Councils must improve the experience of using council websites from mobiles as access rapidly approaches 30%, says Socitm
Mobile ‘revolution’ as powerful as advent of PCs or arrival of the internet, says briefing
Clear evidence of large and growing numbers using mobiles to access councils’ online services means local authorities need to take swift action in response, says the latest briefing from Socitm.
In The mobile experience: some feedback from council websites Socitm reports on results from its Website Performance service which, since January 2013, has been making its pop-up survey available to people using mobile devices.
The survey is a cut-down version of the one presented to desktop users, but because the same key questions and response options are used, the usage patterns and experience of mobile users is easily compared. In January, just under 2,000 responses were received from Socitm’s mobile survey - 10% of all surveys received by Socitm that month.
The Socitm survey shows that the percentage of visits from mobile devices averaged 27.4% for the first five months of 2013, with January recording the highest numbers to data at 28.8%. It appears that the higher the number of total visits, the higher the percentage from mobile devices - in January severe weather led to high levels of council website visits overall.
Trends in mobile usage seen in the Socitm data are in line with evidence of growing use of mobiles for accessing the internet. The briefing quotes several sources, including Ofcom, which says that 92% of UK adults personally own/use a mobile phone and 39% use their mobile handset to access the internet. Other figures show that nearly two thirds of the UK adult population will have a smartphone by 2016.
Comparing responses from mobile and desktop users to the Socitm survey shows different levels of usage of different services. For example, people are more than twice as likely to visit websites for leisure facilities from a mobile than from a desktop, while ‘schools/youth’ attracts nearly double the number of visits from mobile devices. The findings are in line with expectations that services sought by people ‘out and about’ will have high usage from mobiles.
The data also shows that visitors are 16% more likely to use their mobile device for finding information than their desktops, but are 12% less likely to use it for any one of five types of transaction (eg making a payment).
In terms of the user experience, the findings are clear: visit failure is on average 13% higher when mobile devices are used, with visitor satisfaction is on average 11% lower. Up to 20% of mobile survey respondents say they will not use their mobile devices again for accessing council websites.
These findings are in line with results of the ‘mystery shopping’ of council mobile websites reported in Better connected 2013, in which just 15% of council sites met the Socitm’s standard for mobile access. Clearly, says the briefing, the typical mobile experience currently leaves something to be desired.
The briefing goes on to explore options facing councils looking to improve users’ mobile experience, including:
· development of a separate, dedicated mobile site
· development of a mobile template for the main site
· a native app that must be downloaded from an app store
‘Findings of our mobile survey prompt further questions about mobile users and usage’ says Martin Greenwood, author of the briefing, ‘and it is wise not to make too many assumptions. The mobile user may be someone ‘on the move’, but they could be someone in the home who finds the using their smartphone to access the internet quicker than firing up their desktop. Equally, the mobile user may be somebody who has no PC at all, and relies on their phone to access the internet.’
The mobile experience: some feedback from council websites is available free of charge to Socitm Insight subscribers at: http://www.socitm.net/info/214/socitm_insight/53/briefings