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Why You Need a Responsive Website (Before It’s Too Late!)

6 Mar

Get with the times and go responsive before it’s too late. (Although, if we’re going to be honest, you’re possibly already too late.)

Catch up, guys: it’s 2015, and if your website visitors are still frantically scrolling horizontally backwards and forwards, and pinching and zooming in and out of content – basically, taking far too long to read a simple paragraph – it should come as no surprise that they’ll abandon your website in a huff of frustration and seek answers elsewhere (read: your competition!)

Abandon my website, you think, in a huff? Just because it took them 10 seconds longer to read something?

Are you surprised? To quote Roy from the IT Crowd:

The speed and simplicity at which we have access to the world’s information means anything less than that is deemed unnecessary, inadequate and pretty much obsolete. And the leader of the gang, Google, agrees (and who would want to disagree with Google?)

Responsive means its easier for someone – regardless of their device – to navigate your website with the intention of finding an answer. The faster you can show them that you have the tools or information to answer their question, the quicker their problem can be solved. Brilliant.

When responsive web design changes from a trend to the norm

Maybe a year or two ago it could have been considered a trend. A growing trend, nonetheless. But now, it’s simply the norm.

Users don’t care if you’re responsive – that is, they don’t care about the term. Heck, they mightn’t even know what it means. And they don’t need to. They just need a website that looks good on any device, and nothing less than that.

Responsive web design creates a website that is accessible, low weight, and more forward thinking than a designated and separate mobile site.

Sure, we can bang on and on about responsive and why it matters, but for now, let the stats do the talking…

Hold the phone

Literally, hold your smartphone, because everyone else is, and they’re acting quickly: 50% of consumers who browse a store on their smartphone will visit the physical store within a day , compared to 34% who browse on a computer or tablet.

Further, the smartphone vs. desktop balance has been thrown, with smartphone searches taking over desktop or laptop searches for the very first time in the internet’s history. This occurred in July 2014, and is one of the biggest shifts since the internet began.

88% of consumers conduct local searches on search engines through their smartphones, compared with 84% on a computer or tablet.

And these are stats direct from the horse’s mouth (aka Google’s study which you can download here).

More responsive stats (as if the above wasn’t enough)

— Four out of five consumers shop on smartphones

— 40% of people will choose a different search result if the first result is not mobile-friendly (I am one of those people – are you?)

— 45% of users aged 18-29 use their smartphones for searches every day (is this your target market?)

— 70% of mobile searches lead to an action within the hour

Read more about these stats here!

Google favours responsive web design

Google recognises that responsive web design improves a user’s experience on your website and can therefore contribute to measures like combating a high bounce rate and increases page load speeds.

Responsive web design helps capture and retain mobile users, and Google understands this. That’s why websites with mobile-friendly responsive designs may find themselves favoured over desktop-only websites.

Greater usability mixed with a reduced bounce rate and the elimination of duplicate content can help improve your SEO efforts .

responsive website optalert

Check if your own website passes Google’s mobile-friendly test.

When bad things happen to good people

Some of the world’s most well known brands project poor user experience through their websites.

Tricky interfaces – even when you can sort of see what they were trying to achieve, can’t be described as much else but frustrating.

There’s a fine line between slick and minimalistic navigation, and confusing navigation (how the heck do I find out of they ship to Australia?!)

See it in action

If you’re reading this on your smartphone, then you’re already experiencing our responsive website. If you’re on a desktop or laptop, shrink your browser down to the size of a smartphone and watch as the content readjusts – or responds – to the new size. That’s responsive web design.

Keep visitors on your site for longer and on more devices through responsive web design.

Stuck with an outdated site that isn’t optimised for a smartphone? Contact us and let’s go responsive!