Real-World Reasons to Make Your Site Responsive

[caption id="attachment_3422" align="aligncenter" width="300"] You need one of these! A site that works on desktops, tablets and smartphones.[/caption] By now, you’ve heard a lot of talk about responsive sites. You know that Google’s algorithm gives priority to responsive sites in mobile searches. You’ve heard many people tell you that you need to go responsive, or be left behind. You may think that responsive doesn’t really apply to your industry or your customers; responsive design is for sites that sell shoes and candy and whatever else teenagers – the real digital natives – like to buy. That’s not true. Any business that uses a website to bring in customers needs a responsive site. To illustrate this point, I’m setting aside the data and focusing on real-world scenarios where a responsive site makes a tangible difference.

FSE’s Can View Documents and Place Orders while Working On-Site

Field Service Engineers who make installations and repairs on-site at customers’ facilities may need to access your CAD drawings. They may discover that an important part has gone missing – a part you make – and need to order a new one.  Odds are that the FSE will pull out his or her phone and search online. If your site isn’t responsive, finding and viewing CAD drawings on a phone is going to be a royal pain. Searching your catalog won’t be much better. A responsive site can make the lives of your customers’ FSEs much simpler.

Buyers Can Place Orders From Anywhere

Something we hear often at Ecreative is “My customers would never search for our products on a phone.” But is that necessarily true? Imagine that your customers’ purchasing agent is sitting in an airport, on the way to a tradeshow or conference. The agent receives a message from someone back at the plant: “That part from ABC Company was no good. It fried the PCB. Can you find us a better one?” The agent is traveling with a tablet instead of a laptop because it’s lighter and TSA doesn’t require passengers to remove tablets from their carry-on while going through checkpoints. While searching for a part to replace the bad one, the agent isn’t likely to spend much time on sites that don’t work well on the tablet – especially when boarding time is less than an hour away. If you want to sell your part in this scenario, it’s important to make it easy as possible to do so.

Responsive Design Makes Calling Easier

Picture this: a customer needs to check on the status of an order, but he’s nowhere near the office. He’s on a commuter train and it’s delayed; someone had a medical emergency on an earlier train and it’s stopped, halting traffic all along the line. Your customer still needs to know about that order – the boss keeps sending messages, asking when it will be ready. If your site is responsive, he can find your phone number easily and place the call. If not, well, then the customer will experience additional hassle on an already-frustrating morning. It may seem small, but he might be crabby when you pick up the phone. That’s not something your staff will appreciate.

Responsive = Doing Right by Your Customers

Your website isn’t just a digital version of your business card or catalog. It’s a dynamic member of your sales team. Making your site responsive isn’t just another technological fad. It’s something you need to do to ensure that you’re providing the best customer service possible on all fronts. To learn more about making your site responsive, contact Ecreative today.