Is Responsive Design a Worthy Investment for E-Commerce?
Is newer always better? Is this new e-Commerce trend worth investing in?
Viewports of Nav-to-Net™ Responsive Design
Responsive Design is one of the e-Commerce trends that has been gaining considerable traction. As of now, it’s not a standard feature that comes with every e-Commerce website, but it’s something that comes up when deciding which e-Commerce solution is right and what features it should have. This piece is to help companies evaluating whether responsive design is a good way to consolidate their multi-screen web strategy.
Scenario – Have you ever clicked a link to go to a website on your phone only to realize that it’s not optimized – at all – for your mobile device? Tiny text, layout is all wrong… sometimes that alone is enough to exit. There are so many devices available to the average consumer that it seems short-sighted to have such a poor experience.
What is Responsive Design?
Responsive Design is when your e-Commerce website can adapt to any device, providing optimal display and performance, whether it be a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Not only will it change size and layout depending on the device, but if done well, it will maintain the integrity of the design throughout, keeping it consistent, appealing, and usable. It’s a fluid layout because it is the same content throughout but gives the device instructions via CSS on how to best display it. Your carefully created content will always be legible with no need to pinch and squeeze the screen. It’s easy to navigate and will always provide users with an optimized experience.
Responsive Design is accommodating for all kinds of shoppers, however they choose to shop. Drop-offs tend to happen when a site is “unusable” and difficult to navigate; Responsive Design could be the factor that leads to more conversions on your webshop. As we move into the future of e-Commerce, Responsive Design is becoming more of a necessity and can really impact the growth of your business.
Website View of Nav-to-Net™
Benefits of Responsive Design
Tablet View of Nav-to-Net™
Catering to Savvy Online Shoppers
From an end-user perspective, Responsive Design provides a high-quality experience. Customers will find your webshop easy to read and navigate. With optimized viewing, it’s intuitive and consistent over multiple platforms. Sometimes with websites, you must learn to browse a miniaturized version of a website on a smartphone vs. a laptop, but this is not necessary with Responsive Design.
Business Benefits
For a site owner, the main benefit is that you only have to build your webshop once. When you build the webshop just once, it means that there are other benefits that would make Responsive Design attractive to a business owner, like that fact that it’s unnecessary to create several versions of your website for all the different devices. As a result, updates to your webshop are easily implemented because it’s technically only one site. A simplified and adaptable e-Commerce solution is cost-effective while reaping maximum rewards.
From a marketing perspective, branding is easily managed. With Responsive Design, it’s possible to deliver the same experience no matter the device. Part of having a unified and strong marketing message is having consistent branding across all platforms, remembering that consistent does not equal identical. Consistency brings generally the same experience and messaging while maintaining a certain style, design, navigation, and usability. Identical is when the website on a desktop looks exactly the same and functions exactly the same. Because of the inherent differences in devices, the differences have to be reflected in the web design. Having Responsive Design can mean a lot less stress because there is a sense of control over what’s happening over all platforms.
With an integrated solution like Nav-to-Net™, there are even more benefits because it’s easily managed all within Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV.
It’s worth noting, however, that Responsive Design is just a tool as a part of your overall e-Commerce strategy. It is not the be-all and end-all. Even though it’s a really cool feature, it’s one part of a solid, seamlessly integrated e-Commerce solution that fits your business needs.
So business owners and customers like it. Who else loves Responsive Design?
Google loves Responsive Design! Sites with Responsive Design are generally more engaging, resulting in more clicks and opens on all mobile devices. It’s also easier and more efficient for Google to manage as there is only one URL and the same HTML across all devices. Users can share and engage with the same website, no matter how they choose to view it, and with optimal viewing and browsing, it makes them happy. Google likes happy users and that will in turn help your SEO.
M-Commerce vs. True Responsive Design
Mobile View of Nav-to-Net™
Mobile e-Commerce, or simply M-Commerce, is booming. More users are turning to their smartphones to view websites. If it is not properly optimized for mobile devices, it’s very easy for shoppers to turn to your competitors who have invested in beautiful Responsive Design. In order to grow your business and prepare for the future, a true multi-channel approach requires Responsive Design.
M-Commerce has the primary objective of providing site navigation and checkout that’s easy and quick to do on-the-go. The shopping experience is extended across all platforms and is not just for those who choose to sit in front of a computer. However, there’s a difference between redirecting your customers to a separate mobile site vs. true responsive design. It can be slightly jarring for the customer when the mobile site is different from the main website they’re used to. It could require a slight learning curve to navigate the mobile site. With true Responsive Design, it does away with that issue and ensures a optimized shopping experience.
Things to Think About
Before embarking on an e-Commerce journey that includes Responsive Design, we need to realize that the process requires a change in approach because we’re building experiences rather than just building a website. Implementation can also be possibly a little more complex than a regular out-of-the-box e-Commerce webshop solution. With more customizations and complexities in the design, it will be reflected in the cost.
While Responsive Design can help improve your website experience, we still have to pay attention to the basics. Content is still king. You could have an amazing website design and have it display beautifully on desktop, tablet, and smartphone, but if your content is turning customers off, you could lose them and they most likely won’t return. Responsive Design can’t fix bad content so be sure that your e-Commerce objectives align strategically and that your content is written with your customers in mind.
Overall, you need to consider your business needs and the future of e-Commerce so you can stay ahead of the competition. As the industry moves forward, we have to view our e-Commerce website as an investment. Choosing a solution with a solid infrastructure and innovative features will continue to add value to our business.
At Digital Vantage Point, we believe that integration is key. We strive for a unified experience, simple, elegant, powerful, and seamless. This is at the core of every solution we build. Responsive Design is just one of the things we’ve been working on to provide you with the best e-Commerce solution for Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV.
If you would like to learn more, Request a Demo or talk to us at [email protected]
Check out what else Nav-to-Net™ has to offer – Feature Guide
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