Mobile-friendly software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions can transform small and medium-sized businesses. If you plan to integrate these applications into your daily operations, you must ensure they use a mobile-first design.
According to Statista, global smartphone users will continuously increase between 2023 and 2028 and are expected to reach a new peak of 6.2 billion in 2028. This is why your SaaS solutions must be mobile-responsive.
If you’re developing your business’s SaaS solutions, keep reading to understand what mobile-first SaaS solutions are, their advantages, and how to create one efficiently.
What is a mobile-first SaaS solution?
Mobile-first is an approach that prioritizes SaaS solution designs for mobile devices over desktop versions. It includes a mobile-friendly user interface for SaaS applications or websites. Developers do this by building an interface prototype for small screens first. Then, they will gradually expand this interface for large screen sizes.
Advantages of Mobile-First SaaS Solutions
Mobile-first SaaS solutions allow your business to cater to more mobile users. Besides this advantage, here are a few more benefits:
Enhanced user experience
User experience is vital for SaaS solutions. It ensures that customers can easily use and navigate your SaaS websites and applications. The mobile-first approach optimizes your interface for smaller screens to load seamlessly. This way, users can enjoy an enhanced user experience with your site’s and app’s features and content, leading to potential conversions and sales.
Scalability
High traffic can be challenging for websites and apps. As the business gains more customers, your solutions must still be able to meet these demands smoothly. Fortunately, you can scale your mobile-first SaaS solutions.
Mobile scalability allows your SaaS solutions to handle user influxes without crashing or slowing down, enabling them to increase or decrease their performance based on processing changes.
Accessibility and convenience
Anyone with an internet-compatible device can access mobile SaaS solutions anytime and anywhere. Let’s say someone decides to purchase something online. They can do quick searches, and when they see your site, they can easily click and browse on it, providing convenience even while on the go.
Higher search rankings
Search engines like Google use mobile-friendliness as one of their ranking signals. For this reason, Google cannot rank a website higher if it’s not mobile-responsive. When your website doesn’t rank high on search results, potential customers may not see it, affecting your sales.
With a mobile-first SaaS solution, you can reach higher search rankings that drive more traffic and conversions. Your website can also have lower bounce rates. Still, mobile-first strategies are just one aspect of higher search rankings. You must partner it with efficient search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
More personalization
Mobile-first strategies offer various data analytics to help you personalize and hyper-target your marketing efforts. These data sources can provide customer behavior and preferences that will allow you to create a more personalized experience for target audiences.
Creating a Mobile-First SaaS Solution Design
Developing a SaaS solution can be overwhelming. To help you create a successful mobile-first SaaS solution, here are the things you must do:
Utilize responsive design
Responsive design is a design approach that responds to user needs based on screen sizes, platforms, and orientations. It involves integrating a flexible mix of interface grids and layouts that automatically adapt to different screens. For example, when users switch from a smartphone to a tablet, your site should also seamlessly work on the tablet.
Apply readable fonts
Typography is crucial for mobile devices. You must ensure that fonts are readable at eye-comfortable sizes. There should also be a pleasant contrast that separates your text from the background. Examples of simple, readable, and professional fonts are Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Georgia, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Times New Roman, and Saira.
Employ simple designs
Users like a website or app that’s easy to navigate and doesn’t consume much time. Don’t bombard your potential customers with too much information and a complex layout. Boost your conversions by keeping your mobile SaaS solution’s design simple so that users can easily find the information they need.
Avoid text blocks in digital content
Most users often only skim a web page’s headline and first paragraph. Avoid text blocks and long paragraphs if you want them to keep reading until the end. Break your content into different sections and use headings and subheadings for content organization. You can also add infographics and images to keep it interesting.
Additionally, try to make your paragraphs and sentences short. Don’t be afraid to use white spaces because they can increase your content’s readability, making it easier on the eyes.
Put clickable CTAs
A call to action (CTA) is a prompt on an app or website that instructs a user to perform a certain action. It is usually a written command or action phrase like ‘Sign Up’ or ‘Buy Now” with a clickable button or hyperlink. In a mobile-first SaaS solution, you must make your CTAs engaging and easy to find. This way, you can entice visitors to be your customers.
Create a content inventory
A content inventory is an element of content categorization. It provides a comprehensive overview of all the content on your website. Mobile users can easily see the necessary information through this site element.
Content inventories include the following:
- Blog posts
- Articles
- Landing pages
- Multimedia files
- Press releases
- Links
- Images
- XML sitemaps
Regularly updating your content inventory is essential to help you and your team quickly locate content. It provides stakeholders and users with the full scope of your site’s content. It also enables you to spot and fill content gaps affecting your site’s performance. This way, you can increase your competitive edge in the SaaS market.
Optimize the clickable elements
Clickable elements can be bothersome on mobile devices if they’re not correctly sized. Users may get frustrated when they keep missing the buttons. Since fingers are usually larger than mobile cursors, providing enough space for clickable elements is essential.
Your touch targets should be at least 48 x 48 pixels. This size equates to 9 mm, which is ideal for mobile devices. Try to tap your buttons; if you can click them, users can, too.
Limit unnecessary popups
Popups are small windows that appear in front of a web page while users scroll. They are often timed, but some may appear when users open a website. While they are helpful as CTAs to engage users on your website, too many popups can be annoying and bothersome.
Disruptive popups can affect the user experience, especially when they don’t expect anything to come up while exploring the site or reading content.
Preventing disruptions means limiting your unnecessary popup use. Limiting popups can help increase engagement and conversions. You can ensure a user experience that prioritizes customer preferences and needs. Users won’t also need to use adblockers when browsing your site.
Perform beta testing before launching
No website is launched without beta testing. Beta testing is the practice of evaluating a website’s functionality before releasing it. It is conducted with a specific group of target users, which is an opportunity to check how the website and its elements perform. This way, you can tweak and refine errors before the official launch.
In beta testing, you want to ensure smooth checkout and payment processes so users won’t encounter unnecessary problems. It also allows you to verify whether the website’s rendering response works appropriately across mobile devices and desktop computers.
Bonus Tips: Optimize the images and videos by using compressors to reduce their sizes; simplify the forms so users can quickly fill them out on smaller screens; and limit pop-up usage to avoid navigation interruptions.
Boost Your Sales With a Mobile-First SaaS Solution
Mobile-first SaaS solutions can bring significant success to your enterprise. With these tips, you can ensure an optimized SaaS solution for mobile users, which you can effectively expand for desktop versions. This can help provide a user experience that increases your sales.
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