On April 21, 2015, Google increased the weight of “mobile-friendliness” as an organic search ranking signal. With these changes, companies whose websites did not reflect a responsive design (automatically scaling to the device on which it is being viewed) began to see declining organic search rankings, making it more difficult for them to appear as a match for those searching for the content they were offering. Despite being more than two years past the start of search penalties, many companies are still operating non-responsive websites.
When your website isn’t responsive, visitors not only have trouble finding your site through organic search, but are tasked with zooming in and out, and scrolling up, down and around, to find the content they are looking for. This experience is not only frustrating, it can increase the number of people who leave your site prematurely, which negatively impacts a businesses’ bottom line.
It all goes back to delivering a positive user experience
When a prospective customer, client or donor lands on your website, you want the information that is most important to them to be right at their fingertips. You want to demonstrate a keen understanding of their wants and needs – and that includes being able to find information both quickly and easily.
When you promote an event on a platform such as Facebook or LinkedIn which have mobile apps to optimize the user experience, and you then drive traffic to a website/landing page that isn’t responsive, you increase the likelihood of people abandoning the page before completing the desired action. Of note, 40percent of smartphone and tablet owners search for B2B products and services on their devices. Further, Adobe reports 38percent of website visitors stop engaging if the site’s layout is unattractive. And, more than half of all website traffic in the U.S. comes from mobile devices. (Isn’t that last statistic reason enough on its own to launch a responsive website?)
Let’s talk about e-commerce
Business Insider projects m-commerce (e-commerce sales from mobile devices) will account for 45percent of the total e-commerce market by 2020, accounting for $284 billion in sales. Yet, surprisingly, there are still e-commerce websites floating around that are not responsive. I’m not referring to websites that have dedicated mobile counterparts or apps to deliver a first-rate experience, either. I’m talking about companies that drive people to their website to make purchases and don’t deliver an optimal mobile experience. Using your smartphone to find information on a non-responsive website is hard enough. Think about what it is like to zoom in and out to make order forms large enough to read and to add items to a shopping cart. If you were the customer, how likely would you be to complete your transaction? Would you opt to buy from a competitor whose website is responsive and from whom you can easily make a purchase from your mobile device?
Ensuring clients, prospects, donors, volunteers, strategic partners, and all other audiences can easily access and navigate your website from any device is a business imperative. A website that isn’t responsive can not only hurt your company’s or cause’s ability to get found through online searches, it can lead to people prematurely leaving your website and negatively impacting your bottom line.
Ready to go responsive? Contact us today.
