6 Digital Transformation Tactics to Improve Mobile Conversion in 2019

There’s a huge gap in mobile commerce between time on site and conversions. Users spend 39 percent more time on mobile than on desktop, but they buy significantly less than they do when on desktop — and abandon mobile shopping carts 86 percent of the time.

That’s why Magento, Hi Conversion, PayPal, and Lima Consulting (along with a dozen or so other systems integrators), joined together with the Magento Community to form the Mobile Optimization Initiative. Working together, we can close the gap between the time that people spend on e-commerce devices versus the sales rendered on mobile devices.

Solving this problem will take a multidisciplinary approach, an ecosystem of technology partners, and a community of Magento and e-commerce experts. As part of the initiative, we have been looking at digital transformation tactics that affect mobile conversions that you can immediately use to improve mobile sales in 2019.

1. Get serious about your data readiness posture

Sprinters will tell you that the most important part of the race is their start off the blocks. And the most important part of the explosion off the blocks is their start position posture. The shoulder, hip, knee, and angle should form a straight line.

In digital commerce, the foundation of how a company sets up the data sets the tone for how an organization can use that data. Marketers are drowning in data — there’s so much, and it’s growing exponentially. Because of this, if there is no data layer, no tag management system, or a common way of organizing data, or even perhaps a data governance owner or steering committee, then it’s really hard to see how the data aligns, and what it might be telling you. Putting these elements in place will help you align your data for maximum impact in 2019.

2. Know your numbers

Professional athletes diligently measure their performance with numbers, and marketers should too. We have identified these three metrics as a basis for the key performance indicators for e-commerce merchants:

These metrics come out of the box with the HiConversion platform, which is free to use for Magento merchants interested in joining the Mobile Optimization Initiative.

The RPV (revenue per visit) really is the best indicator since its composition is a function of both the CR (conversion rate) and the AOV (average order value). And it’s important to measure these three metrics by channel (desktop, mobile, and tablet).

3. Learn quickly, then earn

The initial testing cycles for your team should focus on learning about how your customer base is engaging with your digital properties and identifying ways to improve customer experiences with a specific emphasis on each channel. From there, the returns will come as you optimize the experience for desktop, mobile, and tablet. Don’t focus initially on financial results, they will come as you stick with your commitment to learning.

You can accelerate your time to insight by using tools like HiConversion that reduce the need to fully implement enterprise-grade solutions. Gain insights quickly, and then translate those learnings into enterprise-grade testing solutions later. That’s because the bigger solutions can require teams of technical and business analysts. And the results can be difficult to measure because it can be complex to isolate control groups and gain statistically significant population samples given operational requirements, promotional deadlines, and inventory constraints.

4. Start small and learn quickly

Here’s an example of two tests run as part of the initiative that were tagged and deployed over the course of seven days. Think about that. Seven days from dropping the code to conclusive insight. The initiative is providing insights quickly that you can use to accelerate mobile sales.

In this example, the test resulted in a 7.14 percent uplift in revenue per visit (see green bars below) after seven days with a 40.5 percent confidence level. While this merchant is going to want to continue to allow this test to run to tighten the confidence interval, it would have taken months to get to this point using other platforms. Merchants using HiConversion are gaining insights and increasing earnings after only seven days with our mobile Initiative.

5. Use out-of-the-box tests

It’s really difficult to determine what to test. The good news about testing is that you can test anything and collect meaningful insights. The hardest part is to figure out what questions to ask (i.e., what to test!).

Microservices have made it easier for innovative companies to build APIs and integrations with Magento. HiConversion already has consolidated the typical questions of Magento merchants and built prefabricated widgets that take advantage of microservices.

The tests quickly allow you to 1) test the experience, and 2) provide benchmarks of the testing results across a benchmark of other Magento merchants. There are almost 60 pre-established tests that you can use to quickly get off the blocks to learn and earn. Take a look at the list below:

6. Deploy artificial intelligence to learn faster

The HiConversion platform uses predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to accelerate the testing and your time to insight. Usually, these types of tests require really large control groups and sample-size populations. With the consolidated data available as part of the initiative, combined with HiConversion technology, you can identify results rather quickly.

That means smaller merchants can reap the benefits of consumer insights faster — and at a price point that small businesses can afford.

So there you have it — six digital transformation tactics from the Mobile Optimization Initiative that will help you improve your mobile conversion in 2019.

This article originally appeared on the Magento Blog and is part of the ongoing Mobile Optimization Initiative series designed to help Magento merchants close the mobile revenue gap.