Sep 27, 2013
Do the Numbers: Half Your Clients Own a Smartphone
Is responsive web design important? Half your clients probably think so.
At iBec we spend a lot of time talking to our clients about the virtues of responsive web design. Its a technology we love to implement and believe is inherent to the web development process going forward. Generally, part of the conversation with out clients involves questions about what responsive web design actually is and why they should invest in it. If you read that last article I posted you should get a good handle on the technological reasons for going responsive. To summarize, the devices people use to access the web are constantly changing, both in capability and form factortherefore, you need a website that will look great no matter what changes in the future. While all true, these ideas are a little abstracthow is this actually affecting you? Bottom line: more than half of American adults now own a smartphone.
In a recent Pew Research Center study it was revealed that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters. Ive included their graph below to provide a little context.
Credit: Pew Research Center
This shows us two things. First, that right now there are a lot of people who have the ability to access websites through a mobile platform. Second, that in the past two years or so we went from one third of Americans with smarthphones to more than half. Its easy to imagine complete saturation in the next 2-5 years. Altogether, its possible that half your clients have a smartphone and soon they might all have one. But also keep in mind that this data doesnt account for tablets. Its likely that majority of your clients have some kind of mobile device.
Anyone with a mobile device can access your website. If your site doesnt load fast enough, isnt easy to use or just looks bad on their device they wont stay for long. This wont go over well with your current clients, and it will look even worse to your prospects.