Responsive web design is an essential part of any business. In many cases, your website is the first point of contact with your potential customer. So, web design responsiveness plays an important role in making a good first impression.
A study shows that 92% of the time, first-time viewers are not there to make a purchase. This is why your website should incentivize potential customers to come back again later. One effective way that web designers use to increase traffic to the website is through responsive web design.
What is Responsive Web Design?
When a website has a responsive design, it means it can run smoothly on a variety of devices. It plays an important role in an optimal User Experience (UX). People browse the internet with different types of devices. The advancement in technology and connectivity through 5G will surely increase the number of internet-capable devices. Laptops and mobile phones are the two most popular forms of internet browsing therefore it is important that your website adapt to the expectations of users
Reasons why responsive web design is important for your business?
Different people browse the internet on multiple devices with varying screen sizes. It is crucial for your website to run smoothly and fit screens of different sizes because you never know what kind of device someone will be using when he visits your website.
There are numerous benefits of having a responsive web design which is why you should invest in responsive website design.
1. Mobile Traffic is Increasing
The web has moved at an incredibly fast pace over the past few years and mobile web browsing has been at the forefront. Mobile is the first choice of device for many people around the world for internet browsers.
The growing numbers of mobile users and users of other devices warrant that the companies that rely on their online presence respond to this opportunity.
Learn more about optimizing your website for mobile traffic here.
Most mobile users admit that they leave sites right away that don’t have responsive design. Moreover, about 74% of mobile users reported that if a site works well on the phone, they are more likely to visit it again. You know exactly why responsive web design is important if you have ever shut down a website because you couldn’t view and browse it properly.
If the website doesn’t have a responsive design, chances are that the images are inflated and distorted which can be frustrating for the users. A web design that is not responsive will lead your users to your competitors costing your company customers and revenue.
2. Improves SEO
SEO is a strategy to boost a website in search rankings. It is essential because the closer you are to the top in the search results in your niche, the better chances you have to win potential customers. Search engines, especially Google, take the responsiveness of the site into account and favors responsive websites in search engine rankings over non-responsive sites.
With a responsive web design, Google crawlers can crawl websites easily and reduce the chances of error with on-page SEO.
Discover additional SEO benefits of responsive web design
Websites that are not optimized for a variety of devices can fall pretty below Google rankings. Therefore, it is always a good idea to invest some time and money to make a fully responsive site for different devices for your company.
Read Mastering SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide and Plan
3. Easy Maintenance
In the earlier days when mobile browsing was new, the most popular solution was to have separate sites for desktop and mobile. However, it had a major drawback i.e. it doubled the number of updates and work required for maintenance. Today, it has become a lot easier with one site that shares the same URL and is responsive on all devices.
Explore our guide on future-proofing your website for more insights.
4. Flexibility
Making changes to a responsive web design is easy and quick. You don’t have to do the same work on two websites. This is a huge advantage especially when you just want to make a quick design tweak on your website.
With two different websites; a desktop site and a mobile site, you have to create the same content twice for each website. This can also cost you search ranking since Google won’t know which one is original and more relevant. To counter this, you will need two different SEO strategies for both websites to rank well in search results costing you extra time and money.
On the contrary, a responsive web design will save you both time and money which you can spend with your loved ones.
5. It is Cost-effective
Maintaining separate websites for desktop and mobile device users can get expensive. A responsive website design will save you money since you will be investing in one site design for all devices.
Learn more about the cost-effectiveness of responsive web design
6. Better User Experience
User experience is important when you want your online visitors to like your website. A responsive website design tends to download faster and makes it easier to use on different devices which improves user experience. Fast-loading websites appeal to mobile and tablet users with their ever-shrinking attention span. This makes it easier for you to convince web users to come back to your website.
Better user experience on the website creates a positive perception of your brand as users feel valued when you make the effort to improve their experience when they visit your company’s website. A better user experience makes it easier for you to convince people to do business with you. With scrolling and zooming eliminated, your website will leave a positive impression on your visitors.
Find out how to connect with customers through your website
On the flip side, if your website is taking forever to load and the images appear broken, it will make your company look unprofessional and no one will want to do business with you.
7. Low Bounce Rate
Nobody likes a high bounce rate but it is a big indicator that something is not right with your website. A high bounce rate should be addressed as soon as possible because if it persists over a long time, Google will think that your website is not relevant to solving users’ needs which will negatively impact your search rankings for that particular search query.
Content doesn’t necessarily have to be a problem always. The design of your website plays big a part in a user’s experience of your website as anything else. If your content is great but doesn’t display well on tablet or mobile devices, the user will exit your website Avoid these ecommerce mistakes to keep your bounce rate low and look for the answer elsewhere.
8. More Conversions! Yes!
When a good SEO ranking combines with lower bounce rates, it results in higher conversion rates. Seamless navigation and amazing user experience put a cherry on top giving you a strong model for success.
Here are some practical ways to measure your brand awareness
The more you facilitate your website visitors to find what they are looking for the more likely it is that you will be able to convert them.
Explaining what you can do for them succinctly and presenting information in detail across different devices helps your cause. This is why responsive web design is crucial for your business.
Is Responsive Web Design That Necessary?
No marketing design or method is perfect. The same goes for responsive website design. There are some cons to responsive web design such as:
- Some websites don’t look great on all devices.
- Sometimes, you may want to offer different things to the users of different devices. This becomes a problem on a responsive website.
- Resized banner ads can cause design issues on responsive websites.
- Creating a responsive website on your own that is accurate and unique to your branding can be difficult.
But still, despite all these downsides to responsive websites, an overwhelming majority of statistics reinforce the idea that responsive design is the best way to go. Check out this comprehensive comparison: BigCommerce vs WooCommerce for more insight into responsive design for e-commerce. There are disadvantages to every design type. In the case of responsive design, the pros are way more than the cons because it makes mobile browsing a lot easier.
Take Away
There are hundreds of responsive website success stories that can convince you to choose this design. However, if those stories don’t convince you, then let the time savings and cost convince you.
Discover the benefits of having a website for your business to understand the full impact of responsive design.
If you are ready to make your website responsive and mobile-friendly, check out our responsive design page to learn more about other benefits of responsive design that we didn’t cover in this article. Also, you can contact the design experts at Tech Artisans for a completely customized quote to make your website responsive.
