Responsive web design is one of the latest web design trends in 2013, and for good reason. A responsive design provides a single, unified web design that works for smartphones, tablets, and desktop browsers. Instead of running the risk of duplicate content penalties and other issues that come from having separate designs for each device accessing your website, simplify matters (and resources!) with a single design that adapts to the device viewing it. Keynote recently reported that 46 percent of mobile users couldn’t properly access a web page, meaning that site owners without responsive designs are running the risk of losing business and regular visitors.
1. Cutting Down Development Costs
It’s simple math—one well-implemented, effective design generally costs less than three or four separate designs. Use the web development costs that normally would have been allocated to multiple versions of the site, towards marketing, additional feature development, or other essential website functions.
2. Convenience
When you design a responsive site, you’re doing more than simply benefiting your customers on your ecommerce site. You are also creating a site that can be managed from any device. You can set up new products, use invoicing tools, and perform other site management functions from any desktop, smartphone or tablet.
3. Improving Conversions
When Hubspot switched over to a responsive web design, they found that their conversion rate increased to 5.6 percent, doubling their original conversion ratio. Part of the reason for this is that the first impression of their website worked properly for mobile and desktop users, and also retained a unified look regardless of the device on which it was viewed. A responsive design allows you to build more brand recognition and authority with consistent imagery, content, and navigation options for your users.
4. Increasing Mobile Traffic Trends
Another benefit of responsive web design is future-proofing. Forbes recently reported that mobile web traffic continues to increase, accounting for approximately 40 percent of their website traffic. This number is expected to increase as smartphone penetration rises and tablets become more popular as laptop alternatives. As smartphones and tablets increase in technological capabilities, expect that they will soon replace PCs and laptops for many basic computing functions, such as web browsing, ecommerce, and email.
5. Adjusting Navigation to Benefit the Device
Responsive web design allows you to decide exactly where your content and navigation is going to go on various devices, so you can personalize the experience for each set of devices. The website version is determined by the device, instead of the server, so it accurately delivers the proper experience to the user.
6. Simplified Stats
It
can be difficult to parse and analyze meaningful data when taking into consideration all the different device types. A responsive design, however, delivers one URL to view overall trends, while still allowing access to device-specific stats.
