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There seem to be two types of companies: Those who get mobile, and those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s often a function of cost: they\u2019re investing in search, Search Engine Optimisation<\/a>, local business listings<\/a> and landing pages \u2014 and mobile is simply one more line item. If a visitor can already access a site on his or her mobile device, no matter how poorly, a mobile-optimised site may be considered an inessential bell and whistle.<\/p>\n Oh, you think so?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s put mobile aside for a minute. How many times in the past month have you been on your laptop or desktop and turned away from a website in frustration? Maybe the site didn\u2019t make it easy for you to do what you wanted to do. Maybe there was too much text to read. Maybe there were too many steps between you and gratification. So you bounce, move on, find something better. We call that usability fail. Sadly, many organisations don\u2019t know how badly their websites fail in helping users perform even basic tasks.<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s turn up the pressure. You\u2019re on the bus. You\u2019re using your smartphone to find a business, or book travel, or make a payment. If the task is effortless and you get it done before arriving at your stop, chances are you don\u2019t think about why that process was so easy. You move on. But if that process is complicated \u2014 if the web form is too small, if you can\u2019t read instructions, if the buttons are tiny and you keep hitting the wrong one\u2026 suddenly you hate your phone, you hate the bus, the other passengers, you hate your life\u2026 everything.<\/p>\n That, my friend, is the difference between good and bad usability.<\/p>\n You use your smartphone to do things that are immediate and time-sensitive. You call a cab, order pizza, find your local shoe repair \u2014 and you carry out these tasks while walking down the street or having a conversation. Not only are you being asked to master multiple interfaces (some mobile optimised, some not), you are doing this with a fraction of your full attention span.<\/p>\n On a mobile device, good usability is almost exclusively about ergonomics. Sure, some very usable mobile pages are kind of ugly. But if you can read and click without zooming, if you can click to call without taking a second look, if you can use your clumsiest digit to navigate a menu\u2026 then even an ugly mobile page has succeeded where a non-mobile page would fail.<\/p>\n \n Get exclusive insights into digital Let\u2019s Have a Frank Talk about Mobile Usability<\/h2>\n
That Ugly but Usable Mobile Page Trumps Your Pretty Web Page<\/h2>\n
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