Your customers most likely find you on their phone: on a break, in the car, on the sofa. If the site they land on isn’t a mobile-friendly website, they won’t tell you — they’ll simply tap “back” and choose the next result.

Most of these problems aren’t visible from an office computer. Here are the eight mistakes we see most often, and how to fix them.

1. Text that’s too small

If visitors have to zoom to read, you’ve already lost their attention. Use a comfortable font size for body text, good contrast with the background and short paragraphs.

2. Buttons that are hard to tap

A thumb isn’t a mouse. Buttons and links need enough size and spacing so the neighbouring one isn’t tapped by mistake. Important buttons should sit where the hand reaches comfortably.

3. A confusing menu

A menu with several nested levels is hard to use on a phone. Keep a few clear options and bring the most important actions — such as “Call” or “Get a quote” — somewhere visible.

4. Pop-ups that cover everything

A window that appears instantly, covers the whole screen and has a tiny “X” is one of the most irritating things on mobile. If you use pop-ups, show them at the right moment, make them easy to close and don’t repeat them constantly.

5. Long forms

Typing on a phone is tiring. Ask only for what’s necessary, use the right field types (so a phone field opens the numeric keypad) and clearly show what’s missing when something isn’t filled in correctly.

6. Slow loading

Mobile connections aren’t always fast. Large images, heavy videos and many third-party scripts slow pages down. Compressed, correctly sized images and clean code make a huge difference — and Google measures it.

7. Phone numbers and addresses you can’t tap

On mobile, a phone number should call with one tap and an address should open the map. An image with contact details printed on it helps nobody.

8. Content that breaks

Tables running off the screen, cropped images, overlapping text. These usually appear when a site was designed for desktop and “adapted” later. The fix is designing for mobile from the start.

How to check your own website

  1. Open it on your own phone and on an older, smaller one.
  2. Do what a customer would: find a service, call, send the form.
  3. Try it on mobile data, not just the office Wi-Fi.
  4. Ask someone who doesn’t know the site to do the same and watch where they struggle.

Most issues can be fixed without a new website. But if your site was designed years ago for desktop only, it may be time for a refresh. Take a look at our work, designed mobile-first, or talk to M. Dimopoulos about your own website.