Consumers Have Changed. Is Your Website Perfectly Viewable from Every Device?

Originally posted on February 18, 2015; Updated on November 26, 2021

Have you recently gone through the frustration of trying to teach your grandma how to dial on a touch screen phone? Everyone and their cat has a smartphone now. Not only does everyone have a smartphone, but the vast majority of us are using them for all kinds of web-based activities from online shopping to looking at cat memes to checking their email and social media, without even thinking about it. And while smartphone browsing is commonplace today, that doesn’t mean we can just brush off tablets, laptops, or desktop computers either. Furthermore, how do we prepare for whatever is next? I’m sure you’ve seen someone talking into their wrist like a secret agent. Yeah. Smartwatches. Some already have text and email capabilities, so what’s next? Thankfully, we have the technology to make sure your website is perfectly viewable across all devices: responsive web design. Call us at Smart WSI Marketing today learn more about how a responsive web design can augment your overall marketing strategy.

Mobile Friendly vs Responsive Design

In the olden days (like, 2010) forward-thinking marketers realized that of course they needed to have a website to get ahead in the business world. This is a no-brainer today. The really forward-thinking marketers of the 2010s realized that you needed a “mobile friendly” (what an archaic term!) website to keep up with the rise of smartphones, and how people were using them. This usually meant that you had your web developer duplicate your original web design, pare it down for a smaller screen, and hope for the best. Unfortunately, a lot got lost in translation. Now thanks to responsive web design, you no longer need to duplicate your desktop website for mobile and then just hope it works OK. There are three major drawbacks to that approach:

• While a “basic” desktop design seems cheaper upfront, it won’t be in the end. You end up spending more in the long run for multiple web designs.
• If your desktop design doesn’t translate well to other devices, you risk slow load times, missing and broken elements, and pages that are just a nightmare to navigate. This frustrates potential customers who will just leave. Not only does that result in high bounce rates, but they aren’t likely to come back, and you lose the opportunity to convert them from a potential customer to a paying one. 
• Your desktop design doesn’t translate whatsoever, and customers searching on mobile devices can’t find you at all. This means you’re missing out on a huge number of potential customers!

Reasons to go Responsive

There are many benefits to responsive web design. Responsive web design is one web design that bends, stretches, morphs and flexes to fit all devices, regardless of screen size. One size fits all!

User Experience: A one size fits all website means that your website looks and works the way it supposed to no matter what device people choose to search on.  If your website doesn’t work where people want to access it, they aren’t likely to make the effort to visit you from another device. They’ll just move on to a competitor.

Low Maintenance: You only have one website to maintain! Any changes made are reflected on all devices, because its all the same website. Easy-peasy!

SEO Benefits: There’s one that may have not crossed your mind, but in 2020, Google rolled out a mobile-first indexing update. This means that the mobile version of your website is ranked before your desktop version. How does a having a responsive web design play into that? Your mobile site IS your desktop site. You don’t have to worry about a sub-par version of your website being the first one that Google indexes, because there is no such thing.

You Can’t Out-Market a Broken Website

According to a Statista study back in August, 56% of online purchases made by Canadians in 2021 were made on smartphones. Keeping in mind that this statistic is prior to our annual holiday shopping boom, that’s a pretty staggering number, further proving that if your website doesn’t function properly on mobile devices, it will definitely have a negative impact on your returns. You can have an unlimited marketing budget with dynamic campaigns with all the bells and whistles, but if it leads to poorly designed website, you’re not doing yourself any favours. Get in touch with us at Smart WSI Marketing today to discuss your over all marketing strategy and how a responsive web design fits into it.

Lynne Motkoski, Digital Marketing Strategist

Specialty: Digital Marketing Strategies
Education: MA Communications & Technology, BComm [U Alberta]

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Lynne is known for her strategic approach to marketing communications, technologies, and lead generation. She has a passion for education, keeping up with current marketing trends and practices, and helping clients keep ahead of their competition.