Recently, I read an article quoting a “mobile expert” as saying that brands don’t need a mobile website, rather, a few well designed apps. This was a recent article. (For those of you that know me well, I was well past the eye twitch and moving quickly toward head explosion.) When I read things like this, my staff can hear the random bursts of obscenities and loud sighs of “Idiots!” coming from the corner office. They’ve learned to give me a good half hour or so to calm down.

Ok, in all seriousness. I give these experts no mercy because they are out there pumping themselves up as “experts” and spreading useless or nonsensical “expert insight” into mobile. I had generally given less informed or ill-informed brands a bit of leeway due to lack of education and guidance from their digital representation. Today, however, it’s time for all brands, marketers, large advertisers and agencies to step up their game in mobile. Make all the excuses you want for not having a mobile website. Your competition will thank you.

Here is an example of something that makes me twitchy:

“79% of large advertisers do not have a mobile optimized website.” Google, May 2011

(Pauses to regain composure.)

Seventy nine percent. Seventy. Nine. When we know that mobile users overwhelmingly prefer the mobile web for product reviews (79%), video (58%), researching prices (81%), looking for businesses and restaurants, maps, and store locations (64%). Think about it. You want to look up that new restaurant, shopping center, movie review, concert venue, or [insert awesome thing here]. Where do you go? I’d be willing to bet a lot of you open the browser on your phone and start with your search engine of choice. In short, you Google it.

Here’s a recent example of how to lose a customer by not thinking about what the user wants in a mobile experience. This is a standard retail purchase, and could play out differently for different types of business, but you’re all really wicked-smart, and you’ll get the gist.

The following story is based on actual events. Some of the names have been changed.

SARA: Googles “Awesome Thing” in mobile browser, selects AwesomeStore.com.

AWESOMESTORE.COM: Renders mobile formatted splash page that reads “Download our super cool app in your app store by clicking this link. OR click this other link to go to our website.”

SARA: (Not wanting to leave this site to open app store, download native app, create user login etc…) Clicks link to website.

AWESOMESTORE.COM: Loads desktop formatted website.

SARA: “Okay. You know I’m on a phone, so after you detect my device, you provide me an option to download your app. I choose not to, and STILL KNOWING I’M ON A MOBILE PHONE, you render a desktop formatted site.” (Eyeball begins to twitch.) WTF?!

AWESOMESTORE.COM: Still renders a desktop formatted site no matter how much Sara blinks and curses.

SARA: Returns to original Google search and selects OTHERAWESOMESTORE.COM (competetitor of AwesomeStore).

OTHERAWESOMESTORE.COM: Mobile formatted site loads. (Double rainbow!)

SARA: Reads product info and reviews of “Awesome Thing” she’s looking for. It really is awesome. She clicks to purchase. (Can choose from several payment methods.) Chooses to pay with PayPal.

OTHERAWESOMESTORE.COM: Emails receipt and shipping confirmation to Sara’s phone.

SARA: Immediately tells Twitter that “Awesome Thing” is on its way and thanks OtherAwesomeStore.com for such a fast, intuitive, mobile website. All is right in Sara’s world. Mini-stroke avoided. This time.

Seriously folks. If you haven’t done anything to address the ever growing amount of smart phone (and more sophisticated feature phone) usage (and mobile search!), start now. Make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. Keep the following in mind:

• Respect the UX, more than ever, user experience is key. Users are becoming more savvy and will tolerate less crap. Poor user experience could cost you a customer very quickly. Some brands are setting the bar high, the user is becoming accustomed to easy, intuitive, user experience while taking advantage of the new technologies the mobile devices offer. Get your thinking caps on. (These ain’t yer mama’s WAP sites, homies.)
• Prioritize content with mobile user in mind, and always provide the option to access the traditional site in case the user needs to hunt for something specific and not available on the mobile site. (Use mobile detection and redirection to load mobile initially, but allow for self selection of desktop content.)
• Users have the NEED for SPEED, and they hold grudges. Google recently reported that 61% of mobile users won’t return to a site that they couldn’t access quickly (had trouble or delay loading) from this mobile device.
• Beware of “Shiny New Object” syndrome. Just because it’s fancy, new, and exciting doesn’t mean it’s a good fit for your mobile web experience. Much of the time, less is more.

AWESOME UX, FAST, INTUITIVE, CONVENIENT, LOCATION BASED, mPAYMENT = WINNING.

So there you have it, folks. You’ve spent a lot of time creating successful web experiences and in some cases, eCommerce experiences for your customers. Mobile users are ready. They’ll be looking for you on their mobile devices. What will they find?

Sara Santiago is the President of Roll Mobile. She doesn’t think that mobile design and development should be hard to understand or hard to implement, and if one more person insists that it’s more important for their website to support IE6 than mobile browsers, her face might just melt off.

Follow Sara on Twitter: @SaraSantiago (Or don’t. It’s not for everyone.)