Anna Bager, the VP and GM of the Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), says responsive design will be more important than ever in 2014, particularly for brands and advertisers looking to generate more sales and brand loyalty through the mobile channel.
What’s driving the trend of responsive design and why is it so important?
“We are seeing the ‘born digital’ generation really come into focus,” Bager said in a recent interview. “That is, businesses and brands now have to be mindful of their consumers who grew up with rapidly evolving technology and expect their experiences to be seamless and intuitive across screens, devices and platforms.”
Publishers and advertisers will be well served to have an omni-channel strategy from inception that accounts for flexible and customized execution across screens. I think the results will be an ability to better tailor and monetize the mobile consumer experience as well as some consolidation of niche players that only cater to one environment.
When asked about whether responsive or adaptive design could be detrimental to search engine results rankings, Bager tells MarketingLand that she isn’t concerned in the least.
“On the contrary,” she says, “I think responsive design will improve search engine results — especially on mobile. Google has already stated their intention to serve optimized content and sites higher in their smartphone and tablet search rankings. Additionally having a well-thought-out, responsive site will make it easier for engines to discover your site’s content and deem it as a relevant result.”
