Are you tired of bro marketing, manipulative algorithms, and sales funnels that encourage you to ‘trip’ a prospect to make her buy more? Then you’re in the right place.
On Small Stage, Big Impact veteran digital strategist, Renia Carsillo, combines solo teaching episodes with interviews to help you learn how to build a sustainable, people-first digital strategy that works for your business. Along the way, she speaks to digital activists, upstart developers, badass content creators, brave community leaders, and other behind-the-scenes folx you probably haven’t heard on a podcast before. To help you answer one important question:
How do we do better digital (#DoBetterDigital) so we can be better humans?
Nearly two-thirds of searches happen on mobile, and a bad experience there costs trust and conversions. In this episode, I talk about why mobile websites mostly suck, why we small businesses are part of the reason Google keeps users on its own platform, and why a lazy mobile design is the brand equivalent of poor customer service.
The good news is that it doesn’t take much to get it right. It just takes intentionality, starting with three simple baselines.
Mobile websites mostly suck, and that’s a brand trust problem.
Several of my recent posts have circled around my angst about Google’s search transitions in the zero-click and AI-driven era and the impact on small businesses. But in fairness to Google, we’re part of the problem.
Small companies, and even many big ones, remain still clinging to the idea that user experience actually matters. Over the weekend, trying to find a fun way to use up the last of the spinach and summer tomatoes, I was reminded of this again and again. Almost no websites are worse on mobile than food blogs.
In today’s episode, I talk through why the mobile experience deserves to come first, and three simple rules that help a mobile site build trust instead of eroding it.
We’re all searching mostly on the go, and yet we think our customers are doing something else.
Most small business sites aren’t much better than those recipe sites. We may not plaster obnoxious ads all over our content, but we’re stubbornly committed to bloated graphics, desktop-optimized menus, and generally ignoring basic accessibility standards.
A good mobile experience won’t happen by accident. And yet it’s usually an afterthought, the last-minute consideration, or not considered at all. In my experience, the bigger the budget and the fancier the agency, the worse this problem is.
Google moved to a fully mobile-first index in 2019, and today 60–65% of all searches originate on mobile. When your website doesn’t deliver a usable experience, it (at best) makes conversion less likely and (at worst) becomes a brand killer.
A lazy or ignored mobile design is the brand equivalent of poor customer service.
Mobile experience is a baseline of doing business. Just like customer service, there are a few simple rules any small business should require their web team to follow:
- Design for low-vision and low-dexterity users first.
- Carefully customize and test the pop-ups and overlays on your site.
- Prioritize the most important actions, not the imagery.
Every single time we optimize a client’s mobile site for accessibility standards, we see conversions increase across the board.
For example, the majority of Mrs. Grout’s clients visit their site on mobile. After our recent website refresh, which included improving the mobile experience, their “good” conversion rate of 7.1% surged to “awesome” at 25.4%.
[VISUAL: Screenshots from the Mrs. Grout website showing easy-to-see CTA buttons with clear language]
It’s more difficult than ever to get a user from a trusted browser, social platform, or app onto your website. When they get there, what does your mobile impression say about your brand?
What we Cover
- Why nearly two-thirds of searches happening on mobile makes a bad mobile experience a brand trust problem
- How small businesses are part of the reason Google keeps users on its own platform
- Why mobile is so often the afterthought, and why bigger budgets and fancier agencies tend to make it worse
- Why mobile experience is a baseline of doing business, just like customer service
- How designing for low-vision and low-dexterity users first, using Apple’s accessibility standards, creates a better experience for everyone.
- Why pop-ups and overlays need careful customization and testing on different devices before they go live
- Why the most important action should come before imagery in your design
Episode Recap
- [00:00] Why a bad mobile experience costs trust and conversions, and why fixing it doesn’t take much
- [01:03] In fairness to Google, we’re part of the problem
- [02:28] Why food blogs are some of the worst mobile experiences, and how Safari lets you hide annoying content
- [04:38] Why most small business sites aren’t any better, and why mobile is the most important experience to get right
- [05:24] Why a good mobile experience doesn’t happen by accident, and why bigger budgets often make it worse
- [06:18] Google’s 2019 mobile-first index, the shift in B2B search, and mobile as a baseline of doing business
- [08:22] Fix one: Design for low vision and low dexterity users first, using Apple’s accessibility standards
- [09:54] How closely aligning with accessibility standards took a client’s conversion rate from 7.1% to 25.4%
- [11:53] Fix two: Carefully customize and test the pop-ups and overlays on your site
- [13:36] Fix three: Prioritize the most important actions, not the imagery
- [15:02] The three baselines, and a gut check on what your mobile site says about your business
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
- Mobile Websites Mostly Suck, and That’s a Brand Trust Problem. Here Are 3 Ways to Fix It. (original Substack article)
- Apple Human Interface Guidelines: Accessibility — the accessibility standards I recommend following to design for low vision and low dexterity users first
- Google makes mobile-first indexing the default for all new domains (TechCrunch) — linked in the article on Google’s 2019 move to mobile-first indexing.
- Google search statistics 2026 — linked in the article for the 60–65% mobile search figure
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