Today, mobile traffic accounts for more than 30% of all web traffic. There are billions of smartphones in the world, and Google is raising its standards to include mobile-friendly design as a must-have. So what’s the big deal about mobile and how does it impact everyday business?

How Are Shoppers Using Mobile?

According to the research team at Google, 54% of shoppers use smartphones to research or purchase products. More specifically, 41% of retail shoppers use their smartphones in the initial research phase and even more frequently (61%) in the subsequent phase of the purchase.

How Important is Mobile Search?

Search Engine Land has reported that 34% of shoppers use search engines to find businesses and products while 40% use their smartphones to uncover daily deals and research products through customer reviews and ratings. When compared to desktop and tablet searches, mobile users are the most likely to convert. Almost 80% of searches for local business information result in a purchase.

Why do Mobile Shoppers Convert at Such High Percentages?

According to Google, mobile searchers begin searching for products as much as a week in advance, but more importantly, shoppers use mobile research an hour or even a moment before purchasing a product. Because shoppers are more likely to use mobile search during the final stages of the purchase journey, they are more likely to convert.

How can my Business Connect with Mobile Customers?

On April 21, 2015, Google is releasing a mobile-friendly update to its search engine. Experts are predicting that nonmobile-friendly websites will see a drop in mobile search rankings. If your business doesn’t have a responsive website, investing in a redesign is the first step in catching the windfall of high converting mobile traffic. Otherwise, your site is poised to lose visibility in mobile search.

To businesses with responsive websites: Congratulations! You’re on the right path. To increase your mobile visibility, you may want to explore search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site or tweak your marketing approach with a unique value proposition.

For any local business hoping to capitalize on mobile traffic: promoting, encouraging and monitoring consumer reviews on sites like Yelp or Google Pages is an excellent way to keep in touch with your audience and build your online reputation. If you have the resources, integrating a review system into your own site is an even better option.

The Doc4Design team has been designing for mobile since 2013 – check out our work here.

Connect with our strategist Michael White today and get a free assessment of your mobile strategy.