When responsive design is not enough

For local media companies building responsive websites for SMB’s, responsiveness does still not solve all of the most important mobile design issues. BeyondPrivateLabel has come up with a custom mobile design, called a mobile effective site, it claimes solves these simple, but critical, issues in the responsive deign model.

The new product, launched in early January, is worth checking out for advancements they claim give their media partners a sales advantage.

Everyone already knows the advantage of responsive over non-responsive websites: Avoiding a terrible user experience on a cell phone. In case anyone has forgotten, the user used to have scroll around the website on the tiny mobile screen looking for the right information and buttons.

Responsive sites verticalize the web page, basically, in the following structure:

The team at BeyondPrivateLabel thought this model still had user experience issues, including whether the contact information is actionable, how it disappears as the user navigates, and how “learn more” options are buried under the “hamburger” - the three lines indicating additional navigation options.

Here is what their solution looks like:

While it does not look dramatically different, the mobile effective site has enhanced functionality and placement:

• The key information - phone numbers and directions “stay on top” so the customer can take action at any time while they are perusing other information on the site.

“The biggest problem [with responsive sites] is that when you scroll down your phone number goes away. We always keep the the phone number, directions and learn more at the top of the site,” said Kevin Wendt, Business Development Manager at BeyondPrivateLabel.

• Three key elements, click to call, map a location or learn more are always activated. A simple responsive design does not necessarily mean that the customer can click to call or map the location from their phone.

• A legible navigation bar has replaced the standard three line icon, exposing more options.

“Traditionally on a responsive site you click the three lines, the hamburger we call it. Here you can see all ‘learn more’ options in a real nav bar that stays at the top,” he said.

Wendt said the improvements are becoming a key selling tool for media reps, who can now show a unique mobile design with each website that increases mobile conversions - and a clear competitive advantage over other local web developers.

Since the technology has only been in use for 30 days as of this writing, it is too soon to track statistics, but Wendt estimates a 10x improvement in User Experience, and that results should be showing up over the summer.

“Hundreds of sites now have this technology, soon to be thousands,” Wendt said.