Mobile Responsive Website Required?

JMR

Posting this here rather than in the Internet / SEO forums as I am more interested in the business decisions as opposed to the technicalities.

The dogs on the street know that people are increasingly using mobile devices to access their internet content as time goes by and it is forecast that mobile internet usage will surpass desktop usage this year, I think.

I am interested to know if anybody here upgraded their eCommerce website to a mobile responsive design and if they got a decent ROI from doing so?

Does the effort required to access a standard website on a mobile device really turn people off interacting with the website?

Thanks

jimmii

I think it is definitely worth the investment. For us mobile & tablet combined has just surpassed desktop (50.3% of sessions in the last 30 days) but the notable part is that on tablet users look at 50% more pages than on desktop, make more return visits and the bounce rate is also lower. One thing worth considering on a mobile site is catering for both mobile and tablet users as from our data the usage is quite different tablet users tend to use the site more like a desktop user with it focusing mainly on the shopping aspect whereas mobile traffic is weighted towards looking for directions and contact details.

adamrooney

Mobile internet usage already surpasses desktop usage so Yes it should be worth the investment. Responsive websites are vital as nothing turns people off more than having to scroll sideways and inwards etc. This is even more important if it is an e-commerce site for example. You also have to remember that if social media is part of you marketing, and it should be, people accessing FB, Twitter etc on their mobile device (most people) if they click a link and it brings them to your site but its not responsive, most will simply click X and leave your site. For sure, If your site is not responsive you are missing out on potential sales/customers and traffic.

Nuttzz

At the risk of shilling here we redesign ecommerce sites for people and we do make them responsive however what we see is a lot of people browsing on mobile but buying on desktop

however one key thing on a responsive site we've found is the use of the html tel tag, so when someone presses your phone number its loaded into their dialler to call you, again customers have been very happy with that, I'm really surprised how few sites use it, but I find some with some designers its all about the creative and not the practical day to day use

pedronomix

There is a world of difference between B2C and B2B when it comes to mobile. While tablet is rising rapidly, the difference is that mobile page to view is very limited compared to tablet and few employee buyers are going to use their mobiles to do commercial buying. B2B, as long as the site displays works well on tablet and desktop, you are done. While you might lose a 10€ order, you would need a vast amount of lost orders at this level to make any difference.
B2C, I know nowt!!

JMR

Nuttzz wrote: »

one key thing on a responsive site we've found is the use of the html tel tag, so when someone presses your phone number its loaded into their dialler to call you

Great advice, I have noticed this feature works on some sites. I will definitely ask for this feature to be implemented should we go ahead with upgrade.

DoYouEvenLift

As a primarily tablet and phone user I'm glad this is catching on. Absolutely terrible going on sites and seeing they have made no attempts at catering to such a large group of users. The ads and their placement is one of the biggest issues.

Nuttzz

JMR wrote: »

Great advice, I have noticed this feature works on some sites. I will definitely ask for this feature to be implemented should we go ahead with upgrade.

I'd recommend you do this regardless, even if you dont make the site responsive

smash

Nuttzz wrote: »

however one key thing on a responsive site we've found is the use of the html tel tag, so when someone presses your phone number its loaded into their dialler to call you, again customers have been very happy with that, I'm really surprised how few sites use it

It's a tag I've been using since circa 2008 I'd say. Back when m.domainname.com sub domains were all the rage.

OP what content management/e-commerce system are you using? A lot of them will have a feature in the back end to turn on a mobile version. Usually with cart systems it enables a jQuery UI interface which isn't great to look at but it works and it could get you off the ground while you go through a redesign.

JMR

smash wrote: »

OP what content management/e-commerce system are you using? A lot of them will have a feature in the back end to turn on a mobile version. Usually with cart systems it enables a jQuery UI interface which isn't great to look at but it works and it could get you off the ground while you go through a redesign.

Wordpress with a WooCommerce cart...

smash

JMR wrote: »

Wordpress with a WooCommerce cart...

Looks like you can just buy a responsive theme and you're there.

BnB

pedronomix wrote: »

There is a world of difference between B2C and B2B when it comes to mobile. While tablet is rising rapidly, the difference is that mobile page to view is very limited compared to tablet and few employee buyers are going to use their mobiles to do commercial buying. B2B, as long as the site displays works well on tablet and desktop, you are done. While you might lose a 10€ order, you would need a vast amount of lost orders at this level to make any difference.
B2C, I know nowt!!

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say

We have an e-commerce website for a very niche B2B area. I just checked our stats and Mobile & Tablet usage on our website so far this years has been less than 1 % of all visitors.

That is because it is a very boring site to do with a very boring area of business which no-one will ever visit it in their spare time. They will do from their desk at work.

Funny thing is though, because our site uses Prestashop it is all optimized etc for Mobile and I'd say that the actual 0.33% of users who accessed it on a mobile, was me admiring it on my phone

Like pedronomix I know sod all about B2C (I know little enough about B2B) but regardless of what area you are in, I would suggest before you spend anything developing a mobile site, you have a look at the acutal stats of who is visiting your site and from what kind of devices.

JMR

Good advice from both Pedronomix and BnB, thanks
We have 2 sites, one for the UK market and one for the Irish / European market.
Both are predominantly B2C sites.

I will need to study the analytics data but a quick glance tells me that our visitors are broken up as follows

IRL
Desktop 58.9%
Mobile 27%
Tablet 14%

UK
Desktop 41%
Mobile 31%
Tablet 28%

adamrooney

JMR wrote: »

Good advice from both Pedronomix and BnB, thanks
We have 2 sites, one for the UK market and one for the Irish / European market.
Both are predominantly B2C sites.

I will need to study the analytics data but a quick glance tells me that our visitors are broken up as follows

IRL
Desktop 58.9%
Mobile 27%
Tablet 14%

UK
Desktop 41%
Mobile 31%
Tablet 28%

Looking at those stats, It is pretty obvious you should have a responsive site. And my guess is that the mobile and tablet figures will probably continue to rise. Whether its B2B or B2C, if customers or people landing on your site can access/read your content/purchase or simply just find your contact number to call you, more easily and user friendly via a responsive site, it is a must in today's world.

pedronomix

JMR wrote: »

Good advice from both Pedronomix and BnB, thanks
We have 2 sites, one for the UK market and one for the Irish / European market.
Both are predominantly B2C sites.

I will need to study the analytics data but a quick glance tells me that our visitors are broken up as follows

IRL
Desktop 58.9%
Mobile 27%
Tablet 14%

UK
Desktop 41%
Mobile 31%
Tablet 28%

B2C site! and stats are in-line for this type of site and certainly should have full platform suited design and responsiveness. Interesting to contrast with the B2B boring site in the earlier post(BnB)!!