Why your customer will be grateful for your responsive website
Several weeks ago, we talked about all the ways your old website could be harming your business. That’s when we briefly mentioned the topic of responsive design and promised we will go into greater details as we go on.
And today we will continue our discussion. If you ask an average designer about responsiveness, he will go far and wide to explain all the hows and whys until you feel completely lost among all the terms you’ve heard here and there but never fully understood.
The talk about responsiveness and responsive web design is not something you should just rush through when you are creating a website for small business. Your desktop solution shouldn’t be the main topic when discussing it with a web design agency.
While you do need a desktop solution, there are stats showing that your small business currently needs a well-prepared, thought-through solution for all the customers coming from mobile devices. And the stats truly are impressive. Not only do we use search engines more often on our mobile devices than on desktop, we are also growing more fond of shopping and booking things as we go.
It’s been a while since responsiveness stopped being a luxury
If you’re running a small business in the world of today, a responsive website shouldn’t be something you should treat yourself to. It shouldn’t be a special perk: It should be one of the first things on your list.
Responsiveness is no longer considered a plus. It’s considered a must.
Today, a majority of your visitors is coming from mobile devices. Their devices differ in size as much as you and your competitors differ in the way you deliver results.
That’s why you need one solution that would suit them all. A solution that will provide your customer with experience as smooth on one device as it would on the other.
Behind us are the days when we had separate websites designed for mobile and desktop. Now you have one website, one solution. It is a smart solution that adjusts to the device your potential customer is using so that no one would feel left out.
Creating a responsive website is now a primary service of any web design agency worth looking into. The reason behind this trend is pretty solid, according to Smart Insights, as multi-platform and mobile users only seem to take up 80% of their infographic.
Knowing your customer
If you thought that knowing your average customer was important only for the purpose of content, you were wrong. You are dedicating every aspect of your website to your customer.
After all, your customers are the reason you are in the business. And to maintain and thrive in your business, you need to make your customer happy.
Well, then you should know that your customer is kinda impatient, and very often lazy. He or she also has their own set of habits they perpetually practice multiple times a day. Even if they are not aware of most of them, when they click on a link to your website, they already have a certain set of expectations.
If they are browsing through casually, a slip here and there can easily come unnoticed. However, if they are looking for a particular service right in that moment, providing them with an experience that makes the situation harder for them turns them away.
Recognise their needs:
A customer who has a flat tyre and doesn’t know how to change it and a parent looking to buy organic bamboo diapers for their baby certainly don’t have the same expectations of your website. While one probably needs your contact info among the first things, the other will probably need some appealing visual material, and appropriate written content that will convince them to stay on your website until you prove that you are the brand of diapers their baby needs.
Why is that important for you and how that reflects in design
The two examples above have different needs. And their needs are what your design should be based on. Prioritise your responsive website based on what your customer needs.
A happy customer is not only a customer satisfied with your service. It is a customer that is satisfied with the entire process of getting to you, and getting the service from you.
That doesn’t necessarily mean spoiling your customer, but it certainly means meeting their expectations. Which brings us to my next point.
Don’t let them miss out
One of the first expectations they have when browsing your website from their nearest gadget is that they won’t be deprived from any content contained in your desktop version.
Don’t let your customers feel constrained just because they are using another gadget.
More often than not your customers are reaching out to you from their tablet or mobile because they are in a hurry, commuting, or multitasking. If they are not, they are probably lying in their bed and are just not feeling like getting out of those covers. And they shouldn’t feel like they are missing out on anything because of that.
In fact, if they do seem to feel that they are missing out and that there are better offers out there, they will most likely continue browsing on another website, which could easily be your competitor’s.
Your mobile solution should be smarter, not shorter.
Your mobile users aren’t afraid of scrolling. The fact is that they are gladly doing it for a considerable amount of time every single day, either out of procrastination or necessity. What they don’t want is to be forced to zoom in and out over and over again before they fill out that sign-up form.
They don’t want to spend 30 seconds trying to figure out the logic (or the lack of) behind your navigation.
Creating a responsive website is not only about shrinking and piling material. It’s about creating a seamless user experience that helps your customer find what they are looking for without losing any of the initial perks you offer.
A quick wrap-up
Why we said we will talk about responsive websites but ended up talking about your customers? The one can’t go without the other. If it weren’t for your customers, your business wouldn’t exist at all. And without responsive website, you would probably lose more customers than you can guess.
And your customers not only like appealing layouts. But they also like their time to be wasted in a way they want. If they want to waste a couple of minutes browsing your online shop, they want to spend those minutes actually looking at the photos of your items and reading the features. Possibly treating themselves to an item or two. They don’t want to spend them zooming in and out flipping pages until they find that one item that made them come to your website anyhow.
The best responsive web design solution is the one that keeps your customer on your website the longest. And the longer your customer spends on your website, the better are the chances they will spend their money and close that tab happier because they have found what they were looking for.
So, in the end, it is about your customer. Keep that in mind during the entire process of redesigning your website and trust us: Your customer will appreciate it.
Until next Monday!
