What is Responsive Web Design (RWD)? I will touch briefly on this answer, because I believe others have written far more elegantly and elaborately about this topic than a simple blog post allows. Responsive Web Design is simply designing your website in such a way that the content on the page flexes to best display in the user’s browser window — no matter the size. The distinction here is that you are accomplishing this feat with one website, not many. You no longer need a separate mobile theme.
Is your your eCommerce site responsive? If not, I believe you are at the point where you have to seriously ask yourself why. We are years past Luke Wroblewski talking to us about designing from a Mobile First mindset, and even longer past Ethan Marcotte releasing his thoughts on Responsive Web Design. We are in a world that is increasingly becoming not just mobile first, but mobile-only. Phones now commonly have 5+ inch screens, multi-core processors, and ride on data rails with speeds rivaling at-home broadband. Mobile devices are, in many ways, just as capable as the traditional computer you may have sitting on your desk at home, with all the advantages of being with you all the time. Because of this, they now make up a majority of online traffic.
Are you thinking you don’t need RWD yet? You should look at your website’s bounce rates. Fire up Google Analytics, take a look at the traffic coming to your website, and see how much of it originates from mobile devices – it may shock you how high it is. Now, follow those mobile users through your conversion funnel. Where do you lose them? On the homepage? On the category page? In the cart? If you can’t answer these questions, you have a whole other set of problems that should be solved by good analytics analysis and integration.
Still not convinced it’s a necessity? It’s not just us saying it.
