Are You AMP’d? Find Out How Google Is Changing Mobile Web UX & What It Means For Business
In our most professional tone…user experience SUCKS on the mobile web. Yup, we said it.
Lacking in simplicity, page content, functionality and speed, mobile websites tend to overlook these simple issues, which ultimately drives customers away. Complaints from users stack pretty high as well. A study done by IEEE Software revealed 12 types of mobile user complaints that were mainly about functional errors, feature requests, and app crashes. There are also a number of blogs dedicated to sharing frustrations about mobile web such as WTF Mobile Web who let their followers submit screenshots of their “WTF!” user experiences. Here’s a statement from the blog, to the business world:
“Respect your users’ time and context. Don’t penalize people for how they choose to access your sites, products and services. Work towards universal access to content.”
“APPS ARE IMPORTANT ON PHONES BECAUSE THE WEB EXPERIENCE IS DISMAL.”
Ouch. This is according to The Verge, a leader in technology news.
Developers and business owners, did you hear that? The mobile user community has spoken loud and clear, and Google has taken a keen ear to listen.
Google recently launched the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project to create faster site speed (on average four times faster than normal web pages). Google AMP features AMP HTML, AMP JavaScript and AMP Cache that allow publishers to create mobile-optimized web pages that will be loaded instantly. Taking a page from Facebook’s playbook on advertising features, AMP utilizes carousel design to simplify content on Google search through easy swiping of articles. Google AMP has been compared to Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News, but it differs in allowing anyone to join the open source project and has been implemented on websites of The Washington Post, WordPress and Twitter. Will Google AMP save the mobile web experience? We think so.
How will Google AMP affect your business? It gives users the chance to read more of your content through quicker loading and expands your reach to convert them into customers. AMP pages rank more prominently in Google, and AMP caching tools have the ability to enhance user experience across all user devices.
Learn more about this open initiative by checking out the AMP Project and contact us today to get your UX on the right path. For your business, its AMP or die. Be wise and choose survival.