The benefits of responsive web design for your business

In this blog, we are going to talk about responsive web design. We’ve already spoken about web design, but not many people are talking about or have talked about responsive web design. 

So what is responsive web design (RWD)?

As Google states, RWD is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. This is done through a mix of flexible grids backed up by intelligent use of CSS media queries. 

The basic premise of RWD is that a user, whether they’re exploring your website through a laptop, desktop, TV or phone, should get the same level of user experience, meaning that the website needs to respond to different aspects such as screen orientations, aspect ratios across multiple devices. Basically in short, the website needs to be able to adapt to whichever device the user is logged in from to give them a stellar experience every single time. 

Ethan Marcotte wrote a piece on RWD that I feel best describes what it stands for. I’ll leave you with a small quote from the article: 

“Recently, an emergent discipline called “responsive architecture” has begun asking how physical spaces can respond to the presence of people passing through them. Through a combination of embedded robotics and tensile materials, architects are experimenting with art installations and wall structures that bend, flex, and expand as crowds approach them. Motion sensors can be paired with climate control systems to adjust a room’s temperature and ambient lighting as it fills with people. Companies have already produced “smart glass technology” that can automatically become opaque when a room’s occupants reach a certain density threshold, giving them an additional layer of privacy.” 

Now that we know what RWD is, let’s take a look at some advantages of RWD and the impact it can have for your website. 

Attracts a wider audience 

If a website can adapt to multiple device configurations seamlessly, this automatically gives you the upper hand as more people across those multiple device orientations can log into your website, potentially giving you the ability to garner a larger audience. 

Ease of maintenance 

Having multiple websites for multiple devices means if there is one change, it needs to be made across every single one of those websites, but with RWD all changes only need to be changed once. 

Ease of monitoring the stats! 

As we discussed in the previous point, with multiple websites for multiple device orientations, you’re monitoring more. With RWD, it’s all in one place making monitoring your stats an absolute breeze. 

SEO implications

As we know, SEO is vital for your website. If your SEO game isn’t on point, no one is going to visit your website. In a recent development, it has been shown that Google now favours responsive websites more, making it appear higher on their rankings. 

It gives your brand and website consistency 

When it comes to design, a lot of the times different websites cannot be designed the same across multiple device orientations, but with RWD, the same design will be implemented across all device orientations. 

Higher customer retention rates 

That’s right, and that is probably the most important point being discussed here. When a traditional site gets laggy trying to adapt to multiple devices, a RWD will give your clients a buttery smooth experience. Personally, if a website is lagging out on me, I would go to another competitor’s website if the product is available there too, but with RWD, you completely eliminate lag and bad experiences, giving you maximum retention and your visitors a good experience every time. 

In conclusion, RWD poses more advantages than disadvantages to your website, but that being said, elements such as design, user-friendliness and so on need to be on point too to work in conjunction with an effective RWD to deliver the best possible experience to your website’s visitors.