Mobile phones and mobile Internet devices are becoming increasingly popular. As such, we need to collectively re-think how we are present web information to users.
Google has done just that. A few years ago, it analyzed its mobile user-base to determine development and optimization strategies for its own mobile apps. We can re-use much of Google's findings and apply them to our own mobile projects.
In its results, Google segments users into three main groups: Repetitive Now, Bored Now, and Urgent Now.
If you are developing a mobile commerce website, consider those categories and try to imagine where the site's customers would fall and how you can improve those customers' experiences.
Repetitive Now
Repetitive Now customers repeatedly visit a site, look for a little information and then leave.
A good example of this behavior, outside of ecommerce, might be a weather site. The user visits to see the weather forecast, gets an answer and then leaves. Users may do this on a fairly regular, repetitive basis. You're not likely going to convert these people to more page views; you're not going to extend their session times. They are coming to visit for one piece of information and then they're done.
In the ecommerce space, these are often customers searching for the best possible price.
When considering the different types of mobile devices you're developing for, you should make the kind of information that Repetitive Now users seek very easy to find. You don't want to bury these repetitive sorts of data, such as pricing or availability, three or more levels deep in a site.
Bored Now
Google defined a second category of customers as Bored Now. These are the types of customers who, say, are sitting in a café and waiting for friends.
This category of potential customers has excess time. The Bored Now shopper is not really looking for any specific product, he or she is just looking to be entertained or engaged. To appeal to a Bored Now shopper, add engaging content to a mobile site that helps convert customers that are otherwise simply passing the time.
Urgent Now
The final group of customers is Urgent Now. These are people who need specific information right away. This could include flight schedules and highway travel conditions, for example.
In fact, most airline company websites fall into one of two categories: Repetitive Now or Urgent Now. For Repetitive Now, the user might check repeatedly to see if a flight landed or a fare has been reduced. For the Urgent now user, he or she might ask, "I'm running late, am I going to miss my flight?" Taking these two situations into consideration, the design of the site should be driven by customer usage more than any corporate strategies.
Within the realm of ecommerce, Urgent Now customers need to make a purchase immediately. Perhaps they've forgotten a birthday or anniversary and only have ten minutes before an important meeting. These shoppers need to buy now.
A successful mobile design is less about types of devices or advanced capabilities, but rather more about the types of customers. Cramming a corporate history into a tiny mobile screen, where the customer is really looking for urgent information, is a disaster. If you want consumers to use a mobile site, then it needs to be designed with their intentions in mind. Taking some time to figure out what the site you're developing has to offer and what potential customers need, will go along way in improving the design of your next mobile project.
