We have previously written a blog article about is responsive design and its elements. We thought we should also write about what responsive design can mean for your business and impact of responsive design on your business. The “what” has been taken care of, now we need to know about the “why”. Here we go!
To jog your memory, responsive design basically means that the different pieces that make up a website can adjust to fit different sized screens, such as a PC, tablet, or phone. This is very important as society is moving away from the traditional desktop into other avenues such as smartphones and tablets. It’s a change in the way we look at the structure of a web site. Elements aren’t fixed in a table or in rigid containers. With Responsive Design these elements can move, shrink, or change depending on the screen that’s viewing the content. If your website does not have responsive design in mind, it may cost you customers.
Responsive design offers many benefits but we will go through a couple with you. First and foremost, your website will be easier to read. You don’t have to pinch, scroll, zoom, and repeat. With responsive design, all of your content is right there and easy to read. No pinching or scrolling required. This brings us to our next point. Improved content allows for a better user experience and this can mean big things for your business. Companies that use websites built with responsive design will provide a far better user experience on a phone than more traditional rigidly designed web sites. Conversion rates are how long visitors spend at your site. When they stay there longer, the more likely they will buy your stuff.
Example: Time, Inc has seen some great results with the addition of responsive design. .Mobile is up 23% compared to what it had been. Homepage uniques are up 15%, and time spent is up 7.5%.The mobile bounce rate decreased by 26%. All in all, this means more people are viewing their site on mobile devices and staying for longer before they get frustrated and leave. This means more customers and more customers mean more money!
It’s important for us to understand responsive design, as customers increasingly use mobile screens and tablets to access the Internet. Tablet sales are expected to exceed 100 million this year, and some sites are already experiencing up to 40% traffic from mobile tablet and mobile devices, which makes responsive web design more important than ever to fit all those different screen sizes. If after reading this you still decide responsive design is not the right choice for your business, you may be soon regretting it as desktops are becoming obsolete.
