This article is inspired by Luke Wroblewski’s talk at An Event Apart Seattle.
Many business owners are looking at improving their mobile device experience to stand apart from the crowd.
Three taps and a swipe – our competitive advantage. –Hotel Tonight
What is your competitive advantage?
Let’s face it. There are a lot of apps on the market. It was back in 2007 when Apple revolutionized the mobile market with the iPhone. In just six short years hundreds of thousands of apps have come and gone. More and more websites are turning to a responsive design approach. Or more appropriately a “One Website for All” approach.
One of the issues many app/website owners face is making the points of content creation on mobile devices easier. Since we haven’t had as much time on the web to focus on mobile devices, many are using this as an opportunity to beat out competitors.
Let’s talk about what content creation is exactly and where you might be able to focus your attention on your own website or app.
Content Creation Focus
Content creation occurs anywhere your visitor is providing you with data. This could be selecting dates and options to book a hotel or trip or maybe it’s discussing interior design ideas with others. Find that crucial point of content creation and find ways you can simplify it.
Your website may have more than one. The key of this exercise is to find the most important entry point. What is the core focus of your product? If that includes some sort of content creation by your visitors, you need to shift your attention to it.
Device Use & Built-in Opportunities
We need to start thinking about how mobile devices are being held and interacted with. This will help us shape better experiences for our visitors. In Catering to Touch Devices I show some of the hot spots on mobile devices. Smartphones are typically held and operated with one thumb. Can your visitor easily enter content and interact with your product with just a thumb?
Nearly all mobile devices have incredible built-in capabilities such as pop-up keyboards, number pads, GPS, camera… the list goes on and on. How can you use these native opportunities to make content entry easier for your visitor?
GPS is a big opportunity that can decrease the time it takes to enter in a location. Make use of it when you can.
Don’t let the keyboard come up. Unless there’s no other way. -Luke Wroblewski
Take advantage of touch gestures and other UI opportunities such as: price sliders, suggested form field options with checkboxes, date pickers that allow for the smallest number of clicks and more.
Left) Freshbooks Accounting app let’s you take a photo of your receipt when entering an expense taking advantage of the built-in camera (if only they would do this on the desktop version as well!. (Right) Price sliders are an easy way to ask for simple data without a text input.
(Left) Delta Airlines App makes use of plus and minus buttons for their passager count (Right) Jetsetter offers a one question check in and check out date picker screen. Simply check the first & last date and done!
Images Rule – Say A lot with a Little
Jetsetter focuses quite heavily on visuals throughout their app. When you think about a luxury vacation you really want to see and explore the place you are planing on investing some hard earned dollars at.
If you take a look at the photo on the left, you’ll see how simplified their user interface is and where their focus is. They are emphasizing the photo, the fact that there is only 3 days left (urgency) and the price per night which swaps out to a “book” button.
The photos are easy to enlarge with one click and also have the added value of captions.
Adding enhancements when they are requested or not always necessary is a great way to simplify a complex layout or page. Especially if you are battling internal politics at your organization. But it’s always better to get rid of what isn’t necessary whenever possible to improve your competitive advantage on mobile devices.
Performance Wins
Keep your focus on simplifying content entry on your app or website and you too can have a three tap and one swipe competitive advantage!
