Your phone is your gateway to the world
-Gregory Ebbecke, 10.28.2020
Every month without fail, I log into the Acura financial website to make a payment on my car. And every single month I got frustrated that the website is not adaptive at all. I have to zoom in, reposition the entire screen, triple tap a button just to be able to log in to my account or call to make a payment. Acura made the mobile version responsive which severely lacks in great user experience, Daniel Rowles affirms:
Let’s make something clear from the outset; you need a mobile-optimized site. That doesn’t mean your site happens to work on mobile devices. It means the user journey via mobile has been carefully considered and you offer the optimal experience via mobile devices.
(Rowels, 57)
I know I could save myself this insanity by logging in through my desktop—but as life will have it, every time the reminder comes up on my phone to make that payment, I’m not at my desktop. Autopay is also an option but just not something I trust enough to set up.
Acura spent the last two years completely re-inventing their cars and customer service in an effort to reposition their brand to appeal to younger buyers—yet they couldn’t somehow manage to make their website adaptive to all devices. Had Acura done their research, they would’ve found that over 50% of global population is mobile . Mobile traffic has also increased by 222% from 2013 to 2019. Having an adaptive website is imperative if you want to attract new customers, keep current ones and stay up to date with modern technology.
You can see the differences between the website version and the mobile version of the Acura Financial Services website:
People are busy and constantly on the move! Acura can’t assume that its consumers always have access to their computers to be able to make payments or access the website for other needs. Interestingly enough, the Acura website is fully adaptive. So, I could and will argue that Acura captures their audience with an amazing desktop and mobile website which can lead to a sale. But once that sale is made, consumers are left to use an archaic, slow, non-adaptive mobile website to make payments on their shiny new vehicle, contact their local dealership, schedule services, update their personal information, view statements and other important matters. I’m fairly certain that’s not the message that Acura wants to send out.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my shiny new car with all its bells and whistles, but I’m disappointed with the website and all the frustration that comes with doing something as simple as making a payment.
SeoHermit offers additional reasons as to why websites should be mobile friendly:
- Streamlined experience across devices
- Positive ranking signal
- Improve mobile conversion rate
- Improved user experience
- Faster download speed
- More flexible and cost-effective than app development
Acura needs to think about the customer journey while visiting their website on mobile devices. A website that is not mobile-optimized does not offer a seamless user journey. Most of the time is spent zooming in and moving the screen around in order to get to the task. Users need to be able to access the content as easily as they would if they were sitting at a computer.
Rowles sums up this issue well when he states:
Poor use of technology can ruin an otherwise well-thought-out mobile site, but a site without a user-centered design approach is unlikely to stand a chance in the first place.
(Rowels, 81)
Sources
55+ Mobile Vs Desktop Usage Stats You Should Know in 2020. (2020, August 11). Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://techjury.net/blog/mobile-vs-desktop-usage/
7 Compelling Reasons Why You Need a Mobile Friendly Website in 2019. (2019, June 07). Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.studio98.com/7-compelling-reasons-why-you-need-a-mobile-friendly-website-in-2019/
Anderson, K. (2020, October 01). Importance of Having a Mobile-Friendly Website. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.seohermit.com/articles/importance-of-having-a-mobile-friendly-website/
Clement, J. (2020, July 21). Mobile percentage of website traffic 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/.
Mobile Vs. Desktop Internet Usage (Latest 2020 Data). (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet-usage-statistics
Rowles, Daniel. Mobile Marketing (p. 75, 81). Kogan Page. Kindle Edition.
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