Mobile Friendly websites

A few weeks ago, I posted a graphic that represented email clients in order of popularity. I will re post a similar graphic again from a campaign we sent last week.

This chart evidences the point I would like to make regarding the importance of ensuring that a website is designed to be mobile friendly. So much direct marketing is carried out by email today and the evidence is that much of it is being accessed by mobile email clients.  For email marketing to be successful, it is important that there are clear and compelling calls to action present. But if fulfilment of these marketing campaigns is to take place on an iPhone or an Android device then it is just as important that the destination website be mobile compatible.

It is possible to have a mobile application creates, with an RSS feed that your mobile users may access your news etc. however it is unlikely that unless you are a very big consumer brand that you are going to get many subscribers who regularly check that application and even less likely to get them to download it in the first place.

One area that is seeing rapid growth is streaming video. There are many websites that supply streaming content that I can access with my HTC. Sadly, they do not offer 100% usability. The thing is I am most likely to access this type of content from my mobile when I have a few minutes to spare and I am not at my desk or in my house.
Most of these systems do use flash and the problems with accessing rich flash content from a mobile device are well documented. No doubt we will see more websites developed to offer a better streaming experience to mobile users but I cant help but feel that some big players in this market are missing a trick.

Once again I have to say that if you are running direct email marketing campaigns, ensure that the landing page does not have flash. This will ruin the impact of the campaign on pretty much any mobile device. Another thing to be wary of is screen width. Make sure that the different elements of your homepage are able to exist next to each other without blocking important text, links or functions.

Th important point to remember is that New Media is all about giving customers choice. If customers are choosing to use mobile devices as web browsers, it would be a fool who fails to react to that basic market force.