[A Foolproof Method] If You Want to Attract Customers, Always Check Your Website on a Smartphone!

From ACIDHOUSE, INC., this is Tetsuya Ashida.

Small business owners running websites: are you doing all of your site checks on a smartphone?

If you aren't checking, or you check on a PC but not on a smartphone, you may be missing out on big business opportunities.

If this rings a bell, read this article and immediately set up a system of "checking thoroughly on a smartphone when running your website."

Why do you need to check on a smartphone?

Because, as of February 2019, most of the devices used to access the internet are smartphones.

In response to that trend, Google, the absolute god of the internet world, has also now switched to evaluating sites on a smartphone basis.

In other words, even if your site is very attractive and easy to use from the user's perspective on a PC, it's hard to get a high evaluation unless it's optimized for smartphone users.

If you're interested, google terms like "mobile usability," "mobile-friendly," and "mobile-first indexing" and you can learn the details, including Google's views.

What to remember is that it's important to build your site for smartphone users and raise its quality.

You could say that "a site only has value when it fits the environment the overwhelming majority of people use."

It's a very simple and obvious point.

But why do I go out of my way to say something so obvious?

Because there are decisive factors that make people forget to check their sites on a smartphone.

Is the cause of forgetting to check in your company!?

Now, the reason people forget to check their sites on a smartphone may actually lie in their work environment.

Let's dig into each.

Production and operation are done on PCs

Even though most users use smartphones, the production tool is still the PC.

In terms of specs, it's not impossible to do web production on a tablet or smartphone.

But considering the operational know-how accumulated so far, the number of software options, stability, and so on, the PC is effectively the only choice.

Communication about production and operation is done on PCs

This is almost the same as "production and operation are done on PCs."

Whether among web production and operation teams, with people in other job types, or in exchanges with outside companies, everything is done on PCs, so displaying the site on a PC sometimes becomes the unspoken premise.

Some companies use tablets for sales roles and the like, but basically the work tool is still the PC.

The company's attitude toward using smartphones

Alongside "PC = work tool," depending on the work environment and the person, smartphones are sometimes seen like this:

"Smartphone = personal tool = slacking off, playing"

This is especially common among people in jobs that don't do web production or operation.

*The same is sometimes thought when people are viewing social media or videos.

Some companies even ban smartphones during working hours.

How should you solve this?

Put simply, the solution is to "bring smartphones in as work tools."
Of course there are points to watch, but I think it's fine if you cover the following.

Use chat tools for almost all communication

In short, the cause is that communication tools are confined to the PC.

Chat tools have smartphone apps with synced data, so you can check while referring to the conversation and attached data.

You can do it while switching between apps on your smartphone, so the work is efficient.

A common practice is sending the site to be checked to your smartphone email address and checking it there.

This is a hassle, and honestly the checking tends to become sloppy.

You could use groupware instead of chat tools, or sync your email, but it's not very easy to use, so it's better to avoid it.

Mirror the smartphone showing the site being checked onto a PC

When checking a site in front of many people, such as in a meeting, you can mirror the smartphone in your hand onto a PC exactly as it is.

Since it shows the real device's appearance and operation, the check is highly reliable.

If you record what's mirrored on the PC and share it, people who couldn't join in real time can check it later, and it also serves as evidence.

Note that software like smartphone simulators on a PC, or browser add-ons, often don't match the appearance on a real device, so I think you'd better not use them.

Also, you can't check usability without using a real device.

*If I get the chance, I'm thinking of reviewing them in a separate article, though limited to Mac and iPhone.

Align understanding inside and outside the company about using smartphones for work

Either provide one smartphone per person at the company or allow the use of personal smartphones, and make it known that they are an essential work tool.

Business is about "generating money," so it's not good to shackle its source with outdated preconceptions.

Also, if an outside company is really reluctant about using smartphones for work, share the recorded data introduced in "Mirror the smartphone showing the site being checked onto a PC."

And please get them to at least accept using video for work.

As an aside, some companies even regard using video for work as slacking off or playing, but personally I think that's out of touch with today's times.

Typing long texts into emails, or going to the trouble of making PowerPoints to make things easy to understand, is a waste of time, so such exchanges shouldn't be generated.

Connect smartphones via Wi-Fi

When having people use their personal smartphones, have them connect via the company Wi-Fi.

Having staff use their own mobile data for work breeds resentment, and the checks get sloppy.

We're B2B, so smartphones don't matter? Sorry, no

Some people think that since "work tool = PC," B2B doesn't need to consider smartphones, but this is wrong.

Since Google's site evaluation focuses on smartphones, you must not neglect your smartphone site even if most of your customers view it on PCs.

And from the user's perspective, it's not unusual for businesspeople to take a peek at B2B sites while traveling by train or on a break.

Even if there's no problem for your business now, in the long run a negative Google evaluation is likely to hurt you, so take proper measures.