7 Reasons Why Public Companies Can’t Afford to Miss Out on Mobile

When companies the size of Apple make announcements, the whole world listens. And, in fact, the whole world changes. Remember when the initial reaction to the iPad was resoundingly negative? (It was even referred to as the “big yawn”, courtesy of Business Insider). Fast-forward six years, and Apple has sold over 282 million of the tablet devices, all the while making way for competitors like Samsung to create their own version of the iPad.

The same can be said for Google. When Google released the first round of, what was quickly referred to as “Mobilegeddon”, the whole world knew they needed to listen. And when the second round of “Mobilegeddon” was released this past year, it was another reminder that Google truly sets the rules of anything and everything to do with how people will find and access your company’s website.

What is “Mobilegeddon”?

On April 21 2015, Google released a mobile-friendly ranking algorithm that impacted businesses around the world. Ultimately Google decided that, if your website was not mobile-friendly, your search ranking would be negatively impacted. This means that if your business and a fellow public company competitor both had stellar websites, but yours was mobile-friendly and theirs wasn’t, your company would show up higher in mobile Google searches.

Make sense?

In this algorithm, there are no degrees of mobile-friendliness. You either are, or you aren’t.

Why does this matter?

Simply put, not having a mobile-friendly website for your public company could break your business online. We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s true. Read why below.

So here’s why public companies can’t afford to miss out on mobile…

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1. You’re putting the future of your company’s online presence at risk.

Without a mobile-friendly website, your company will suffer in Google search rankings. As both Apple and Google have well demonstrated in the last six years, it’s time to pay attention to the big players in the game for your business to truly take advantage of your online strategy.

(As a side note, we have a handy checklist to determine if your website is mobile-friendly. Give it a spin here.)

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2. Mobile use has skyrocketed.

It’s true.

Mobile now represents 65% of digital media time, which means that the desktop is now a secondary touch point.

Now, that’s not to say that your business can forget about desktop, but if a potential 65% of your target audience is on mobile, wouldn’t you want to speak to them?

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3. Investor interaction is all about mobile.

If you caught yourself thinking, “yeah, yeah – but those 65% are all Millennials or even teenagers,” from our last statistic, think again.

68% of investors view investor-related content each and every day through their mobile device.

Your target audience.

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4. Emails are primarily read on mobile devices.

Do you catch yourself skimming through an email on mobile, only to click off into link-land to other websites and platforms?

That’s because over 67% of email is opened on a smartphone device. That’s well over half of each and every email that is sent and received every single day.

So, if your company is sending newsletters or issuing press releases, it’s important to ensure these are mobile optimized, too. And if you’re driving traffic back to your site, having a website that is mobile-friendly is key.

Since 67% of email is opened on smartphone devices, more email read on phones will translate to more mobile page views, making your user experience integral to your online strategy.

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5. Website design instills trust.

According to a Stanford study, 75% of us admit to making judgments about a company’s credibility based on the design of their website.

So, can you imagine a potential investor arriving on your website through their smartphone, only to find that they can’t engage or interact with your content because it’s not mobile-friendly?

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6. Speedy sites make for happy visitors.

Imagine if your website took forever to load? Fingers crossed this isn’t the case for your company (and if it is, click here).

Content that’s above the fold (the first content you see when you land on a site) on mobile should load in under one second. You can take a speed test here.

Speedy sites make for happy visitors, which means that these visitors are more likely to stay on your site and make their way to more pages on your website.

public companies can't afford to miss out on mobile 77. Responsive websites will set your business for the future.

One of the greatest benefits of responsive web design is that the site is designed to look good on any screen size, not designed specifically for a certain monitor or device. What does this mean? In the future, as new devices are released, your responsively designed website will still be set up for success.

 

Having a mobile website for your public company is no longer simply a nice feature; rather, it is a necessity and literally impacts the growth of your business online. As more and more investors are visiting your website to learn about your company, you truly can’t afford to miss out on the mobile experience.