The big impact of small devices…
Why being responsive is crucial to every business
These days, it’s no secret that nearly everyone can surf the web using many different types of devices, anywhere, anytime. Today the internet is in most people’s pockets. Gone are the days of only using desktop computers – now we use smartphones, watches & tablet devices. We can only guess what might come next.
According to statcounter.com – as of October 2019 the numbers show that 52.57% of all web traffic is from mobile devices, 44.49% is from desktops or laptops and only a small portion is from 2.94% tablet devices.
How this affects your business (Short answer)
Well, businesses with responsive websites built to adapt to any device size are much better positioned to generate more leads and maintain a competitive advantage over businesses that don’t. Simply because they are meeting more of the ‘device’ market.
How this affects your business (Longer answer)
Okay, say a customer walks into a shop, the first thing that happens is they are greeted and asked what they might be interested in. Customer service is hugely important in brick and mortar stores, and contributes to creating a great experience for them.
The same concept applies to your website, the better a customer’s experience is on a website or in-store, the stronger the chance is they are going to stay and browse around, make a purchase, and even return again.
A website is an important extension of your business that acts as your sales team on the web. If someone was to talk to a salesperson but is treated poorly and given no useful information, it’s essentially very bad customer service, and a disadvantage to the business. Similarly, if a website cannot respond to the users needs (ie. their device) effectively, business & revenue will be lost. Customers will walk out the door.
Think about your own experiences online. Would you ever return to a website that you found hard to navigate and appeared broken on your mobile device? Nope! This is the key reason why why websites must work properly on all devices, and responsive design is the key to doing this.
How it works…
In technical terms, responsive web design refers to a website designed & built to adapt to any device a user is using, providing an optimal experience to all users regardless of the device they are using. For instance, information may be presented in one column on a mobile phone and two columns on a laptop, but the branding, messaging and content will remain consistent.
It’s not only users who consider whether websites are responsive…
Google also checks how websites render on mobile devices. If a website doesn’t work or load properly for on mobile it will have a negative impact, since Google’s algorithms factor this into website rankings. So websites that are mobile friendly have a better chance of ranking better in search engines than websites do not consider mobile devices.
When is the last time you checked out your website on a mobile device? Chances are if you’re an office based business you probably use a laptop/desktop most of the time. Take a look today, if you’re interested in improving your website or getting a new one – talking to the team at Jack in the box is a great starting point.