When you take your place at the end of the seemingly endless morning line at the coffee shop, what’s the first thing you do? Like many of your fellow line-dwellers, you probably reach for your phone. From news to games to shopping, your phone can make a long wait much less daunting. We are living in an increasingly mobile-first world. More than three-fourths of the U.S. population has a smartphone. They’re bigger, faster and more functional than ever before, making them vital in our everyday lives. If a customer is in need of a tune-up or a new car, that wait time might be spent on your site. However, if your mobile experience doesn’t meet the customer’s needs efficiently, they’ll quickly abandon your site. Our Retail Insights team has done extensive research on digital best practices that will engage and delight customers. Our 2015 national study evaluated hundreds of mobile sites across brands to better understand what the industry is doing and what areas need improvement.

Mobile is a visual medium.

The heavily visual Instagram and Snapchat were built for and proliferated on smartphones. The smaller displays on smartphones make them optimal for images over text. Sixty-two percent of mobile shoppers rated the ability to see pictures as the most important factor when shopping on a smartphone — 18 percent more than product descriptions. Yet nearly half of dealers are missing inventory pictures from their mobile site. It’s important to have pictures of the actual vehicle because the heavily airbrushed OEM stock photos of a vehicle floating on a white background are not easily relatable. Pictures of the car on the ground of your lot is something that the customer can imagine themselves driving off in. It’s also important to keep in mind that customers may be on mobile when reading your lead responses. Be as succinct as possible while still providing all necessary information. Walls of text can be difficult to read on mobile and customers aren’t likely to swipe more than two pages.

Functionality is key.

This may seem obvious, but many people forget how crucial an easy, functional user experience is on mobile. First and foremost, this means a mobile-optimized site. Most dealers seem to know this, with only five percent lacking a mobile-specific site. But this alone won’t keep customers engaged. Seventy-six percent of shoppers won’t wait more than five seconds for a mobile site to load. All of the images that customers want must be formatted correctly or shoppers will give up before they ever see them. It’s also important to make key features easy to find. Mobile shoppers have less patience than desktop shoppers when searching for contact information on a company site, maxing out at just under two minutes. Unlike other types of retail where mobile shoppers can just as easily purchase online, a vast majority of auto shoppers will go into the store to complete their purchase. Inventory should be prominent, but easy access to directions (with a link to open in a map app for easy navigation) and contact information (especially click to call/text) are just as vital.

Pay attention to service.

When it comes to mobile, Sales is clearly favored by dealerships. While 96 percent of dealers have sales hours listed and click-to-call numbers for sales, the same can’t be said for their Service department. According to our research, 14 percent of dealers don’t list their service hours and more than a quarter of dealer mobile sites were missing a functioning service number. The small windows of time where we pull out our phones are perfect for accomplishing small tasks like scheduling an oil change. Yet one in 10 dealers are missing service scheduling and less than half have automated scheduling. Non-automated scheduling requires the customer to wait for a response to confirm a service time, eliminating the time saving measure of using mobile. This opens up the customer to seeking service elsewhere, where they can get a quick confirmation, especially for same day service. Automated service scheduling gives customers the immediate satisfaction of checking something off the to-do list.

By 2020, nearly nine out of 10 people any age in the U.S. will own a smartphone. They will use them throughout the day to communicate, entertain themselves and get things like car shopping research and service scheduling done. Dealers should pay equal attention to their mobile and desktop sites. Following these best practices will give customers a solid user experience that will grow your customer base.