Mobile development: Beyond responsive design

Is there more to mobile than responsive design?

Nick Bishop
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read
Image by NeONBRAND via Unsplash

Any digital expert worth their salt knows that web traffic is shifting to mobile devices. Despite this, there still appears to be a considerable lack of appreciation as to the wide range of opportunities this presents to us developers and marketers alike.

I’m going to my point right away — there is more to mobile than responsive design. Now, I’m not saying responsive design is bad. The problem I’m alluding to is the fact that web development on mobile devices is all too often reduced to a design issue. There are a million and one reasons why this is short-sighted.

At this point I’d like to draw your attention to a study Google conducted on consumer behaviours across different devices. If you haven’t read it, make sure you do. There are a number of key points to consider:

It’s not the size of your screen, it’s how you use it

Yep, mobile devices have small(er) screens and we need to make sure our content adapts itself to fit. However, we also need to consider the other idiosyncrasies that come with browsing the web on a mobile device. Things like connection speed, processing power, user interaction and the often overlooked, usage context.

Context is everything

The research suggests that consumers turn to certain devices in certain contexts — context drives choice. Time, location, our goal and attitude all contribute to our decision as to which device we chose at a particular time.

Two screens are better than one

People move seamlessly across devices throughout the day. They may do this sequentially — moving from one device to another at different times to accomplish a task. They may do this simultaneously — multi-tasking different activities or using them in a complementary way on the same activity.

A tailored experience?

In the case of e-commerce, consumers tend to shop differently across devices. Here’s a few interesting stats:

  • Spur-of-the-moment purchases are more prevalent on phones
  • Phones are the most common starting place for online activities
  • PCs are most often a starting point for more complex activities

If users really do prefer to use different devices in different contexts, should your website’s core journeys remain the same across all devices? Or should they be optimised to the context in which they are most likely being used?

Bish’s final thoughts

If your boss is breathing down your neck because mobile conversion rates on your new, responsive online store are not as good as PC, consider the contexts in which consumers are engaging with your website.

If you’re offering a complex product or service, it’s likely they’ll want to complete their task on a device more suited to the context — a PC or tablet (or in-store or on the phone). I know I prefer a physical keyboard when I need to fill out lots of web forms. In this case, rather than focusing on mobile conversion, think about how you can best facilitate that user’s journey across devices to achieve the desired goal.

As Google quite rightly surmise in their research, mobiles are the backbone of our daily media use — the glue that ties our sequential usage together. If your answer to the mobile conundrum ends at a responsive website, keep thinking.


Originally published at nickbishop.co.uk.

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Nick Bishop

Written by

Digital geek. Developer.

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