“We recommend responsive design…” – Google
The end.
Just kidding… kind of. If you want to grow your insurance business, you need an insurance website that is designed for the way that today’s consumers search for information, consume content, and make buying decisions.
And smartphones play a major role in those buying decisions.
Responsive is the New Standard
With mobile usage now dominating, most internet searches take place on tablets or smartphones.
70% of smartphone owners who bought something in a store first turned to their devices for information relevant to that purchase. And when people search on mobile, it tends to lead to action: 92% of those who searched on their phone made a related purchase.
If your site isn’t created to render on available screen sizes, your user experience is suffering and your bounce-rate is surely increasing.
Adapting your web design to the changing needs of your users keeps your site professional, polished, and easy to navigate.
All while scoring big points with search engines.
Mobile User Experience Matters – A Lot
With people turning to smartphones and tablets for their internet usage, desktop computers aren’t quite taking a backseat but they are certainly riding shotgun.
While you still want your website to be viewable on a desktop, it is just as important – if not more – than your insurance website is easy to view, read, and navigate on mobile devices.
What’s the big deal about a good mobile experience? According to Google, it’s a very big deal, indeed:
Nearly 9 out of 10 times, when people had a helpful or relevant mobile brand experience, they said they would purchase from the brand in the future.
On the other hand…
When people have a negative brand experience on mobile, they are over 60% less likely to purchase from that brand in the future than if they have a positive experience.
Responsive vs. Mobile Design
Maybe you have a mobile version of your insurance website already. When you last got a website update, your developer created a mobile version. Does that mean you’re ready for today’s smartphone-reliant consumers?
Maybe not. Because there is a difference between a mobile website and a responsive website design.
Mobile Website
Websites that are designed specifically for mobile phones are called mobile-dedicated sites. Entirely separate from the desktop version of a site, mobile-dedicated sites usually live under a separate URL. They are often very similar to their desktop-designed counterpart, but with functionality and layout that is better suited for mobile devices.
Responsive Websites
Responsive sites exist on one URL and are designed to cover all devices on which they may be viewed. They automatically adjust the layout to render properly on any available screen size, be it desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
With a responsive insurance website, you help save search engine resources. Responsive design allows bots to crawl just one site to gather your information, rather than having to go over each page multiple times throughout different site versions. This increases efficiency and helps search engines index your content.
Plus, responsive designs are ready to handle whatever screen size may come our way next, whether that means smartphones start trending larger and larger, or tablets start coming in smaller and smaller sizes - your website will be ready for any screen size that comes its way.
While both types of design will work for viewing on mobile devices, there are some distinct advantages to implementing responsive web design for your insurance site.
With a responsive design, only one site needs to be maintained when changes are made or problems are found. One site to replace or add content and images, publish blogs, and update material means half the work.
Why Do Search Engines Prefer Responsive Design?
With responsive design, your site is viewed on the same URL, regardless of what kind of device is being used.
Search engines like this because it:
- Helps users share and link to your content at a single URL with ease.
- Makes it easier for Google’s algorithms assign indexing properties to the page accurately.
- Cuts back on engineering time, as one no longer has to maintain the same content on multiple pages.
- Helps reduce instances of common mistakes that occur on mobile sites, such as unplayable content or faulty redirects.
- Reduces site load time as it requires no redirection for device-optimized view for users.
Implementing responsive design on your insurance website will make a better user experience for potential and current customers while streamlining the design and development process. And the data proves that better mobile experiences lead to consumers who are more willing and ready to purchase from you and recommend you to their peers.