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A responsive website is one that can adjust to different screen sizes, whether it’s a desktop display, laptop, smartphone, or tablet, and respond to the behaviour and environment of the user, such as the platform and orientation.
The use of mobile devices has skyrocketed in recent years. Mobile traffic has been on the rise since 2015, with the global number of Smartphone users topping 2 billion in 2016. In fact, mobile devices now account for almost 79% of all online searches. For this reason alone, investing in a responsive web design has become critical. Your business requires a website that functions well on a smartphone and other mobile device screens. With the surge in popularity of mobile phones, you’d be at a disadvantage if your website doesn’t respond to and adjust to mobile and other devices.
Here are 10 more reasons why a responsive website design is important:
- Improved User Experience
This is without a doubt one of the most significant advantages of having a responsive website. Unresponsive websites ruin the appearance of your website on mobile and tablet devices. Text is jumbled, graphics are out of alignment, and users must navigate through endless pages to find the information they require.
On the other hand, a responsive website design provides your visitors a great experience. Visitors will likely spend a lot of time on your website if they see how well it scales and responds to changes in scales, as well as how easily they can reach all of the menus and buttons. For example, if you are a store selling watch TAG Heuer in Toronto, visitors don’t need to pinch and zoom your content to clearly see the product. Your website will automatically scale the image for easy viewing.
- Increased Traffic
Businesses used to make two versions of the same website — one for desktop users, while the other is exclusively for mobile users. Now, you may have a single responsive website that works on all devices. With roughly 79% of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, implementing a responsive design can lead to a significant rise in the number of visitors to your website as well as the amount of time they spend on it.
- Faster Loading Time
According to studies, visitors tend to leave websites that take more than 3 seconds to finish loading. Fortunately, websites that have a responsive design usually load significantly faster regardless of the device used to view them. Digital marketing services from Toronto to New York understand the value of this, especially for e-commerce. People are always on the move, so information and experiences must be available as soon as possible. It’s critical for e-commerce sites that are transacted on smartphones to load quickly and have functional, responsive web design
- Higher Conversion Rate
According to research, the average smartphone conversion rate is 64% better than the desktop conversion rate. It’s clear why creating a responsive website with a positive user experience is essential to increasing conversion rates. Your visitors will gain trust as they spend more time on your website, which will result in higher conversion rates.
- Lower Bounce Rates
Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave a website after viewing only a single page. Because a responsive website gives a far better user experience, your website visitors will have no issue sticking to your site for extended periods of time. They will be enticed to click and navigate the other different parts of your website as they remain longer.
- Simpler Website Analytics
You need to know how your users interact with your website to make informed decisions about how to improve it. But, if you have two versions of your website, this could be difficult to determine. Your developers will have to track several conversion funnels, pathways, and redirects to track critical website metrics like where your visitors come from and how they interact with your content. On the contrary, if you have a responsive site, you only have to check one source for all data to understand how your website and content are functioning.
- Easier Web Development
It used to be the practice for website owners to create a distinct mobile version of their website. Today, making a single responsive website could take even less time than creating a regular desktop website. Furthermore, creating two distinct websites would cost you more than developing just a responsive one.
- Lower Cost and Maintenance
Another advantage of adopting a responsive website is that it requires less upkeep. Developing one may be expensive at first, but it’s still relatively cheaper than operating two versions of the same website in the long run. Additionally, it requires less time to set up, which allows you to devote more time to other critical aspects of your organization and manage resources effectively.
- More Social Media Sharing
A responsive web design can also improve the number of times your website’s content is shared on social media. Embedding responsive social media buttons on your website makes it simple for users to share links, even on smaller screens. The more social media shares you get, the better your website traffic and conversion rates get, which in turn exposes your brand to new audiences. Furthermore, increased search demand and engagement of your website will be noticed by search engines, which will improve your search engine ranks.
- Better SEO
Whichever SEO services you work with, whether from Vancouver or London, they’ll always make a case on how responsive websites can boost SEO. Mobile-friendly websites have become the norm in the industry. This simply means that if your website isn’t responsive, it will be ranked lower on search engine result pages. Google has recently taken it a step further by deploying mobile-first indexing algorithms, which means the search engine will rank websites based on its mobile version first than its desktop version.
More individuals use mobile devices to access the internet, as opposed to desktops and laptops. As a result, your website must remain user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing on tablets and smartphones as it does on laptops and desktop computers. Besides that, a responsive website can save you time and resources as well as help you convert and keep more customers in the long run.
