In a world where millions of consumers are using smartphones, there is an enormous opportunity for advertisers and marketers who can adapt ahead of their competition. The new big thing in advertising is mobile, and mobile campaigns need mobile landing pages (in addition to full mobile websites). For those of you who aren’t sure what a mobile landing page is, it is the page you are first brought to when clicking on an ad on your mobile device. Landing pages can make all the difference between engaging a customer or turning them off from your brand, and therefore they must work on the latest smartphones including iPhone and Android.

Before discussing mobile landing page best practices, lets first discuss why they are so important. In case you have been living under a rock for the past…oh…let’s say three years, mobile devices, especially iPhone and Android, become increasingly ubiquitous and are changing the way people interact and do business. Mobile web browsers give people the opportunity to search and find what they need at their fingertips, anytime, anywhere. In fact, the average person has their mobile phone within reach for about 14 hours per day.

Tips for Designing Landing Pages

Here are some tips to keep in mind when designing landing pages:

These tips all boil down to the fact that mobile users want quick answers and quick solutions. If they have to wait for pages to load and must read closely to find the information they want, they will simply leave the landing page before taking any action. Mobile landing pages are most successful when they cater to immediate needs and impulses that don’t require the consumer to think about the decision they are making.

Mobile Landing Page Performance

There’s no doubt landing pages and mobile advertisements have great potential. Here are some facts about how well mobile ads have performed:

• Mobile coupons redemption rates are 10 times higher than print
• Mobile ads tend to perform 2-3 times better than online ads in terms of key metrics such as brand favorability, awareness and purchase intent
• 70% of mobile searches lead to action within one hour, while online searches take about a month for same percentage to be reached
• 60% of consumers report clicking on mobile advertisements at least once per week

In addition

• 50% would play a game
• 40% would be willing to download a coupon
• 22% would make a purchase
• 85% said the type of ads they are most likely to pay attention to are graphic ads including banners, video ads, or ads that allow the user to interact with them
• Only 2% said they preferred ads that took over the entire screen

Typical Mobile Landing Page Calls to Action

Mobile landing pages should contain content that is optimized for smartphones, meaning that the text is short, the images have been reduced in size and adjusted for the mobile audience and the calls to action are clear and appropriate for the mobile user. The following is a list of typical mobile landing page calls to action.

• Watch Video (e.g. YouTube)
• Search
• Map It
• Like Us (on Facebook)
• Call Now
• Download (app)
• Share This
• SMS
• Add Event to My Calendar
• Vote

As mobile landing pages become more popular, companies are no longer just experimenting with them, but rather making them an integral part of the marketing mix. If done effectively, mobile landing pages have the ability to reach your customers directly through this rapidly growing channel and give your company the opportunity to grow along with it.

Check back with us for Part 2 of this blog post in which our lead designer Mike Mai will show examples of mobile landing page designs, layouts and best practices. We’ll show you the good, the bad and the ugly!

Credits: With thanks to Nathan Teplow, for his research, co-authorship, and collaboration on this blog post.