"The web is responsive on its own - by default"

This quote comes from web developer and thought leader Andy Hume. In his eyes, we have bloated our websites and web applications with an unnecessary amount of JavaScript in recent years and are now faced with the insurmountable challenge of optimizing them for the multitude of output devices. This is actually a primarily technical topic, which in practice causes a lot of confusion and unanswered questions among marketing decision-makers.

Put simply, we currently have three types of device: Desktop, tablet and smartphone. If you limit yourself to optimizing the display on these devices, you will already incur high initial and maintenance costs. Especially as the device types and therefore also the display sizes merge seamlessly into one another. There are already smartphones with oversized displays (see phablets) and tablets with a real keyboard (see Surface).

Adaptation to the respective device

In addition to the different display sizes, there are also significant differences in the operating concept. The type of operation, whether with a mouse, finger or pen, has a major influence on the design of links, forms and the page layout.
Last but not least, the content should also be adapted to the respective device. This applies not only to the optimization of images, but also to the structure and length of text content. Finally, the different forms of use of the devices also result in different reading behavior. For example, it makes sense to generally shorten texts for smartphones or to only show part of them when they are initially called up using content folding.

A look into the future

If we take a look into the near future, we can already expect a whole range of other device classes that will further increase the variety of display sizes and operating concepts: online-capable TVs, vehicles, watches, etc. As a result, we can expect an uncontrollable flood of new devices over the next few years, for which it will be impossible to optimize each individual device individually.

So of course Andy Hume is not wrong in his assertion that the web is already designed to be "responsive" as standard, but puts some users or customers in second place. The customer expects the optimal display and adaptation of the best operating concept at every touchpoint with their device. In view of the thesis that every company should tailor its super touchpoint to the customer, this is precisely where the necessary energy for optimization must flow.
It is therefore not enough to provide the necessary technical platform; the framework conditions must be understood and practiced as early as the content creation stage in marketing and sales. A process must be established that creates and develops content for the respective touchpoint with regard to all the criteria mentioned.

The most important questions that marketing decision-makers should ask themselves are:

• Do I satisfy 100% of my customers 80% of the time or would it be better to consistently satisfy only 80%, but 100% of the time?
• Do I really have to master every detail and every pixel? Where is my pain threshold?
• In which phase of my customer journey should I optimize my touchpoint as much as possible?

doubleSlash can help you answer these questions by taking a holistic look at your customer journey and analyzing and evaluating your individual touchpoints in detail. These services are part of the marketing assessment that helps you to prepare your marketing for the challenges of the coming years.