An Assessment of Mobile Design Approaches: Which is Right For You and How Do You Know?

Your mobile strategy should depend upon the goals of your website or application, your users, and how it is that you interact with those users. This session will walk you through a step-by-step approach that you can use to evaluate your mobile metrics and gather insights from your users in order to make decisions about whether or not you should take an approach that is based upon Responsive Design, Mobile First, native application, or a hybrid of these. We’re talking due diligence here, and the type that you can do yourself.

A social network or eCommerce mobile strategy is not going to be the same as the mobile strategy for a content site; there are many different approaches to designing for mobile devices. Key decisions, such as how to mobilize your website, should be based upon research, planning, and a healthy dose of the metrics and analytics that are available to you and not by locking into the current buzzword trends. When you know what the buzzwords mean, and you understand who and what you are designing and developing for, these decisions can be a piece of cake!

Transcript

1. An Assessment of Mobile Design Approaches: Which is Right For You and How Do You Know? Golli Hashemian, UX Architect @golgolli
2. Why mobile?
3. SOURCE: http://24.media.tumblr.com/f7c04430be6c6eca8414798a87127579/tumblr_mjo96hHQvu1r5e7dwo1_1280.jpg
4. Why NOT mobile?
5. SOURCE: http://philosophically.com/why-were-pivoting-from-mobile-first-to-web-first ORIGAMI: Why we’re pivoting from mobile-first to web-first
6. Oh, hi. I’m Golli, UX architect. @golgolli
7. Responsive Web Design Separate Website + Mobile Site Hybrid (Responsive Web Design with Server Side Components) Native Mobile App
8. Responsive Web Design •Low maintenance $ •Single URL •Google <3’s it (SEO friendly) •Future-friendly •High initial $ •Same content across devices •Compromised performance
9. Separate Sites •Low initial $ •High maintenance $ •Risk user-agent detection failure •Better dumb phone experience •Easy to tailor content
10. Responsive Web Design with Server Side Components (Hybrid) Best of both worlds •Layout like RWD •Improved performance •Can be more complicated and costly
11. Mobile App • Enhanced user experience • Take advantage of advanced mobile features • Available offline • Most control •Most $ and most work •Not compatible across devices •Not easily findable •Highest barrier to user adoption •Most difficult to update and optimize
12. How will I know? SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3-hY-hlhBg
13. Assess the current situation
15. Declare your assumptions. Test a hypothesis.
16. Who are your users? (What questions can be answered with analytics and what questions need further research?) What are their goals and needs?
17. Mobile Traffic = 5-8% of Total Pages/Visit = -20% Average Time on Site = -23% Bounce Rate = +25%
18. What devices?
19. I can haz heatmapz? SOURCE: HeatData.com
20. Who are you? What is your purpose for visiting the site? Why did you visit the site on a mobile device? What is most frustrating about the experience? Can we contact you for a follow-up?
21. Who are your users?
22. 1. 62.8% are seeking information (information about our products and services) 2. 16.3% need to take action (customer support and contact information) 3. 2.3% are looking for something to do (insight papers) What are their goals and needs?
23. LORE: Mobile user are mobile
24. LORE: Mobile users want less content
25. Set the context with user flows and experience models Jobseeker Opens mobile homepage Clicks to open Careers page
26. Apply your research to Prioritize Content
27. SOURCE: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Maslow's_Hierarchy_of_Needs.svg Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
28. Kristofer Layon’s Theory of Mobile Motivation SOURCE: http://kristoferlayon.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/klayonsxsw2012.pdf
29. Brad Frost’s Simplified Version SOURCE: http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/22/separate-mobile-responsive-website-presidential-smackdown/
30. Responsive Web Design Separate Website + Mobile Site Hybrid (Responsive Web Design with Server Side Components) Native Mobile App My Turn
31. To sum it all up... SOURCE: http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/designing-for-mobile-part-I-information-architecture/
32. Thank you! Do you have any questions?