What is Mobile User Experience?
It is the user’s view and reaction before, during and after their interaction with a mobile device. Every product planned for humans has a user and every time a product is used, it distributes an experience.
Let’s take a quick detour back to the article about Responsive Design. One of the most demanding features of mobile responsive design is that it can provide great user experience across different devices and screen sizes. This is an important feature when you don’t know what kind of device a searcher will use. For example, a digital project regardless of these features will present a better user experience. Let’s look at the following. Someone uses a digital project on their iPad at lunch break, then when they get back to the office, they decide to continue using it but on their desktop. If the digital project in this example is responsive, this person will have a positive user experience because they will be viewing the same project on their desktop as they did on their iPad.
Since more users are going mobile, the attention is being drawn into the direction of how to improve the elements that create mobile user experience. When dividing mobile user experience into its key sections it gives us the framework for building and assessing good mobile experiences. These key sections outline mobile user experience – functionality, content, design, usability and many more.
Functionality - Being able to complete tasks using the different tools and features.
-
Present main features from other outlets that have an importance in a mobile environment.
-
Offer related mobile-friendly functionality (barcode scanning) to engage users.
-
Warrant that the content is appropriate for mobile. (show store locator with easy click phone numbers)
-
Include features that are important to business. (search bar, free trials)
Information Architecture – Organize functionality and content to complete tasks.
-
Main features and content on landing page should have links.
-
Allow mobile users to steer through important content in as little as a few taps. Users need to complete their task quicker on a mobile because or else it means more waiting for pages to load and more bandwidth used.
-
Make sure there is a back button and home screen button.
-
Ensure clear labels for links.
Content – A variety of material in various formats such as text, images, video that provide information.
-
Present suitable and a reasonable mix of content. (information regarding product, social content, marketing content)
-
Use multimedia when it’s connected to the users needs. (news, funny videos)
-
Have user manage multimedia. (to stop or play)
-
Ensure content is readable on mobile devices and tablets. (images are clear on the new iPad)
-
Ensure content is presented in a format supported on the user’s device.
Design – Graphic design, layout and branding that have to do with the visual presentation.
-
Design should be unique and not the copied version of a desktop.
-
Make it quick and easy to absorb the information.
-
Bring visual elements, information architecture, content and functionality to express the brand’s distinctiveness and guide the user.
-
Consider physical orientation – portrait and landscape.
User Input – Effort involving entering data easily.
-
Maintain a minimum data entry. (limit registration forms)
-
Display defaults when possible.
-
Save usernames and passwords, display appropriate keyboard when entering data.
-
Consider auto-completion or spell-check.
Mobile Context – The environment and circumstances of usage.
-
Use device features to support the user’s context of use. (voice commands)
-
Accommodate for time of day. (low-glare maps at night)
-
Identify user’s location and display nearby content.
-
Default to the user experience most suitable for the device.
Usability – The combination of information architecture, design and content how they collectively work together to allow users to achieve their tasks.
-
Ensure touchability is clear. (links, icons, buttons)
-
Touch targets should be spaced out enough to avoid selection errors.
-
Pay attention to contrast, colour and font size.
-
Don’t rely on features that are not supported by all devices. (JavaScript, Flash, pop-ups)
Trustworthiness – Point of trust the user feels.
-
No collecting of personal information. (address book/location without permission of the user)
-
Make personal information of the user easy to control how it’s shared.
-
Declare business practices in a concise summary. (privacy policy)
Social – Form a sense of social participation that facilitates user communication and sharing on social networks.
-
Maintain social networks. (Facebook page, Twitter account)
-
Incorporate social networks on mobile experience to make it easy for users to connect. (Enables social sharing, bookmarking, liking)
-
Provide mobile offers.
Marketing – Process by which a user finds what they are looking for and the cause that persuades repeated usage.
-
Optimize mobile search. (keep URLs short)
-
Promote and advertise. (online, TV, print)
-
Have users rate and review. (generates word of mouth)
Merging it all Together
These ten mobile user experience features described can be applied to accurately deliver a compelling user experience for the mobile world. There are constant opportunities for improvement that continue to emerge because it is still a developing field. Consumers are discovering new ways of doing things with this mobile revolution and this also offers companies with opportunities to be inventive and original. This is allowing companies to establish differentiation from their competition. It will form more personalized and more significant user experience that will appeal to customers and develop a connection with them.
Try these techniques with a sales enablement platform and transform the way you sell.
Google+ Tara Anderson
http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/07/12/elements-mobile-user-experience/
