Proof that Responsive Web Design Equals More Sales (Infographic)

Mobile devices require a different approach to how content is displayed on the screen. That’s why responsive web design exists. A responsive website adapts to any screen size.

Is your website not responsive yet? Check out these statistics and case studies that show how responsive web design and mobile design optimization increase conversion rates and revenue.

Mobile Marketing Statistics:

• 80% of Internet users own a smartphone.

Just look around you. When you’re in a public space, how many people stare down at their phones? Smartphones are here to stay.

• Users spend, on average, 69% of their media time on smartphones.

With so much time spent on smartphones, no wonder that mobile eCommerce has gone up so rapidly. And it’s expected to grow even higher as smartphones evolve.

• In the second quarter of 2022, mobile devices generated 58.99% percent of global website traffic.

Mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic back in 2017, and the percentage is higher in certain continents, such as Asia (65.1%).

• Worldwide, more Google searches occur on mobile than desktop.

Google confirmed this back in 2015! What’s more, Google is by far the preferred search engine globally, with a net share of 74.54%. So many people can find you via Google!

• In the U.S., mobile eCommerce revenue accounts for 50% of total eCommerce revenue.

This statistic logically follows the increase in time spent on mobile, mobile traffic, and Google mobile searches.

• Global mobile e-commerce revenues amounted to $549 billion in 2017 and are projected to reach $669 billion in 2018.

This is what 50% of total eCommerce revenue looks like in real money. That’s a huge number which is set to increase even more.

• 90% of smartphone owners use their phones while making purchasing decisions in a brick-and-mortar store.

We look things up on our smartphones all the time, including information about stores and their competitors.

• 88% of consumers who search for a type of business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours.

Those who choose a store on their mobile device are influenced by a lot of things such as reviews, location, social media, and the store’s mobile-friendly website.

• 80% of customers say they’d stop engaging with content that doesn’t display well on their devices.

Of course. We don’t want to see poorly displayed content that makes us pinch and zoom. That’s just a poor way of treating mobile users.

• 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly-designed mobile site.

This statistic goes hand in hand with the one above. Remember that if you recommend a poorly-designed website to someone, 80% of them will get mad at you.

• 62% of companies investing in responsive web design saw a 60% revenue spike.

This is a fact. Responsive web design can, more often than not, bring you more business. If you’re still not convinced, continue reading below.

Responsive Web Design Case Studies

1. Offspring Doubles Mobile Revenue

Offspring, a UK-based sports shoes retailer, had significant traffic coming from mobile. But users were not converting because the website was painful to navigate on mobile devices.

So what did Offspring do? They decided to provide a better user experience to their mobile visitors. The only way they could do that was to migrate to a responsive design.

Offspring saw this shift as an opportunity to boost its conversion rate and revenue, especially on mobile devices. And the results were impressive.

Just three months after optimizing for mobile, the retailer saw:

• 19% increase in smartphone/tablet conversion rate
• 58% increase in mobile/tablet revenue compared to the previous year
• 100/100 mobile site usability score from Google (was 60/100)
• 59% increase in organic traffic thanks to better search engine rankings

They approached the redesign from two main angles: SEO and the design itself. From an SEO standpoint, they closely monitored 400 keywords and tracked the changes in search rankings. Three months after the new website launch, their first-page visibility increased by 77.59%.

Design-wise, they kept the same look and feel, but their goal was to improve user experience across all devices. Here are a few noteworthy changes:

• The responsive site added a sticky header that follows users down the page.
• A new search bar with the predictive search made it easier for users to find products.
• The product listing page scaled down automatically depending on the device.

These changes contributed to a more intuitive search experience. Mobile users were expected to benefit the most from these changes as smaller screens make navigation harder. And indeed, as the results above show, they provided a better mobile experience and earned more revenue as a result.

2. Walmart.ca’s Mobile Orders Increased by 98%

Walmart Canada was receiving a lot of traffic from tablets. But the problem was that their website was not optimized for mobile devices like tablets. Noticing the possibility of growth on tablets, Walmart.ca soon joined the bandwagon of online retailers optimizing for mobile.

Their efforts soon paid off. After launching the responsive design, Walmart.ca saw a 20% boost in conversions and a 98% rise in mobile orders.

However, Walmart.ca took the responsive design one step further. They not only made their website responsive, but they also took a mobile-first approach.

Walmart.ca’s mobile-first strategy included some wise design choices:

• When shrinking to tablet size, their website prioritized showing products like electronic devices instead of garage tools, for example. This is because they knew their main type of user: moms searching on tablets.
• They decided to display 60 products on their category pages. 60 is usually a lot, and you don’t want that on your eCommerce site, but Walmart.ca’s tests showed the opposite. Displaying 60 products was just enough to maintain site speed and reduce the amount of “taps” a user had to make to view more products.
• The new design also displays whether a product is in stock or not. Previously, there was a “View Details” button to find that information. However, they removed it to highlight only the “Add to cart” button, which helps streamline the sales process.

3. O’Neill Clothing Hits it Big on Android

Another success story comes from the popular e-commerce store O´Neill Clothing. Due to their rising numbers of mobile visitors, it was also clear that they needed to give them a better user experience. And so they took the responsive path.

To check how responsive design improved their numbers, O`Neill monitored conversions, transactions, and revenue for three weeks before the design change.

Then, three weeks after going responsive, they achieved impressive conversion rates and revenue on smartphones. Behold:

For iPhone/iPod:

• Conversions increased by 65.71%
• Transactions increased by 112.50%
• Revenue increased by 101.25%

For Android devices:

• Conversions increased by 407.32%
• Transactions went up by 333.33%
• Revenue increased by a whopping 591.42%

These numbers speak for themselves. A responsive design was the logical step O’Neill had to take to achieve revenue growth.

Conclusion

People expect a great experience on mobile websites, which they use for making purchases! By investing in responsive web design with mobile optimizations, you can offer users a streamlined mobile experience and potentially increase your revenue.

To make a stronger case for responsive design, Google stated that mobile-friendliness is an SEO factor. Thus, mobile-friendly websites reap the benefits of higher search rankings and web traffic.

Plus, once your website is responsive and optimized, all your future investments in SEO, PPC, and social media will be more profitable.