10 Reasons Your Site Needs Responsive Web Design

Today’s customers are accessing your company’s website on a variety of devices. That means they’re viewing your site via several different screen sizes on phones, tablets, desktops, game consoles, TVs, even wearable devices. Since you can’t predict the next screen size to come, the smartest way to build your site today is to use something called “responsive web design.”

Why?

Responsive design ensures that your company’s website seamlessly resizes, rescales, and reflows to adapt your content and your images so they display beautifully on any device — not just the desktop or laptop your site was designed on.

A mobile version of your site shouldn’t just be a tinier version of your site that you have to enlarge and shrink to be able to read and click on what you want. A responsive website automatically adjusts so it’s in perfect proportion to be usable and engaging no matter what device your site is being viewed on.

So now that you know what responsive web design is, here are 10 reasons why getting a responsive website before the end of the year should be your #1 online marketing goal.

1. More conversions / More sales

If you want to improve your conversion rate, a great place to start is by using analytics to understand what visitors are doing on your site and for how long. If you’ve downloaded our FREE whitepaper on the power of Growth Cycle Marketing, then you know that it’s not enough to simply attract potential customers to your website.

You need a marketing strategy that sends the right people to your site at the right stage in their Buy Cycle. You can maximize your conversions by building a responsive website that is sales-ready (i.e., there are clear conversion paths mapped to your buyer personas).

Responsive web design ensures that whatever platform people are viewing your site on — mobiles, tablets, etc. — the action you want visitors to take is readily APPARENT and CLICKABLE so you can convert those leads into actual sales. (Wondering what items you need on your website to keep customers around long enough to convert? Click here.)

2. Decreased web maintenance costs

Many companies are maintaining their regular website for desktop computers and then developing a second mobile site specifically for mobile devices. This requires your marketers to develop and manage two separate SEO campaigns. Responsive web design, however, is ONE site that does everything for all devices. That means that after you redesign to a responsive site, your maintenance costs could be cut in half, since you’re maintaining one — not two — company sites. That’s a savings you can count on year after year.

3. More shareable content for social media success

Does your company have a strong social presence? Why not? If it’s because you don’t know where to start, then read this and this and this. If, however, you’ve already got a social media strategy in place, but it’s not getting you the results you want, maybe it’s because your website has a wonky display on different devices. If that’s the case, be sure you’re using responsive web design to make your company’s site attractive — and easily SHAREABLE — no matter what device it’s being viewed on.

If you’re working hard to share your great content via your website and social media, but it’s not compatible with mobile devices, no one can or will share it. Similarly, if your mobile website is shared by a smartphone user with someone on a computer, the desktop user will see your bare bones mobile site on their desktop and not be impressed. But — here we go again — responsive web design accounts for differences in all directions, making sure when your site is shared, it’s optimized to appear polished and professional for all viewers — on all devices. This means your site is ready to be shared on social media by (and for) anyone on any device.  Now, that's how to get your shareable content numbers up.

4. A competitive advantage

If your competitors aren’t yet using responsive web design, your company can be the STANDOUT that shows you know what it takes to meet their needs. When visitors get frustrated with your competitors’ non-responsive websites and do another search, who will be there? You will. Swoop in and convert THEIR LEADS to YOUR CUSTOMERS. Go, you!

5. Lower bounce rates

Today’s customers will only stick around if your content is truly engaging and if what you have to offer is QUICKLY and EASILY found. If your web-only site doesn’t translate well to mobile, people who were poised to buy from you will simply leave. It’s that simple. And that harsh. In fact, 40% of people will simply choose another search result if your site is not mobile friendly. Today’s prospects won’t spend more than a few seconds hunting, scrolling, and resizing your web-based site on their phone. If your site isn’t using responsive web design, customers will go to a site where what they want pops up and screams, “What you want is RIGHT HERE... Buy me! Call us! Learn more with a FREE download!” Don’t lose sales over poor design or delivery.

Use responsive web design and “BEAT the BOUNCE.” {Tweet this.}

For other tips on creating a “stickier” website, check out 10 Reasons Why Your Customers Leave Your Website.

6. More consistent branding

With a responsive website, your site is designed from the get-go to look the same on various devices. Your site’s content and images shift around or slightly simplify to scale things down, but the look and elements are essentially the same. You want customers on a smaller device to feel that you care just as much about them and their web experience as you care about your desktop viewers. Responsive web design helps keep your brand (and your customers’ brand loyalty) consistent across platforms.

7. Increased Page Rank / Preference from Google

Responsive web design is Google’s recommended mobile configuration. This is because responsive design sites have only one URL and use the same HTML code across all devices. It’s easier for Google to find, index, and organize content from one company site than from two (a mobile site and a second site for your desktop viewers). Google also prefers responsive web design because a company’s content resides on a single website, and one URL is certainly easier for users to share and link to. With Google being the search giant it is, you’d be wise to yield to Google’s preference if you want to maximize your SEO and Page Rank with their search engine. (I mean, do you really want to be on GOOGLE's bad side? Think about it...)

8. Happier customers

It’s just common sense to make the shopping/browsing experience convenient and attractive to your customers. Fewer disruptions or frustrations for your customers means they’re happier and more likely to buy from you or to refer you to others. According to Kate Zabriskie, “The customer’s perception is your reality.” Make sure you’re being perceived as a customer-focused business by all your site visitors.

9. More sales via smartphones

Retail sales made via smartphones are projected to reach $22 million in 2015. If you don’t have a site that works seamlessly on a mobile phone, you’re missing out. People are shopping at all hours of the day — and night — and from anywhere they want these days. You never know when someone is ready to buy. Don’t leave money on the table with a website that doesn’t measure up to the needs of today’s buyers.

10. Do you seriously need a 10th reason?

Those 9 didn’t convince you YET to get on the responsive web design bandwagon? Fine, then. Do it because… well, all the cool kids are doing it. Check out our Cultivate site on any device, and you’ll see responsive web design in action. We recommend it to all our clients!

And if you’re looking for further examples to inspire your own responsive website redesign, check out these 70 Stunning Responsive Sites displayed with a screenshot from a tablet and one from a smartphone for each site so you can see how the appearance of the site differs between the viewing platforms.

You just can’t go wrong with responsive web design.

Have you got an example of a great responsive site you'd like to share? Connect with us on Facebook or LinkedIn.