Is Opting-Out of Responsive Design Opting-In for Unresponsive Customers?

Hannah Cruz
3 min readMar 5, 2023

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Why you should use a Responsive Web Design for your Ecommerce Shop.

What is Responsive Design?

Responsive Design is a web design approach that enables automatic screen adaption whether you're viewing the page on a computer, phone, tablet, watch, etc. This way, your content always looks its best no matter where you view it.

The way it works is by using 1 content source and 1 URL instead of developing multiple sites for each device. A responsive design quickly reacts to the screen size being used to access the website and changes to the most ideal viewing experience for that layout.

Basically, if you want the best shot at a seamless user experience, this approach is for you.

What happens when you don’t use it?

If you opt-out of the Responsive design approach you may be opting-in for less consumer traffic.

First impressions are crucial and can make or break your business. For example, if you walk into a new restaurant and encounter rude staff, an unkempt bathroom, and not so tasty food, you definitely won’t want to go there again for a second try. Well the same goes for a website; If you visit a new website and its difficult to navigate and functioning poorly, then you’ll probably exit out and never return.

Have you ever clicked on a website through your phones web browser and had to scroll horizontally to read some of the content? Or worse, not been able to view certain content? It was annoying, right? Well, those websites are not using a responsive design.

Don’t be like those websites, no one likes them.

(Source: unknown)

Common Design Mistakes that Occur:

So you’re deciding to put together your own ecommerce site alone, without knowledge of how to incorporate the responsive design approach. Be wary of the following mistakes…

Overwhelming Mobile Layouts- Large graphics can distort the way your webpage is viewed on mobile and slow down your load time. Mobile users tend to leave sites within 5 seconds if there isn’t a proper response and resort to competing sites.

Tricky Touch-Points- Abuse of touch points. When there are too many clickable points on your screen it could leave for mis-clicks which will annoy the consumer and turn them away from your site.

Desktop First- Focusing on mobile before desktop layout will give you less re-work to handle later… as we see mobile layouts are really important and equally difficult.

More Responsive Design Pros FTW

Not only does creating an independent user experiences for each device not pay off, it’s way too expensive and resource intensive to fulfill. For new companies, a responsive web design is especially advantageous.

Some popular websites that use a responsive design layout include Shopify, Dropbox, Canva, and Slack.

Shopify layout using Responsive Design for both Desktop and Mobile

The great thing about Shopify utilizing the Responsive Design is the platforms accessibility for ecommerce businesses. Shopify incorporates built-in templates for companies to have ready at their disposal.

Canva, most known for becoming a new PowerPoint alternative for creatives, also garners the ability for users to create platforms for their businesses. Both Shopify and Canva act as responsive website builders for your ecommerce site, so they can do all the hard work for you.

Responsive web design matters to your Ecommerce shop. Don’t overlook that. Using this design approach allows customers to easily find your site through SEO and gives them a reason to stay. I know I wouldn’t stay on a webpage that's difficult to navigate and neither would you. Make your site one that everyone finds smooth and accessible.

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Hannah Cruz
Hannah Cruz

Written by Hannah Cruz

native NYCer, NYU grad student

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