Pharma marketers often wonder: is responsive design really that important for healthcare? In short, the answer is: Yes!
The days of desktop dominance are gone and studies show that 80% of internet users are using smartphones to search for medical content online. Patients and physicians are nowadays more likely to search for info on their phones than ever before. This is largely because they already spend a large part of their day staring at a computer. That’s why top healthcare marketing brands have gone the extra mile to make their websites responsive and turn them into a fully functional mobile experience.
Responsive design has quite a few benefits that will contribute to the success of your pharma brand. In this blog post, I’ll highlight a few of them.
Google prefers responsive design
Just like patients and physicians, Google also loves responsive design. Responsive pharma websites are easier to index and organize. They are also easier to crawl since they have the same URL and HTML across all devices. This means less work for Google. And that’s why Google is more likely to reward websites with a responsive design and put them at the top of its ranking. Which also means that HCPs and patients will find your website easier if it’s equipped with responsive design.
You will increase conversions
Responsive websites are easier to use, which is why people tend to stay on responsive sites longer. And if they look at your site longer, that means that they’ll have more time to familiarize themselves with your brand. And the more info they gather, the more likely they are to follow through and click on a CTA or leave their contact info. Also, responsive design will make the information you share with patients and HCPs easier to access. What’s more, it will increase your chances of getting your website visitors to take action.
Better user experience
Responsive websites provide better user experience for both physicians and patients. Studies have shown that people who visit a non-responsive website are 60% more likely to leave than the ones who visit a website optimized for mobile. But that’s not all. People who visit responsive websites are more likely to come back to them again. That’s how responsive design improves both page views and visitor’s retention.
You will cut costs
If you fail to optimize for mobile, you will end up having to make a separate mobile version of your website. And this will cost you in more ways than one. First, the creation of a mobile website will cost quite a lot, since programmers and web designers don’t come cheap.
But it will also result in having to run, update, and maintain two marketing campaigns at once. And that will undoubtedly double your marketing expenses. Also, you will need to run separate SEO campaigns for every URL which will make that top Google ranking hard to come by.
You will reach more people
Having responsive design will extend the reach of your website and turn it into one of the top medical websites out there. And it will make your online asset reachable, even to people who don’t have desktop computers. By making it accessible to a larger group of people, responsive design will extend your reach and help you encompass a bigger part of your target audience.
So if you haven’t made your pharma website mobile friendly make sure to do it right away. And get ready to enjoy the benefits it brings. In the meantime, make sure to sign up for my blog and stay up to date with the latest pharma marketing practices.