Just quickly searching for something on your mobile or ordering something, who doesn't do it? Unfortunately, a huge number of webshops and B2B shops are still not suitable for this. Because the website is not displayed properly on the small screen, users are more likely to have a negative experience. Will you stay on a page where half of it doesn't fit on the screen? Probably not. The bounce rate of the webshop increases and visitors do not return afterward, as 'the website doesn’t work anyway.' Your website will thus be less visible via Google on smartphones, resulting in many sales opportunities being missed. Curious about how you can optimize your webshop for the small screen? Below we provide some examples that you can get started with immediately!
Responsive web design
A commonly used method is responsive web design (RWD). Webshops that are designed with RWD display text, images, and other content correctly in the right screen size. The webshop is scaled per screen size. In this way, you can adjust the 'look' of your content so that it is easily readable on a mobile and/or tablet. All content only needs to be loaded once for both smartphone, tablet, and desktop.
Adaptive web design
Another technology is adaptive web design. An adaptive web design (AWD) is very similar to responsive web design. However, there are some differences between the two. First, RWD scales fluidly, while AWD scales in jumps. A more significant difference is that AWD takes the device itself into account, whereas RWD only considers the screen size.
A significant advantage of AWD compared to RWD is that with AWD, you can take bandwidth into account. For example, you can choose to display images on a smartphone and/or tablet in a lower resolution via AWD. You show different content on a smaller screen than in the desktop version. However, more and more screen sizes are being introduced (think of the various smartphones and tablets), which is a disadvantage for AWD. It is indeed challenging to accommodate every existing screen size. Combining AWD with RWD could provide a solution.
When do you use which technique?
The technique you use to make your webshop mobile-friendly depends on what you want your mobile user to experience. Can the conversion take place directly via the mobile device, or does the user have to come back later via a computer or laptop? There is no clear trend that dictates which technique is best for your webshop. Every large webshop has its way of delivering the content as effectively as possible. So think carefully about which strategy you want to adopt. Be sure to keep the following tips in mind:
- If you want your webshop to be clearly visible, regardless of the device, then have your webshop developed responsively.
- If you have specific requirements to provide mobile users an even better experience, ensure that your webshop is adaptive.
Test your site
Google understands that not all websites are immediately mobile-friendly and therefore helps many webmasters along. Google has created a guide explaining how to optimize your mobile website. Curious whether your website or webshop is already displayed correctly on a smaller screen? On this page from Google, you can check this right away.
Make your website mobile-friendly
There’s not much more we can say. The updates that Google has already implemented have already had an impact, and we expect this is just the beginning. In the long term, everyone will have to comply, including you. You don’t want to miss a sales opportunity, do you? The importance of a good mobile website is greater than ever.
Curious which solution best suits your needs? Then contact us, and we will be happy to advise you!
