A recent Morgan Stanley report pointed out the fact that mobile usage will match desktop by 2014. Circa 2014, and we are already witnessing this phenomenon. Despite this ever-expanding trend, most eCommerce businesses are not yet mobile friendly. Not only is this causing a headache amongst the users, but also a loss in business opportunity.
Recently, two methods have emerged by which one can create a mobile website for your eCommerce business. The first method is by using a mobile template, and the second method is by using responsive design. The latter method needs the creation of only one website that is coded to adapt to all screen size, no matter what device it is being displayed on.
In contrast, a mobile template is a completely separate entity. It requires you to have a second mobile-only website or a sub-domain. However, the usage of a sub-domain, or a mobile-only website can be counter productive. This is because mobile templates are built for each specific, and not per screen-size. Hence, this can cause certain issues that are discussed in the later part of this article.
Hence, the better alternative that you have is to go in for a responsive design, which is a term first coined by Ethan Marcotte, in 201o. Some of the reasons why your eCommerce website needs to go online are given below.
Today, more and more searches are being performed on a mobile devices. Moreover, more and more users are using their mobiles only to access the internet. This means that users are getting a better brand experience and form a better brand opinion on mobile devices.
In case users are not able to achieve positive user experience on a mobile device, which means they are either frustrated with a slow responding site, or they cannot obtain what they are looking for, this means that they will leave the site immediately and go to a website that most likely belongs to a competitor. Hence, if they have a positive experience, then the probability of the user purchasing a product from your website is also exceptionally high.
As an inbound marketer, you would certainly have incorporated elements of blogging and social media as part of your strategy. A recent study also revealed that around 55% of the social media consumption also happens on a mobile device. Anything otherwise such as not having a mobile friendly website, yet sharing links to your content or your website, could lead you to experience low conversion rates along with high bounce rates, along with generating a frustrated audience.
Google’s preference for responsive design for the mobile web is due to the fact that having one single URL makes its easier for the Google Bot to crawl your website in contrast to mobile website and also reduces the chance of on-page SEO errors. Hence, responsive websites are typically better at their performance and can be easier to maintain than a separate mobile template or website.
A website that takes longer than 2 seconds to load will probably witness a lot of abandonment as people will in all probability leave the website and go away. The same thing applies to mobile website devices. If users cannot upload your website on their mobile devices, the chances of site abandonment are as high as well.
The greatest benefit of responsive website design is that the size of the template is determined by the size of the screen size and not the device. So, the website will display properly regardless of the screen size of the viewer’s device. Thus your website becomes device as well as future-proof and can still look good irrespective of the device used.
As mobile becomes a handy tool for accessing the Internet, responsive design will become critical to achieving a complete as well as satisfying experience. Having a mobile website is no longer a luxury or a nice-looking feature, but is a necessary feature for the growth of your eCommerce business. It is certainly advisable to consult a mobile website development company to understand how crucial responsive design could be for the betterment of your business in the future. The future for responsive design holds great promise, and let’s hope that you benefit as well!
Shivi Rao is a content marketer with Krish. She has worked in various industries spanning technology, science, rural marketing, startups & unicorns, eCommerce business, and digital marketing, believing that content is the foundation to facilitate the visibility of any organization and ensuring her words do the same. In her free time, you can either find her lifting weights in the gym or feeding the strays.
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