Google: Mobile-friendly sites sought out by consumers

NEW YORK — Smartphone and Internet users actively seek out and prefer to engage with mobile-friendly sites, but such sites must meet certain expectations in order to convert users from visitors to consumers, according to a Google study conducted by independent market research firms Sterling Research and SmithGeiger.

Surveying 1,088 U.S. adult smartphone Internet users in July, the "What Users Want Most From Mobile Sites Today" found that as nearly 75% of respondents said they prefer a mobile-friendly site to a traditional website and two-thirds (67%) are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site, 96% of consumers said they've encountered sites that were clearly not designed for mobile devices. Additionally, 79% of people who don't like what they find on one site will search for another site, and 61% said they would move onto another site if they didn't find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site. What's more, half of respondents polled said even if they like a business, they will use them less often if the website isn't mobile friendly.

Additional findings included:

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  48% of users said they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that's not mobile friendly;

  
  


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  36% said they felt like they've wasted their time by visiting those sites;

  
  


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  52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company;

  
  


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  48% said that if a site didn't work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn't care about their business.

  
  

To view the full results, click here.