Responsive Design: Should You Make the Switch?
Accessing the web through mobile devices is only getting more and more popular. Go ahead—get on your phone and check your site (chances are you’re already on a smartphone, so we’ll wait.) If it isn’t fitting to the screen, you don’t have a responsive website. Is it the right time for you to make the switch to responsive design? See what these business owners have to say and see for yourself.
Story Time
When looking for a new place to eat, I always do a little research online first. Most of the time I think I’ve found the perfect place—until I get to their website. I can't read anything on the website on my smartphone. I have to pinch and squeeze my screen just to try to get to a menu, so I just give up on them and move on to another restaurant because I’m trying to do some research and it's aggravating that they didn't consider that I'd be trying to research their restaurant while I'm on-the-go.
We’ve all been there. Billions of people are searching, most of them ready to buy something on their mobile phone, just to be driven away by a website that was made with only a desktop computer in mind. Let’s face it—that’s just not the world we live in anymore. We’re in an age where mobile reigns supreme and businesses need to make sure they’re ready for a potential customer to make purchases, get in contact with you, or easily find information, from anywhere and everywhere they can. This is where a responsive website becomes invaluable.
Do You Care About Your Customers?
You care about your customers and clients, right? If your website isn’t responsive, they may actually think you don’t. In a study from Google, 48% of people said that if your site doesn’t work well on a smartphone, they think you don’t care about them. In fact, Google just began sending messages to businesses with non-responsive websites telling them to shape up or prepare to be docked in the search engine. That’s not very surprising considering Google has been preferring responsive web design since 2012.
You care about your customers and clients, right? If your website isn’t responsive, they may actually think you don’t.
Many people think of their website as the place that people excitedly flock to visit and buy from over their competitors, but that’s just not the case. There are more businesses with a website now than ever before. This means potential customers are able to be pickier than ever. Your online presence needs to stand out and adapt to wherever your customers are, including smartphones and tablets. Your website is not just a place for people to buy—it’s an extension of your brand and an essential tool that your business needs to succeed.
Hear it From the Experts
Should you make the switch from your old, non-responsive website? Here are some businesses that had that same question and saw some amazing results when they did. They’ve used responsive design to:
Increase Traffic
Over the years we slowly watched our mobile traffic growing year over year. In 2012 with about 15% mobile traffic we knew it was time to make the jump to a new responsive layout to properly handle that traffic. It was a bit of an undertaking but well worth it, we increased our sign-ups from mobile traffic by almost 100%. If we take into account the cost of the redesign and look at the new sales generated from it, it was a no-brainer to go ahead and do it. Our only regret is that we didn't do it sooner!
David Batchelor, President of DialMyCalls.com
Boost Their SEO
It is now 2015... if your website isn't responsively designed then you are fighting an uphill battle for converting website visitors to clients. The use of responsive web design is no longer simply an option, it's a necessity because it has such a positive impact on mobile marketing and SEO. The rise of smartphone use has segmented searches over different devices (phone, e-reader, tablet, computer) and there is an increased necessity for adaptable websites that are cleanly viewed on each device. It used to be enough to simply have a mobile site but a mobile site is no longer enough.
Jayme Pretzloff, Director of Marketing at Wixon Jewelers
Increase Sales
We switched to a responsive website at the end of October and saw an almost immediate increase in bookings through the site. Once we got it up and published, it's been well worth all the time we had to spend working with the developers.
Barry Maher, Author of "Filling the Glass"
Provide Up To the Minute Information
Our Staff no longer dreads updating content on our website. When they know it takes one click of the submit button for information to show up in multiple places, they can get back to their normal routine, helping the principals and student-athletes of our state. Having that important, up to the minute information in the hands and on the desks of people that rely on it was key to making the decision to switch to a responsive website a no brainer.
Doug Catanzaro, Director of Technology at LHSAA
So, are you ready to take the leap?
As you can see, many businesses have had great success in making the switch to a responsive website. Consider refreshing your old, desktop-centric website with a new, responsive design and your business can see the same success.