How long would you hang around on a website if it was taking a while to load or work properly on your phone or tablet?

A mobile responsive design is essential in today’s world as most access information, entertainment and other digital content from their smartphones or mobile devices.

So, why are so many web designers overlooking this crucial fact?

Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the value of responsive web design.

The proof is in the pudding (well the stats).

Last year, it was predicted that mobiles were going to make up 79% of the global internet usage by the end of 2018.

On top of this, 8 in 10 customers said that they would stop engaging with content that doesn’t display well on their device.

Meanwhile, 57% of internet users said that they wouldn’t recommend a business that had a poorly designed website on mobile.

We’ve changed as consumers.

It’s clear that people’s expectations of mobile browsing have changed. Every year, clever humans improve internet speeds, screen resolutions and user experiences, so when your site is taking more than a few seconds to respond, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

We all want to quickly and easily access the info we crave, and if we can’t we’ll not think twice about looking elsewhere.

You can check your website load time here: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly.

But, bear in mind responsive web design goes beyond loading speeds.

We’ve moved on from ‘mobile-friendly’.

The way we view content has dramatically changed. When the mobile ‘revolution’ first sparked, many businesses were quick to create separate mobile versions or even apps so that their site would be easily accessible from any device.

Whilst this worked initially, it wasn’t very forward-thinking in hindsight.

Today’s vast spectrum of screen sizes and resolutions means that websites no longer need to be mobile friendly, they need to be mobile intuitive.

Whilst a mobile-friendly site functions on any device, it naturally doesn’t give the same user experience, as it was originally designed to suit a desktop.

A mobile site shrinks the whole page down to be a mini version of the site, but a responsive site will alter the layout to optimise it for the size of the screen.

A good example is columns. Imagine, on a desktop monitor, a site has three columns. These three columns are stacked on a responsive site when viewed on a smaller screen. Meanwhile, a mobile website would make the content smaller. It would still function, but the user would have to navigate the site with tiny buttons and controls.

Not ideal and, as we mentioned previously, it could deter people away from your brand.

And, that’s the key…

A mobile site functions, whereas a responsive site works seamlessly, delivering the same – if not, better – user experience than a desktop site.

Please let us know if you’d like to see more of our tips on how to make your website responsive. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch.