesn’t have to be the case.
Technology such as content management systems allow users to upload new content and even images via specialist software, which then gets automatically optimised and rendered suitable for all devices. This could therefore represent a good option for investment for properties of all sizes, even though it will mean an initial outlay for the tools themselves. Forrester recently stated that the majority of companies under invested in mobile in 2015, which could mean that many hotels and travel websites are wasting a valuable opportunity to engage with a rapidly growing audience by failing to optimise their websites.
If you ensure your site is suitable for all devices, then you can take advantage of this and get ahead of the pack by being the place would-be travellers go to when they have been left unsatisfied elsewhere. Make optimisation a priority now and you could be reaping the rewards with better revenues a few months down the line.
