On the move – Engaging mobile audiences

• 57% of users say that they wouldn’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site


• Not having a mobile optimised website is like closing your store 1 day a week


• 3 out of 4 users prefer a mobile-friendly site. If your content is not clear it will be ignored

Aviation and aerospace is an industry that holds advancing global mobility and connectivity at the very core of all it does. And for an industry that is all about technology, efficiency and movement, it remains a mystery as to why so many companies have yet to fully embrace what the online world has to offer business, particularly with regards to mobile technology.

Always on the move, the global population has higher expectations than ever before, wanting quick and easy access to whatever they want, whenever they want. As of 2013, 6% of the global population owned a tablet (to grow to 10% by 2016) and 22% owned a smart phone, whilst only 20% said they had a PC. This clearly demonstrates that mobile technology is now king in the online world. To add to this fact, it is said that roughly 50% of smart phone owners use their mobiles as their primary Internet source. With such large portions of global audiences spending so much of their cyber-life on mobile devices, it is essential that online communication is mobile friendly.

Websites & emails that respond to the device you view them on…

Responsive design enables websites to respond automatically according to the device on which it is viewed, prioritising important information to be displayed first and increasing the text size to allow for easy reading. Whether viewed on a smart phone, tablet, laptop or desktop, your website is optimised for whichever device is used, making it easy, quick and pleasant to navigate. As well as the structure and design of a website, one must be aware that Flash elements cannot be displayed on Apple devices and alternative content must be considered.

The need to consider responsive design is not exclusively reserved for website development though; with 65% of emails being first opened on a mobile device (of which, 16% are tablets), HTML emails need to be optimised for smart phones and tablets to ensure a positive response rate. You also need to ensure that key information is easy and quick to absorb.

Author: Sindy Foster