by Claudia Bruemmer

Mobile marketing is a must for retail advertisers this holiday season. The Mobile Marketing Association reports that 59 percent of mobile phone users plan to use their devices for holiday shopping, and one-third of those say they plan to use mobile to locate stores or get directions.

• 32% will use mobile devices to compare prices
• 30% will use mobile to find gift ideas
• 13% plan to purchase gifts using their mobile phones

As you prepare for your holiday mobile marketing campaigns, there is much to know when creating mobile landing pages. Holiday shoppers don’t have time for slow pages or to scroll down to ensure they have the right page. Below are some tips for optimizing your landing pages to please mobile shoppers.

Fast Loading Pages. Slow loading landing pages are the bane of the mobile web. Pages should be clean and load quickly. Even with your 3G network, mobile download speed leaves a lot to be desired. So don’t use tons of images or bloated HTML on your mobile pages because this can add seconds to page download time, and mobile shoppers won’t wait because they pay for usage and don’t want to run up their bill just to visit your website.

Simple Navigation. Keep it simple with your logo and your most important links (3 to 5). Keep navigation consistent across all pages.

Intuitive Links. Clearly label links and make them intuitive. Don’t say “click here” on anchor text.

Search Box. Give your search box prominent placement and provide relevant results that load fast.

Call to Action. Provide brief, clear calls to action like Add to cart, Click to call, Share with friends, etc.

Short URLs. Shorten your URLs to fewer than 40 characters and use keywords that are not too long.

Page Titles. Search engines will display only the first 45 characters of your titles, truncating the rest. Start titles with your brand, followed by the category or product name.

Outbound Links. Ensure that links from your landing page take users to a page that is relevant to their query, and this page should be mobile friendly.

Images. Don’t use graphics for spacing. Keep product thumbnails down to 110 pixels wide. Use alt attributes to help users navigate when thumbnails are slow loading.

Online Forms. Smartphone users type with their thumbs. Avoid the need for texting on forms by providing options to select from a menu.

Tables. Don’t use tables in your layout; some devices do not support them.

Error Message. URL typos happen. Be kind to your users by using custom 404 pages.

Tracking. Use custom toll free lines for mobile users to place orders.

Summary

With 59 percent of mobile phone users planning to use their devices for holiday shopping, it’s imperative to create consumer-friendly landing pages that provide links to relevant information. Keep in mind that consumers will be using their phones to compare prices, find gift ideas and make online purchases. Make your mobile site fast loading, convenient and easy to use.