Mobile sites have become important store-fronts for brands, with customers’ buying decisions determined by seamless search and purchase experience on their devices. Against this backdrop, a study has found that brands that are unable to prioritise a great mobile experiences run the risk of poor conversions.

While 86 per cent of Indian consumers are likely to make purchases on mobile sites that have made search and purchase processes seamless, brands that are not mobile-friendly tend to face 20 per cent drop in conversions for every second of delay in mobile page load-time, the study shows, with 53 per cent consumers leaving a mobile site that takes longer than three seconds to load. A Google-commissioned study from Accenture Interactive benchmarked over 110 Indian mobile websites across three verticals: financial services, retail and commerce, and travel, aiming to find if brands offer coherent search and purchase paths and if they match international standards and apply global best practises.

The study found that on average, Indian mobile websites score very well on product and mobile page design (at 80 per cent), findability (at 69 per cent), and registration and conversion (at 73 per cent).

However, they fell behind when it comes to speed, scoring only 55 per cent compared with other Asia-Pacific mobile sites. The study further found that average mobile site performance for the retail sector is highest at 70 per cent, whereas the travel and finance sectors stood at 65 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.

Sharing insights on how brands can improve their mobile webpage speed, Vikas Agnihotri, Country Director - Sales, Google India, said smartphones are a catalyst for consumers to research and carry out commerce online today. “It’s up to the marketers to prioritise a seamless mobile web experience to retain consumers with content and speed. Brands must counter the top three barriers of slow speed, slow server times and lack of caching policy, to build a strong connection with their consumers, improve conversions and build stickiness.”

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