A Mobile Responsive Website Can Lead to 75% More Conversions: Here’s How to Do It
The world of digital marketing is full of buzzwords, right?
You've all heard them and used them. Maybe you even understood them! And, right now, there's one that stands way above the rest.
It’s Responsive Web Design, or RWD.
Seriously, in the wake of Mobilegeddon, you ignore RWD at your own peril. And if you don't believe us, ask Google.
Google has stated over and over that RWD is its preferred mobile site configuration. In fact, in July 2013, Google said it would penalize websites that were not optimized for mobile search. Then, in November 2014, it announced aranking boost for mobile-friendly sites.
It's common sense really, because more and more consumers are turning to their smartphones for answers. And, more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the US and Japan.
One thing's for sure: NOT having a RWD mobile site is killing your conversions.
Is Your Site Losing You Customers?
One thing we do know is that nothing drives a potential customer away from your site quicker than an unresponsive website. If it's slow to load and hard to use/read, they will go elsewhere, and that's another conversion you have lost.
Google estimates that you could lose 61% of visitors if your mobile site is too hard to navigate. Yet, this problem is so easily rectified by using RWD. So much so that Google suggests 67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly website.
Before taking a closer look at how a mobile responsive site can lead to more conversions, let's talk a little about RWD itself. Responsive Web Design means that your website is professionally configured to recognize what kind of device is viewing it and respond accordingly. So, for example, a user viewing your site on a smartphone will enjoy the same positive experience and easy navigation they would on a laptop or tablet.
Making It Easier For Users
Google recommends using RWD for many reasons. For example, it's easier for users to share and link to your content, and it requires no re-direction for a device-optimized view. Fair enough, but here's the key point, in Google's own words: it "helps Google’s algorithms accurately assign indexing properties to the page rather than needing to signal the existence of corresponding desktop/mobile pages.” What's more, it "saves resources when Googlebot crawls your site".
Remember what Google said about rewarding mobile-friendly sites? Makes sense now, right? So let's look at some ways in which you can now make your site more mobile responsive.
Basically, a mobile-friendly site is good for business and should be one of the first investments you make in your organization. In just the same way you would fit-out a bricks and mortar store to make your customers' shopping experience more enjoyable - and therefore more profitable for you, you need to 'fit-out' your website.
Potential customers need to be able to easily enter your website (store) and starting browsing. If there is something they particularly want to buy, they should be able to quickly and easily locate it. And if they have questions about the item, the answers should be immediately available.
What Does The Customer Want?
If the store customer can't find what they want quickly, or is sent to several different areas of the store to try and find it, and then has to join a long queue to buy it, that customer is likely to leave empty-handed.
Now apply that theory to your website. Think about WHY the user has come to your site, and WHAT do they want to do there. How can you make that easier for them?
The key element of Responsive Web Design is successfully condensing desktop content into a smaller screen scenario. So one way of achieving that is by reducing unnecessary content and adopting a clean, uncluttered design.
Creating The Best First Impression
Think carefully about the images on your mobile-friendly site. Are they now so small that they are not worth using? Is the quality poor on the smaller screen? Do they add anything to the content? Already you can probably see how designing for the small screen is so very different from desktop design.
However, it is still crucially important to create the very best first impression, so your RWD site should be every bit as entertaining and informative. Remember, this is usually your customer's first experience of your business.
Research shows that 85% of your new customers will have checked you out online before actually visiting your business, so that first impression is very important. And that really comes down to good old fashioned UX - User Experience.
Do you need help making your website responsive? Contact us and let's talk about how we can help you increase traffic and conversions on your website using RWD.
