Responsive design is often touted as the future of web design based on little more than a vague sense that it makes websites more user-friendly and looks very cool. And I’ll admit that one of my favourite things about it is watching how the content shifts around when you resize your desktop browser.
But responsive design isn’t just there to entertain. Aside from the SEO benefits, case studies are starting emerge that prove the technology can also increase traffic, sales and conversions.
These case studies from brands such as Time Magazine reveal the potential benefits from adopting responsive design. Obviously it would be a gross oversimplification to suggest that using responsive design was the sole factor behind the impressive results achieved by each of these websites, but it is certainly an important element.
Skinny Ties
Probably my favourite example of responsive design in ecommerce, Skinny Ties decided to use the technology to both “reinvent the brand’s identity and develop a future-friendly platform to carry the business forward.”
The site was redesigned with touch and click usage in mind, which keeps the interface consistent and compact. Using a Magento platform, the designers also put a lot of work into perfecting the performance and navigation, as well as laying down strict guidelines for the style of product images.
Skinny Ties quietly launched the site in October 2012, and within a matter of weeks noticed a massive improvement on sales metrics compared to the previous three months:
- Revenue from all devices increased by 42.4%.
- The conversion rate improved by 13.6%.
- Revenue from iPhone grew by 377.6%.
- The conversion rate for iPhone increased by 71.9%.
- The site’s bounce rate fell by 23.2%.
- Visit duration increased by 44.6%.
Time Magazine
After seeing its mobile visitors increase to around 10% of overall traffic at the beginning of 2012, Time.com decided that responsive design was the best way to cater for this growing audience.
Time.com already had a separate WAP site, and one of the major goals of the redesign was to have a cross-platform look. The designers from the print side worked hand-in-hand with the digital design team in the early stages to come up with an aesthetic in terms of font treatments, graphic treatments and the right use of photography.
One of the main challenges the team faced was testing the new site on multiple devices to ensure it delivered an excellent user experience – overall the design process took nine months from start to finish.
But the results were worth it:
- Mobile and tablet traffic has gone from 15% of the site traffic pre-redesign to now almost 25%. The bulk of that was the migration of people who were using the old WAP site migrating to the new site.
- Pages per visit (PPV), across mobile, tablet and desktop are up “considerably” – for example, mobile PPV increased 23%.
- On the homepage, unique visits increased 15%, and time spent went up 7.5%, with the mobile bounce rate decreasing by 26%.
Thank Tank Photo
Photography equipment supplier Think Tank Photo (TTP) made the decision to rebuild its site using responsive design as mobile visitors had tripled in a year to 13% of overall traffic. TTP worked with Blast Advanced Media to create its new site, achieving impressive results:
- Revenue increased by more than 188% from Black Friday through to Cyber Monday compared to 2010.
- Transactions from users on smartphones and tablets increased more than 96%.
- Mobile page views increased 224%.
This article was taken from Econsultancy