Those days are gone when for accessing web had to sit in front of our desktops. Today web is accessed from an array of devices and a majority of them are mobile devices. Naturally, websites that are competent enough to offer device optimized visibility and performance for all sorts of devices enjoy better browsing preference and traffic than others. Responsive design make websites optimized for different devices whether in visibility or in performance. The principle is simple – you have to cater to all kinds of devices keeping their screen size, device features and performance in mind. If your website just does not fit into all screen sizes and cannot enable device features for appropriate use, you miss a majority of web browsers using various mobile devices. This is the importance of responsive web design. Here I am going to explain 8 undeniable reason s to make your website responsive.
Mobile is the future
Mobile devices are fast outpacing traditional desktops in respect of volume of internet browsers. So, if your website is not responsive enough to address various screen sizes and device features, you have little chance of making a mark. Look at the below stats from Smart Insights to persuade mobile is the future.
More than 50% of local searches on internet are done through mobile devices.
As of now 66% of all emails are opened on mobile devices and mobile devices including tablets are fast going to be the most preferred email platform.
More than one fourth of browsers access web through mobile devices in U.S. alone.
Better business conversion rate
A responsively built site would facilitate better navigation command, visibility, page speed and users can shop, buy and browse items in their mobile devices wherever and whenever they wish. This obviously leads to a better business conversion rate.
Mobile online shopping time now has outpaced desktop online shopping time.
In a recent statistics it has been revealed that 67% of users are better disposed to make a purchase in mobile optimized website on their smartphone or tablet.
Many mobile browsers agree that they do not like to shop on a website not optimized enough for their device.
More effective for SEO
As far as search rank of your website is concerned without a responsive design you are most likely to be less preferred or even penalized by major search engines like Google. For browsing no longer a desktop or laptop is required and your website just cannot afford to be the same as it was before.
Responsive sites make it easier for Google to find, index and organize content for search ranking.
Google likes single URL to contain all your company information in one place.
You gain in more organic traffic, user preference and recommendations from users.
Better reach across social platforms
With responsive design in place your contents are more sharable and attractive and stand a better chance across social platforms.
The content compatible with mobile display are more preferred for sharing on social platforms.
Web content displayed attractively on all devices influence users better to share them.
Social posts with links to great responsive sites make a better and lasting impression and stands better chances to go viral.
Gain in web maintenance cost
Obviously maintaining separate websites for mobile and desktop would incur more cost than a responsive website that would fit all devices and screen sizes. Actually from marketer’s point of view or from developer’s point of view, you gain hug cost advantage while making a single responsive website for all devices.
Different website versions require separate SEO campaigns and it is likely to incur more cost.
While you gain in better search ranks and business conversions, your cost comes down to half as you are maintaining one website instead of two separate ones.
Consistent traffic and low bounce rate
A responsive website enjoys more consistent traffic and low bounce rate compared to websites that are not optimized for all kinds of devices. Browsers today will only prefer to stay in your web page if your site is engaging enough and they display your content better and a responsive design is the best way to address that. Responsive design would allow better display, better loading speed and better access to device features. This makes them more user-friendly. A statistics by Mobify have shown this truth.
46% of browsers do not prefer to stay on a website that cannot be accessed easily from mobile devices.
57% users are very unlikely to recommend a website that is not accessed or displayed properly on mobile devices.
57% users prefer to leave a website or webpage that takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Your website is ready for the future
A responsively designed website is ready to take on any upcoming device screen size, resolution and device capabilities. Unique screen resolution for mobile devices was just 97 but at the end of 2013 the figure rose at 232. So, corresponding to the fast and dynamic change that mobile devices are going through you cannot predict neither ‘still to come’ features, device designs, screen sizes or resolution. A responsive design as of now has been proved full proof against these changes.
Whether it is just smartphones of the future or an array of new devices like smartwatches, wearable computers like Google Glass or new range of browsing enabled TVs, responsive websites would look beautiful in any device.
The future devices would continue to come with more engaging, user optimized interfaces and feature sets and a responsive design just fits into all these.
Gaining competitive advantage
When you have responsive website obviously you are at par with the top ones in your niche as far as device access and user friendliness is concerned. A responsive website make you better positioned competitively.
A majority of users have a far better opinion of brands offering a great mobile browsing experience.
Browsers would like to go to a competitor’s website if they find your website not optimized for mobile devices.
In a fast changing tech space when mobile and wearable gadgets are outpacing traditional desktops for internet access, responsive design is the rule to follow. From web marketing to SEO to social media presence to gain in cost parameters, responsive design let you stand a better chance in the competition.
RWD is definitely the way to go in 2014-15 – it’s great for web designers and developers to use since it cuts down on exact calculating exact pixel dimensions by using @media queries and break points so work flow is much faster. Any business not utilizing responsive web design today is really missing out – it’s to the point where frameworks out there now do most of the work for you!