In December, people shop in queues, on the sofa and on the train. Most of your visits come from phones, often from a social media app. A store that is fine on desktop can lose a lot of sales on a small screen. Here are ten fixes, from the quickest to the most technical.
1. Keep “Add to cart” visible
On mobile, the button disappears after the first scroll. A sticky bar with the price and the button fixes this. Stickyline appears only after the main button scrolls out of view (demo).
2. Use a side cart
A slide-out cart avoids loading a full cart page. The customer sees the product, the total and the checkout button in one panel. Cartly does it with the Store API.
3. Show the delivery date above the fold
“Delivered by Friday 18 December” next to the price answers the main Christmas question without scrolling.
4. Big, thumb-friendly buttons
At least 44 pixels high, with space between them.
5. Light product images
Use WebP or compressed JPEG, and let WordPress serve the right size. A 3 MB photo is a 3-second wait on 4G.
6. No popup on arrival
Popups that cover the page on mobile frustrate visitors and Google. Wait, or use a small bar.
7. Express payments
Apple Pay and Google Pay remove typing. On a phone, that is a big difference.
8. Short forms
Use the right keyboard (email, phone, postcode fields) and remove optional fields.
9. A visible contact option
A WhatsApp or call button helps those who have a question before buying. See how to add one.
10. Test inside Instagram and Facebook
Their in-app browsers behave differently. Open your product link from a story and buy something yourself.
The full list is in WooCommerce mobile optimization: 12 fixes.
A five-minute mobile test
- Open a product from a Google search on your phone.
- Can you see the price, the delivery date and the button without scrolling?
- Scroll to the reviews: is the button still reachable?
- Add to cart: do you stay on the page and see the cart?
- Complete the checkout with an express payment.
Note every moment you hesitate or wait. Those are the fixes to do first.
How to measure the result
Compare the same weeks before and after the change in WooCommerce › Analytics: conversion rate (orders divided by visits in your statistics tool), average order value and the share of mobile orders. Change one thing at a time when you can, and give each change at least a week of traffic before judging it. In December, compare with the first half of November rather than with last year, because your catalogue and traffic have changed.
Frequently asked questions
What share of Christmas shopping happens on mobile?
For most small stores, the majority of December visits come from phones; check your own analytics.
What is the quickest mobile fix?
A sticky add to cart bar, which takes minutes to install.
Should I test in social media browsers?
Yes, many Christmas visitors arrive from Instagram or Facebook links.