Are You Using Responsive Design Effectively?

Responsive design is one of the best ways to accommodate mobile device users. Even Google recommends this tactic as a best practice. In case you aren't already implementing it on your websites, it scales and resizes the content of the page to fit the size of the screen.

This tactic can provide a better user experience, which is different from a mobile-optimized website. Although dynamic Web design can help visitors get more from your website, responsive design is more adaptable.

While a responsively designed page is becoming increasingly necessary for marketing and search engine optimization efforts, it's important to avoid some common mistakes on your website.

Here are some frequent errors that can prevent you from seeing a return on investment from your website:

1. Starting With the Desktop Version

Mobile is taking off everywhere, and it's more challenging to accommodate smartphone users. It's easier to start with the smaller-screen mobile version and scale upward instead of the other way around, according to Practical Ecommerce. When you begin with the larger version, pages can appear cramped from a mobile device.

2. Not Conducting Sufficient A/B testing

Any Web design project needs testing to ensure everything is in proper working order before the website goes live. For example, responsive e-commerce sites often have glitches in the checkout process, but this error can be caught during the testing process.

You need to test the major Web browsers and common mobile device and browser combinations to ensure everything performs correctly.

3. Not Analyzing User Behavior

People use mobile devices differently than desktops, and you need to account for these differences in behavior.

It's important to analyze the most common devices among your target audience.

4. Too-small Call to Action Buttons

This is one of the biggest mistakes marketers can make on their websites. Buttons need to be large enough to click with a finger, otherwise your call to action won't be as effective.

5. Less Content for Mobile Users

One of the capabilities of responsive design is offering separate content for mobile users. However, simply hiding content can create a sub par user experience for mobile visitors.

It can also be confusing if the same users return from a desktop computer at a later time. The vast majority of online shoppers use more than one device when making purchasing decisions.

What Are Some Other Misconceptions About Responsive Design?

While these are some of the main mistakes marketers can make with responsive design, there are a number of misconceptions about this tactic that may prevent you from taking full advantage of mobile marketing.

One of the biggest issues is that companies don't think they need to switch to responsive design this year, Business 2 Community stated.

Google has expressed how important mobile experience is, and this is one of the best ways to offer it. Some marketers still think SEO, website design and paid search don't have strong connections. If a visitor clicked a paid ad and found himself or herself on an un-optimized site, they likely wouldn't stay on the landing page.

This technique isn't just for mobile devices, although it does help marketers better meet the needs of mobile users. However, this form of design also adapts to larger tablets and desktop computers.

In addition, some marketers have held off on implementing responsive design because it seems expensive, but it isn't more costly than any other website. In fact, responsive websites are less expensive to update and maintain over time.