We spend increasing amounts of time with our eyes glued to little illuminated rectangles. Yes, that’s right: mobile internet use is rocketing. Captivated by smartphones, we’re online on the High Street, on the train, on our sofas … even driving our cars.
This marks a significant social change. Smartphones are becoming ever-present, even gaining our attention when we’re meant to be doing something else. More than half of adults use a smartphone when socialising with others, and 38% admit to using theirs after it woke them up (source: Ofcom).
For statistics that are closer to home, check your website analytics (or ask us to!) to see how many people visit your website using a mobile device. For instance, Google Analytics shows us that about 20% of visitors to the Dental Design sites are mobile.
Many dental practices aren’t stopping to consider how this shift to mobile will affect them. They’re not making the connection between the rise in smartphone sales and their own prospects. That’s a missed opportunity because, make no mistake, there’s money to be made from going mobile.
Accessing a website on a mobile device is very different to using it on a normal computer. The screen is smaller, it’s harder to click on links accurately, and sites may take longer to load.
If your site is tricky to use on smartphones, you’re putting off people who use them. Say you have 1,000 visitors a month, with 10% of them coming from smartphones. That’s 100 people who want to use your website, but can’t.
So, it’s vital your website works well on smartphones. This isn’t an impossible task, yet at the end of last year, 70% of companies hadn’t done it.
Designing for the mobile environment will come with a very natural set of constraints. You could argue that such constraints limit mobile design but in reality, they are inherently good for the user experience.
Perhaps the most impactful of these constraints is screen space. 80% of the content available on your existing website will need to go. This forces you to focus on the most important features for your patients; your address, telephone number, opening hours and treatment information.
Mobile phones boast inbuilt functionality that will make it easier for users to perform certain tasks – removing the need for manual steps:
Smartphones allow users to automatically call a number when ‘tapped’ or ‘clicked’.
Users can find a location and automatically open the phone’s map application by simply clicking on an address.
With built in GPS, users can easily identify their current location and seek out the nearest supermarket, cash machine or, dentist!
For a one off cost of £750 + VAT, we can put you on the mobile map – and one call is all it takes; speak to one of our team now on 01202 677 277.
Remember, designing for mobile isn’t just an opportunity to create a mobile version of a web product to take advantage of its growth; it’s an opportunity to provide a vastly improved service for your patients.