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The lives of billions of people revolve around the mobile internet. That is around half of the global population. If you are not designing for mobile, you and your user will be under the shade of threat. That is why, a Mobile-First Approach is a fantastic strategy to employ for all digital products. It could be anything - Websites, Web-based applications, emails or the landing/ service pages, which aids at boosting up conversion rates, lead generations and delivering a unified user experience. Mobile-first is exclusively designed for those digital bees on hand-held devices like smartphones, tablets and other handy gadgets.

What is a Mobile-first strategy?

In the dynamic digital world, society is evolving faster with the technology to adapt.  Mobile-first is a design philosophy that aims at creating a better experience for users by beginning the designing from the smallest of screens, “Mobile”. This favours the user’s experience and stands seamless on any device.

This concept originated and came into limelight in the year 2010, when Eric Schmidt, then-CEO of Google made an announcement at the “Mobile world congress” conference that their company’s focus turned to mobile users with their digital practice. In his speech, he uttered that “What’s really important right now is to get the mobile architecture right. Mobile will ultimately be the way you provision most of your services. The way I like to put it is, the answer should always be mobile-first. You should always put your best team and your best app on your mobile app.”

The reason behind his statement is simple. Mobile is limited, thereby its screen is too small to fit only what’s most important and ignoring the rest. By this way, this is limited to users' needs and eliminates the unwanted elements.

However, if you prefer you can convert this as an unlimited usage, expanding the design by adding the other elements to it. This is purely based upon the user needs and change in their preference.

Why is Mobile-first design important?

As the number of users increases, it creates a demand for user-friendly websites out there. By providing a good user experience, you can increase your discoverability and potentially the conversion rates.

To discuss the experience, mobile-first offers a wealth of opportunities for accessibility. Let’s talk

> User friendly approach - Pushes your product to a huge reach, it can be more readable on small screens rather than finding it hard to see the big screen.

> Prioritizing the content - It states that mobile-first is a content first. Spotting the user’s pulse should take the first launch on your page.

How to build the best Mobile-first design?

Here are a few tips to be keep in mind while developing a mobile-first website

Tip #1 Place your user on top priority

Before stepping into the design outline, it is advisable to put the user first. Research, analyse and jot down the pain spots or interests of your users. Also, beware of your competitors every move. Based on these two crucial edges, create your ideas on your website. Once the layout is done and the launch of the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) Version, don’t hesitate to ask for feedback on improvements and promptly respond to all their queries. Create a connection with the users.

Tip #2 Mobile first = Content first

Don’t forget, when it comes to mobile-first, content is the key. Here is the place that proves how much you are engaged with your users. Always try to capture the contents of what the user needs and be the first one to respond to them.

Tip #3 Easy to navigate

Make it easy to reach the navigational icon. One true and tried method of doing this is by using a hamburger menu. Hamburger menus make the search easy by giving access to the secondary elements and are also easily recognizable by the users. This saves the users time by simply going straight to what they are looking for.

Tip #4 K.I.S.S (keep it simply superb)

Good mobile design is simple. Do you want to add some burden on your users with extraneous elements like ads, pop-ups, and other content, if so, please abort that idea. Because you aren’t ready to give a sight to them, especially not on their mobile screen.

Tip #5 Twirling contents

Concise, fluff-free, and to-the-point content is what the users are looking for in this fast, revolving world. Writing the content based on the mobile screen dimension makes it crisp as well as easy for the users to understand. The title, images, and text are optimized with a well-designed user interface. It helps users to browse sites and their content quickly.

Tip #6 Bold and consistent CTAs

The mobile-first design mainly focuses on using bold and impact content that visually excites your users. Clean lines, color contrasts, and typographical elements create a call-to-action button. It further results in driving traffic, attaining leads, increasing conversion rates, and bringing recurrent customers to you. So, make the optimum use of it.

Tip #7 Tag upon the quick loading speed

No one wants to wait for the page to load. If they face the slow loading then there are chances for them to close the site and not turn back after that. The loading speed is considered as one of the parameters in Google rankings. If you are caught under the slow loading, then your site will automatically be dropped in the lightweight bucket. The responsive approach will work through CSS media queries that keep an eye on browser size and alter the layout/style. It not only engages but attracts more organic traffic.

Finally, “If your plans don't include mobile, your plans are not finished” - by Wendy Clark, adding life to these words, let’s opt for the mobile-first approach. Way of interaction revolves around the advancement of technology, in today’s digital world. Every user would like to finish off their work in a single tap. If your website has attractive, informative and scroll-easy contents, then it would definitely bring a huge number of users to your site.

Hope our blog has given you some practicable takeaways and if you need a hand, our team at Elephant is filled with an efficient clan of professionals, always glad to take part in elevating your business. Reaching high is never a problem, we always see it as an opportunity! Please reach us by tapping the link below!

https://www.elephantintheboardroom.com.au/