If you haven’t already figured out why responsive design is important, we’re giving you 4 reasons why:
Reason #1: The Web Exists Everywhere
The advent of smartphones has taken over the modern world by storm. As part of a revolutionary movement, consumption of information has moved from the desktop to the palm of your hands. In the latest Mobility Report by Ericsson, Singapore continues to report high levels of smartphone penetration above 100% – the highest in Southeast Asia. With over 100 tablet variations in the market today, it is clear that Internet connectivity is no longer tied to wires and cables.
Take a look at the crowd on a train during peak hour – in a single ride, you’ll be able to see consumption of data on a variety of devices, brands, and display sizes. Design an inflexible interface that is suited to a single type of platform, and you will probably lose out on large market segments. Responsive design is crucial in ensuring that your site remains compatible with the user’s environment, which in itself is constantly dynamic.
Reason #2: Increase Usage and Dependency
Mobile app developers recognise that users have different digital touch points during the course of a day. This has resulted in cross-platform mobile app development is a necessity in most organisations. Allowing users to access your content seamlessly across platforms increases usage and dependency on your tool.
Imagine if Facebook were restricted to desktop use. Much of its functionalities (e.g. checking in on FourSquare, geo-tagging your location to photos, etc.) would require added effort as the user would not be able to update on the go. In this case, as with many others, cross-platform development is critical to the success of these specific functions. With responsive design as a core principle, designers can uncover different functionalities to improve and enhance the user experience.
Reason #3: Improve Visibility
In 2016, Google announced its algorithm boost for mobile friendly websites. This means that a mobile-friendly site is likely to gain more visibility on the search engine. Google reported that the policy change was driven by more daily mobile searches than desktop searches. Following the change, Google will ‘primarily index mobile content’ and use the mobile version to rank its results. Some of the mobile-friendly criteria included readable text without zooming, sizing content so that users will not have to scroll horizontally and spacing links apart so that they can be tapped on easily.
With the rollout, site owners are encouraged to verify their mobile versions or review their site configurations if the primary content and markups differ across platforms. For site owners who did not build their site with this optimisation in mind, the message was loud and clear – responsive design is the new ‘must-do’.
Reason #4: Higher Sales Conversion Rates
For sites that are reliant on commerce, subscriptions, and electronic transactions, responsive design is a huge boost to your conversion rates and sales. The ability to navigate and browse through products seamlessly will decrease the chances of users leaving your page for alternatives. Building a catalogue that is tailored made to users on different digital platforms will help them find exactly what they want much easier.
For sales conversion, understanding what your target audience chooses to purchase on different platforms can redefine your business strategy. This will also enable companies to leverage on the differences in consumer behaviour and push sales of targeted items to the various platforms. Market research has shown that purchasing categories on mobile devices include clothing, consumer electronics, home appliances, home goods, and beauty. In part, this is due to the convenience of zooming into the products while lounging on the couch.
The preference for purchasing items on a desktop, however, may come in when shoppers need to do extensive research on items, pulling up reviews and comparisons across sites. Other studies (2016 data from Monetate) also show that one-third of the purchasing process begins on smartphones but are completed on PCs and laptops as the digital buyers cross platforms. Regardless of the movement, however, the failure to have responsive web design will definitely become a failure to close the deal.
At Krome, we specialise in website design services as well as responsive websites. If you or your client are interested in creating a site, it’s time to tell us about your project or have a chat about what we can do. You can contact us here.