I was on the bus last week, trying to book a table at a local restaurant.
Their website looked gorgeous on my desktop at home, but on my phone? Complete nightmare. Tiny text, buttons I couldn’t click, and images that took forever to load. I gave up and booked somewhere else.
This experience reminded me why I’m constantly telling our clients at Krystal Designs about mobile optimisation. It’s not just a technical box to tick – it’s about not losing customers like me who will simply go elsewhere when frustrated.
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The Mobile Shift That Changed Everything
Remember when smartphones were just for calls and basic web browsing? Those days are long gone.
Most of your website visitors are now scrolling through your pages on their phones or tablets, often while multitasking or on the move.
The numbers tell the story. Last year, mobile devices accounted for over 60% of website visits in the UK. Yet I still see so many business websites that look like they were designed in 2010, completely ignoring this massive shift in how people browse.
What does this mean for your business? If your website isn’t optimised for mobile users, you’re potentially turning away more than half your visitors before they even see what you offer.
That’s like having a shop where most customers can’t get through the front door!
What Mobile Users Actually Want
I’ve spent countless hours watching real people use websites on their phones (yes, that’s literally part of my job), and the patterns are clear. Mobile users are typically:
- In a hurry – they want information quickly
- Easily distracted – a slow-loading page means they’re off to check Instagram
- Using their thumbs – not precise mouse pointers
- Often dealing with spotty connections – especially when on the move
One of our clients, a Derby-based business, wasn’t convinced they needed to optimise their mobile experience. “Our customers mainly order on computers,” they insisted.
We tracked their analytics for a month and discovered that 72% of their traffic came from mobile devices, but these visitors were bouncing at alarming rates.
After optimisation, their mobile conversion rate tripled within two months.
Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly: The Essentials
So what actually makes a website mobile-friendly? It’s more than just making things smaller.
Responsive Design: The Foundation
Your website should automatically adjust to fit whatever screen it’s viewed on. This isn’t just about shrinking everything – it’s about rearranging elements so they make sense on a smaller display.
I still remember the early days when we built separate “m.website.com” versions for mobile. What a nightmare that was to maintain! Thankfully, responsive design has made that approach obsolete. With responsive design, you maintain one website that works everywhere.
Speed: Because Nobody Likes Waiting
Mobile connections can be painfully slow sometimes, even with 4G. Your website needs to load quickly regardless.
We had a client whose homepage took 12 seconds to load on mobile. Twelve seconds! In website terms, that’s an eternity. We reduced it to under 3 seconds by:
- Compressing their massive images (they were uploading photos straight from their DSLR camera)
- Removing some unnecessary animation scripts
- Implementing browser caching
- Switching to a better hosting provider
The result? Their bounce rate dropped by 38% almost overnight.
To check your own site’s speed, pop your URL into Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. If you’re scoring below 70 on mobile, we should talk!
Thumb-Friendly Navigation
I have fairly tiny hands, but I still struggle with websites that pack tiny links right next to each other.
Remember that people are navigating with their thumbs on touchscreens, not precision-clicking with a mouse.
Things to consider:
- Make buttons big enough (at least 44×44 pixels)
- Space out clickable elements
- Put common actions within thumb reach (think about how you hold your phone)
One of my pet peeves is restaurant websites with PDF menus that require pinching and zooming. If I need to work that hard to see what you serve, I might just order a takeaway instead!
Common Mobile Mistakes I Still See in 2025
Despite mobile optimisation being crucial for years now, these mistakes still pop up constantly:
The "It Looks Fine on My Phone" Syndrome
Just because a website displays on your particular device doesn’t mean it’s truly mobile-optimised.
I’ve heard countless business owners say “it looks fine on my iPhone” without realising how different the experience might be on other devices or for users with larger fingers, poorer eyesight, or different needs.
Pop-up Madness
Those newsletter sign-up forms that take over the entire screen? Absolute conversion killers on mobile. If you must use pop-ups (and I’m not convinced you should), make sure they’re easily dismissible and don’t hijack the entire experience.
A local barber client was baffled why their booking rate was so low on mobile despite decent traffic. Turned out their “10% discount” pop-up was impossible to close on certain Android phones, blocking the entire booking system!
Form Frustration
Have you ever tried completing a 15-field form on your phone? It’s maddening. Yet I regularly see contact forms and checkout processes that seem designed to test users’ patience.
For every field you add to a mobile form, expect to lose a percentage of potential conversions. Ask only what’s absolutely necessary.
Testing Your Mobile Experience
How do you know if your mobile experience is actually good? Here’s my testing routine:
- Use your website on different devices – borrow friends’ phones if needed
- Try completing key actions (like making a purchase or filling out a contact form)
- Test on slow connections (you can simulate this in Chrome’s developer tools)
- Ask someone unfamiliar with your business to try using your site on their phone
One revealing test: hand your phone to someone who’s never seen your website before, ask them to complete a specific task, and watch without helping. Their struggles reveal your website’s problems.
The SEO Connection
Google now uses mobile-first indexing, which means it primarily uses your mobile site for ranking purposes. Even if someone searches on desktop, Google is looking at how your site performs on mobile devices.
This shift happened years ago, but I’m still explaining it to clients who wonder why their beautiful desktop site isn’t ranking well. If your mobile experience is poor, your SEO will suffer – regardless of how much you invest in content or link building.
Local businesses especially need to pay attention here. When someone searches for “coffee shop near me” on their phone, Google strongly favours mobile-friendly results because they know that’s what the searcher needs.
Looking Forward: Mobile Trends to Watch
The mobile landscape keeps evolving. Here’s what I’m keeping an eye on for our clients:
- Voice search optimisation – more people are asking their phones questions rather than typing
- Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) – websites that function more like native apps
- Mobile page experience signals – Google’s increasingly sophisticated measurements of user experience
- Local search features – especially for businesses with physical locations
One thing hasn’t changed though: websites that make mobile users happy will continue to outperform those that don’t.
How We Can Help
At Krystal Designs, we’ve transformed hundreds of websites from clunky desktop-first experiences into smooth, conversion-focused sites that work brilliantly across all devices.
Our approach isn’t one-size-fits-all. For some clients, we make targeted improvements to existing sites. For others, a complete rebuild makes more sense. Either way, we focus on creating mobile experiences that convert visitors into customers as part of our web marketing services.
Want to see how your site performs on mobile? Send me a message, and I’ll personally review your mobile experience and suggest three improvements you could make right away.
FAQs
Mobile Questions I'm Often Asked
Absolutely! B2B decision-makers use mobile devices too. Research shows that 70% of B2B searches are now done on smartphones. Even if the final purchase happens on desktop, the initial research often starts on mobile.
In my experience, it’s one of the highest-impact changes you can make. We saw a local clothing retailer increase their conversion rate by 26% after cutting their mobile load time from 8.2 seconds to 2.8 seconds. Nothing else on their site changed!
It depends on your starting point. If your site is built on a modern platform like WordPress with a responsive theme, optimisation might be relatively straightforward. If you’re working with an older custom-built site, more work might be needed.
The better question might be: what’s the cost of NOT having a mobile-friendly site? Lost customers and declining search rankings usually cost far more than optimisation.
Data is your friend here. Show them your Google Analytics to highlight how many visitors use mobile devices. Run a speed test to demonstrate loading issues.
Calculate potential lost revenue based on your mobile bounce rate. And if you need help making the case, give us a call – we’ve convinced many skeptical business owners!
For most businesses, a well-optimised mobile website is sufficient and more cost-effective. Apps make sense when you need features that websites can’t provide, or when customers will use your service very frequently. Focus on getting your mobile website right before considering an app.
At minimum, check your mobile performance quarterly. Technology and user expectations evolve constantly. What worked well last year might be frustrating users today.
Image optimisation. Oversized images are consistently the biggest contributor to slow mobile pages. Compressing images properly can often cut loading times in half without any visible quality loss.
Yes! Many mobile optimisation techniques – like proper button sizing, clear text, and logical navigation – also improve accessibility for users with disabilities. Good mobile design often equals good accessible design.
Yes, and their oversight is your opportunity! While they’re frustrating mobile users, you can provide a superior experience and win those customers. Don’t match your competitors’ mistakes – outperform them instead.
