Why should websites be compatible with mobile devices?
In addition to increasing mobile access to websites, the following are some reasons why websites should be compatible with mobile devices:
Increase website accessibility: Mobile users can access the website at any time and place of the day. An incompatible mobile device or poorly compatible website may cause existing users to migrate to better mobile compatible web applications serving similar purposes. Therefore, software companies are creating responsive websites to attract all types of users.
Increase sales: With the ease of use of Web application on mobile phones, it has promoted the sales of products. Before the mobile era, when web applications were limited to the desktop, the profits of software companies that provided web applications were far lower than the sales of current users who could access the same application from different devices (phones/tablets).
Increase page views and reduce bounce rates: If the website displays perfectly on smaller devices while displaying the same loading time on larger screens without zooming or convenient navigation, it will stick customers to the screen and spend more time exploring the application. An easy-to-use website helps to retain existing users, attract more users, and ultimately reduce bounce rates.
Promoting customer loyalty: If users are satisfied with the website experience and have a positive impression of the website, they will constantly return to the website and use it again and again. Therefore, a website should be mobile friendly to maintain long-term relationships with customers.
Has a place in Google search: over 90% of internet users use Google to search for any product. Google determines whether a website is mobile friendly and prefers it when displaying search results. In November 2016, Google decided to provide a mobile priority index for desktop and mobile search, which means that if the website is not suitable for mobile devices, it will not rank high even in Desktop search results. Therefore, in order to have a place in Google search results, websites should be developed responsive.
Why do we need to conduct mobile compatibility testing on real devices?
Although simulators and simulators can be used for testing purposes in the market, there are significant differences between testing conducted on simulators and testing conducted on real physical devices. The simulator simulates a mobile environment without considering the actual situation during testing.
Therefore, testing on simulators/simulators may be inefficient or unreliable. Furthermore, it cannot help measure compatibility issues caused by device fragmentation.
Testing on real devices provides a real environment where people can see the exact behavior of the application as seen by end users on their devices. Through real device testing, it is easy to simulate network problems, call interruptions, network issues, etc. This type of testing allows users to run, test, and explore the functionality of the application, just like what customers do on their phones.
However, maintaining a truly equipped laboratory is a huge expense and requires a significant amount of resources. With the frequent release of new equipment in the market, purchasing and maintaining them seems cumbersome. For a true equipment laboratory, in the dilemma of building or purchasing, purchasing a subscription to a cloud based infrastructure can be very helpful.
Arranging and conducting mobile compatibility testing of all different types of mobile devices and browser combinations is challenging for any organization. However, mobile compatibility testing is an indispensable part of testing before releasing any product into a production environment. WeTest helps comprehensively test the mobile compatibility of over 3000 device browser combinations. It makes debugging easier with DevTools, and you can even share test results with your team through Slack. Trello and JIRA provide a seamless and consistent user experience for users of different mobile devices and browsers.
