Mobile Web Design Paper Research

Nguyen Trong Nghia

FA-2012-B19
Vietnamese German University

Nghia.vgu@gmail.com

April-03-2014

Table of contents

Table of contents ....................................................................................................................... II

Abstract .................................................................................................................................... III
1.

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1

2.

History of mobile websites ................................................................................................. 1

3.

4.

2.1.

Very first steps of mobile Internet .............................................................................. 1

2.2.

Impressive development of mobile website ............................................................... 1

Roles of mobile web design in marketing .......................................................................... 2

3.1.

Importance and benefit of mobile marketing ............................................................. 2

3.2.

Mobile trust ................................................................................................................ 3

3.3.

Customer satisfaction ................................................................................................. 5

3.4.

Future for mobile web design..................................................................................... 6

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 6

References .................................................................................................................................. 8
Appendix .................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

II

Abstract
With the explosion of technology in the first decade of 21st century, people tend to replace
mobile devices for computers, which also enhances the use of mobile web. People no longer
need to sit hours in front of desk to search for information or chat with friends; they now can
even easily make an online purchase just by lying on the bed and touching his/her mobile
devices. Many companies have realized the tremendous benefit of using mobile websites for
their businesses, as the result many mobile websites have been developed and keep
increasing. However, not all companies mobile web designs are catchy; some make
incredible profit whereas some close permanently after few weeks. As such, the primary of
this short assignment is to introduce the mobile web and the role of its design in marketing
aspect.

III

1. Introduction
I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically
collapse.- Robert Metcalf, founder of 3Com, said. Thankfully, he was wrong. It is easily
observed that Internet has been an essential part of human life. In details, people nowadays
can spend a part of their day on Internet and find whatever they want on many websites. (In
September 2014, the number of websites reached the milestone of one billion websites, which
is an impressive number after nearly a twenty-year development of Internet). With the
explosion of technology in the first decade of 21st century, people tend to replace mobile
devices for computers, which also enhances the use of mobile web. People no longer need to
sit hours in front of desk to search for information or chat with friends; they now can even
easily make an online purchase just by lying on the bed and touching his/her mobile devices.
Many companies have realized the tremendous benefit of using mobile websites for their
businesses, as the result many mobile websites have been developed and keep increasing.
However, not all companies mobile web designs are catchy; some make incredible profit
whereas some close permanently after few weeks. As such, the primary of this short
assignment is to introduce the mobile web and the role of its design in marketing aspect.

2. History of mobile websites

2.1.Very first steps of mobile Internet
Actually, mobile websites were developed quite early. In 1996, no sooner had the first
computer website released than the first mobile website language, HDML (Handheld Device
Markup Language), appeared. It was developed by a company called Unwired Planet. This
markup language, however, was never released as a standard, but it helped in the creation of
WML (Wireless Markup Language), which was later used for WAP browser. Three years
later, the first standard of the mobile web, WAP 1.0 (Wireless Application Protocol), was
launched. It used to be the most common protocol for mobile phones in 1999 and some years
later. At that time, mobile internet purely provided simple services such as: Email by mobile
phone, tracking of stock-market prices, sport results, music downloads

2.2. Impressive development of mobile website

Thanks to the incredible development of technology, Java and WAP 2.0 respectively were
released, which enabled companies to develop their advertising and selling online. With the
release of WAP 2.0 in August 2001, websites were provided end-to-end security, color
1

graphics, animation, and a number of other features. In spite of those new characters, early
surveys of WAP users revealed a high level of frustration. Main disadvantages have
included: low speeds, very small user interface, forms are hard to design, long URLs. A
variety of different proprietary platforms emerged in order to improve mobile web quality.
One of the first were the Palm OS (now Garnet OS) and RIM Blackberry OS. Symbian OS
was developed by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and Samsung. The Apple iPhone iOS
joined the ranks in 2007. Googles Android came along a year later. The mobile platform
wars opened chances for those platforms self-improvements as well as for customers choices.
Up to now, it is clear that Google and Apple have established a duopoly, now accounting for
over 90% of smartphone sales worldwide (Tim Hatt 2014) . Throughout the development of
mobile web, online marketing has changed incredibly from advertisements in users email to
e-commerce and finally to m-commerce.
3. Roles of mobile web design in marketing
3.1.Importance and benefit of mobile marketing
The increasing diffusion of smartphones and tablet computers has facilitated access to
product information by providing Internet access anywhere and at any time (Stephan Daurer
2015). The number of mobile users has substantially increased from 400 million users in 2007
to over 1.6 billion users in seven years later and officially outnumbered desktop users in 2015
(Bosomworth 2015). According to PwC, mobile Internet access revenue is expected to make
up more than 75% of the market in 2019 (Darren Henderson 2015). The shift in advertising
reflects the increasing importance of mobile aspects for marketers. e-Marketer (2015)
forecasted that more than a half of all digital ad spending around the world would go toward
mobile formats the first time in 2016.
In the Mobile Marketing Survey 2014 conducted by the Marketing Media and O2 Media,
marketers showed three benefits of mobile marketing, including: Stay ahead of the
competition, brand awareness and product/service promotion. Marketers are always sensitive
to new chances. The earlier a company adopts a new technology, the more advantage over
other competitors that company would receive. According to Dr. Michael E. Porter, value
from the firm is represented by a series of activities and processes, a value chain, which
provides the given level of value for consumers (Porter 1985). Mobile marketing is assumed
to perform as a tool improving activities in retailers value chain as consumer
communications, service interactions and sales, resulting in improved output value and higher
margins (Roger Strm 2012). In addition, mobile marketing tactics nowadays endeavor to
2

improve brand image and communicate product or service promotion to consumers. Figure 1
shows the advertising offers which mobile devices users believe would improve their opinion
of a brand in the United States. Obviously, the combination of brand recognition and product
promotion attracts customers most. With the help of mobile websites, it cannot be easier for
marketers to access to consumers. However, the target of every brand is not only to attract
new customers but also to build customer loyalty to its brand. As Dr. Dianne Cyr stated, they
are website trust and website satisfaction that lead to the e-loyalty of customers to a brand. (G.
S. Dianne Cyr 2008)

Figure 1

3.2.Mobile trust
Over years, there have been many researches and practices proving the relationship between
building trust in e-commerce and gaining customer confidence and long-term relationships.
Today, as more and more customers use their mobile devices for shopping, internet vendors
responsibility of building trust in m-commerce is equally important.
Design aesthetics is believed to be one of the main tools to develop customer trust (K. H.
Dianne Cyr 2007) .According to them, design aesthetics in m-commerce refers to the
balance, emotional appeal, or aesthetic of a website and it may be expressed through colors,
shapes, front type, music or animation. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis
3

1989) and other researches, Yung M. Li and Yung S. Yeh conducted hypothesis tests to prove
impact of design aesthetics on mobile trust (Yung-Ming Li 2010). Figure 2 shows the model.
As the result, not only design aesthetics but also its features, such as usefulness, ease of use
and customization, are significantly relevant to m-trust.

Customers want to find exactly things they want when they surf on websites. In 2012, Google
researchers found out that up to 61% of customers would immediately leave websites if they
did not find what they were looking for (Hof 2012). In addition, customers always want easyto-use things and with many customized options for each of them. According to Abhi Dhar,
Walgreens and Chief Technology Officer of e-Commerce, everything companies do on
mobile is to ease customers lives (Rago 2013). Ease of use was defined by Davis (1989) as
the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from
effort. When accessing a website, the customers will need a clear and intelligible overview
of whole range of available information, services and functions. The first impression may
encourage and motivate the user or frighten him/her away (Kaasinen 2005). Mobile
shoppers put ease of use foremost when it comes to mobile shopping sites, with 48% of
respondents citing it as the most important quality of a mobile site they visit (Smith 2013).
Moreover, there is an increase in number of older people using mobile Internet. According to
a statistic, 69% of over 65 years old users having mobile phones and half of adults over ages

65 were online in 2012 (Madden 2012). It means that companies have to make their websites
friendly and easy for the elderly.

3.3.Customer satisfaction
To understand the importance of customer satisfaction, lets consider these facts: 96% of
customers with problems do not react, 91% of those will simply never return; a customer
having problems would tell 9-15 people about their bad experience; 70% of buying
experiences are based on the way the customer feels they are being treated and negative
interactions spread to 2 times as many people as positive interactions.
Along with mobile trust, customer satisfaction is main factor of mobile design that leads to
the customers e-loyalty (G. S. Dianne Cyr 2008). According to Anders Gustafsson, Michael
D. Johnson, & Inger Roos, customer satisfaction is defined as a customers overall
evaluation of the performance of an offering to date (Anders Gustaffsson 2006). Specifically,
Eyong B. Kim & Sean B. Eom cited that totally satisfied customers would be loyal to the
company and continually buy its merchandise (Eyong B. Kim 2002). The web design
elements such as colorfulness and complexity can affect the emotion of customers which may
drive customers satisfaction (Katharina Reinecke 2013). Figure 3 describes the hypothesis
testing model of the relationship between web design and customer satisfaction (Young Ha
2012)

Young Ha and Huynjoo Im found out that beside the perceived quality of information,
website sign should be pleasure and arousal. According to Gopal Das, emotion is represented
only in two dimensions: pleasure and arousal and they have been adopted by satisfaction
researchers (Das 2013). However, overusing them sometimes is not good; it depends on
specific purposes of customers. When consumers have a recreational motivational orientation,
high arousal has a positive effect on pleasantness, but when consumers have a task-oriented
motivational orientation, high arousal decreases pleasantness (Velitchka D. Kaltcheva 2006).
For example, e-Bay should show more complex and high-arousal websites to customers who
indicate that they have come to the Website to browse, whereas it should offer simpler, lowarousal websites to customers trying to find a specific product.
3.4.Future for mobile web design
Nowadays, companies are doing their best to improve web experience of their customers as
well as to build trust to their mobile customers. Many types of web design are created for
mobile users, such as responsive web design (designing once and rely on the system to scale
the display based on the screen), which is most recommended by Google Developers, and
adaptive design (designing different layouts to accommodate various screen sizes).
Additionally, customers can access and easily find out great deals or information for their
need on a website at the first glance. A great number of mobile websites now focus on what
their customers or potential customers need and show them on their home pages.
However, there are many controversies about the future of mobile web because of the rise of
mobile apps. On the one hand, people think that typing address is weird, navigating between
tabs is weird (Nouvel 2015) and that apps are fast and the mobile websites are slow.
(Rowinski 2015). In addition, according to Chris Dixon, a partner with venture-capital firm
Andreessen Horowitz, companies can control the user experience through an app much better
than a mobile website (Ingram 2014). On the other hand, there are some people who believe
that mobile web would development, along with mobile apps. To strengthen their opinions, it
is showed that thirty-one percent of Americans always or mostly go online by accessing the
Internet from a mobile device; moreover, the problems of slow browsing web would open the
opportunity for designers to improve it (Dank 2015).

4. Conclusion
In this paper, I want to show basic ideas about mobile web and some of the most important
factors of mobile web design that can affect the marketing. With a good mobile web design,
6

companies can easily achieve customer e-loyalty. Friendly websites not only increase the
satisfaction but also the trust of customers toward a brand. Although the future of mobile
website is still a question, we should be happy that our life in general and businesses in
particular

would

be

easier

thanks

to

the

advantage

of

technology.

References
Anders Gustaffsson, Michael D. Johnson , Inger Roos. The Effects of Customer Satisfaction,
Relationship Commitment Dimensions, and Triggers on Customer Retention .
Journal of Marketing, 2006: 210-218.
Bosomworth, Danyl. Statistics on mobile usage and adoption to inform your mobile
marketing strategy. SmartInsights. 22. July 2015.
http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobilemarketing-statistics/ (Zugriff am 30. March 2016).
Dank, Nick. Web Design is NOT Dead, Youre Just Talking About it Wrong. 13. July 2015.
https://uxmag.com/articles/web-design-is-not-dead-youre-just-talking-about-it-wrong
(Zugriff am 3. April 2016).
Darren Henderson, Lisa Coulman, Anita McOuat. The Global entertainment and media
Outlook 2015-2019, Global and Canadian highlights. PwC outlook
(PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP), 2015: 2.
Das, Gopal. The Effect of Pleasure and Arousal on Satisfaction and Word-of-Mouth: An
Empirical Study of the Indian Banking Sector. Vikalpa, vol. 38, 2013: 95-104.
Davis, F. D. perceived usefulness perceived ease of use and user acceptance of information
technology. MIS Quarterly, 1989: 319-340.
Dianne Cyr, Gurprit S. Kindra, Satyabhusan Dash. Web site design, trust, satisfaction and eloyalty: the Indian experience. Online Information Review Vol 32, 2008: 773 - 790.
Dianne Cyr, Khaled Hassanein, Milena Head, Alex Ivanov. The role of social presence in
establishing loyalty in e-service environments. Interacting with computers, Vol 19,
2007: 43-56.
Eyong B. Kim, Sean B.Eom. Designing effective cyber store user interface. Industrial
Management & Data systems, 2002: 241-251.
Hof, Robert. Google Research: No Mobile Site = Lost Customers. 25. September 2012.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/09/25/google-research-no-mobile-sitelost-customers/#bcd67c551580 (Zugriff am 1. April 2016).
Ingram, Mathew. The rise of mobile apps and the decline of the open web a threat or an
over-reaction? 8. April 2014. https://gigaom.com/2014/04/08/the-rise-of-mobile-appsand-the-decline-of-the-open-web-a-threat-or-an-over-reaction/ (Zugriff am 3. April
2016).

Kaasinen, Eija. User acceptance of mobile services - value, ease of use, trust and ease of
adoption. PhD Thesis, Tampere: Julkaisija - Utgivare, 2005.
Katharina Reinecke, Tom Yeh, Luke Miratrix, Rahmatri Mardiko. Predicting users' first
impressions of website aesthetics with a quantification of perceived visual complexity
and colorfulness. SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
New York, 2013. 2049-2058 .
Madden, Kathryn Zickuhr and Mary. Older adults and internet use. 6. June 2012.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/06/06/older-adults-and-internet-use/ (Zugriff am 3.
April 2016).
Nouvel, Sergio. Why Web Design is Dead. 8. June 2015. https://uxmag.com/articles/whyweb-design-is-dead (Zugriff am 3. April 2016).
Porter, Michael E. Competitive Advantage - Creating and sustaining superior performance.
New York: Free Press, 1985.
Rago, Joe. Walgreens Latest API Program Allows Mobile App Developers to Leverage
Prescription Refill Technology. 2. April 2013.
https://developer.walgreens.com/blog/prescription-api-launch (Zugriff am 2. April
2016).
Roger Strm, Martin Vendel. Mobile marketing: A literature review on its value for
consumers and retailers. 2012: 5-6.
Rowinski, Dan. Why Progressive Web Apps Are the Future Of Web Development. 30.
November 2015. http://arc.applause.com/2015/11/30/application-shell-architecture/
(Zugriff am 3. April 2016).
Smith, Steve. Make It Easy: M-Shoppers Active But Impatient. 28. August 2013.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/207924/make-it-easy-m-shoppersactive-but-impatient.html (Zugriff am 2. April 2014).
Stephan Daurer, Dominik Molitor, Martin Spann, Puneet Manchanda. Consumer Search
Behavior on the Mobile Internet: An Empirical Analysis. Ross School of Business
Working Paper, 2015: 2.
Tim Hatt, Barbara A. Lucin, Corina Gardner, Bryan Pon. Analysis Mobile platform wars.
Analysis, GSMA Intelligence, 2014.
Velitchka D. Kaltcheva, Barton A. Weitz. When Should a Retailer Create an Exciting Store
Environment? Journal of Marketing, Vol. 70, 2006: 107-118.

Young Ha, Huynjoo Im. Role of web site design quality in satisfaction and word of mouth
generation. Journal of Service Management, Vol. 23, 2012: 79-96.
Yung-Ming Li, Yung-Shao Yeh. Increasing trust in mobile commerce through design
aethetics. Computers in Human Behavior, vol.26, 2010: 673-684.

10