How to Create a Fantastic Mobile Experience for Your Patients [Guide]
Are you reading this post on your smartphone? Statistically, one out of every two individuals are. And that’s exactly why your health and wellness website must be optimized for mobile in order to be competitive in your industry. Do you know if your website is mobile-friendly?
Consumers are impatient – we want to be able to research any company, restaurant, or healthcare provider at the drop of a hat. If we can’t pull out our smartphones and see what your website has to offer with ease, the relationship is immediately soured.
Don’t believe me? Check out these eye-opening smartphone statistics as of 2019:
- There are 2.7 billion smartphone users around the world
- 77% of Americans have smartphones
- 47% of US smartphone users say they couldn’t live without their devices
- 62% of smartphone users have made a purchase on the device
Those millions of smartphone users aren’t solely using their devices for text messages and calls. The majority of them are using their smartphones to surf the Internet for resources, news and healthcare information (i.e. like where they should go for their next doctor appointment).
If your wellness website isn’t optimized for mobile traffic, you’re at risk of losing potential patients and consumers.
That’s why we’ve put together this simple guide to help you evaluate your current wellness website via mobile device, and give you a few tips you can implement right away to improve it.
4 quick ways you can tell your wellness website isn’t mobile-friendly
Open up your wellness website on your own smartphone to evaluate its functionality. When you do, here are four things to look for:
- The text is way smaller than 12 point. The text is too small if you need to zoom in to read the content
- The content is wider than the screen. If the user has to scroll side-to-side to read the page, this means your website isn’t adapting to the mobile screen size.
- The links are hard to tap. Links should be easy to tap with the user’s fingers—this means that the links need to be large enough and in a natural location to tap.
- If your website displays a desktop landscape when smartphone visitors go to your website, then the viewport isn’t set for mobile on that page (the mobile viewport controls the width of the page for the device).
Ready to create a mobile-friendly website? Here are 3 simple tips to get started.
Work with your developer to create a more responsive website.
A responsive website responds appropriately according to the device it’s being viewed on. When viewed on a desktop, the site is shown one way. On a smartphone, it’s presented another way. The same goes when viewing on a laptop or tablet. Simply put, having a responsive design for your site means that it’s going to be customized automatically to any device size which ensures a positive experience for your patients.
If you don’t currently work with a developer, there are many free or inexpensive templates available that are already responsive, like this list from colorlib.
Minimize the use of fancy graphics.
Don’t use too many elaborate graphics on your wellness site—lots of them will just create longer load times, which is a definite no-no for mobile users. You want your potential patient to be able to navigate through your practice’s site quickly and with ease.
Keep it simple. If you’re using graphics, be sure to re-size them before uploading to your website.
Choose your words wisely.
In addition to graphics, you’ll want to keep text to a minimum, too. There’s limited space on your mobile users’ screens, so avoid fluff and excessive flowery wording. Make sure you use text wisely (in size 12pt or larger) to get potential patients’ attention and provide all the necessary information needed to bring them through your doors.
For example, place the most important information towards the top of your pages – like a request appointment button – so that mobile users can get to it quickly.
Use these tips to create a better smartphone experience for your visitors. By taking the time to evaluate your current wellness site via mobile, and updating your template, you’ll greatly reduce the risk of losing potential patients right away!
Looking for more tips on creating a better wellness website that works to generate more patients? Download our FREE Wellness Optimization Checklist!
Post originally published February 2, 2016 – updated June 21, 2019
