Why Having a Responsive Website Matters

According to the 2013 Member Profile produced by NAR’s Research Department, 86% of REALTORS® use a smartphone with internet capabilities on a daily basis. (Lautz and Doyle, 2013, p.16) Tablet use is also skyrocketing as a part of this trend. A recent Pew Research survey indicated that the number of Americans who own a tablet has risen from 3% in 2010 to 42% as of January 2014. (E-Reading Rises as Device Ownership Jumps, 2014, p.2) Having a web presence today means that you need to consider your mobile presence. Does this mean you need to have an app? Absolutely not. What is proposed here is that when you consider your website, think about a technique called Responsive Web Design.

REALTORS® need to consider who their audiences are and what it means to present content that is not optimized for mobile. From NAR’s 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report, 89% of all buyers used a website as an information source. Mobile or tablet website or application use came in at 45%. Breaking it down demographically, 58% of 18-24 year old homebuyers were using a mobile site or app for information,as did 57% of 25-44 year olds. (Lautz et al., 2013, p.47) These two age groups are relying more frequently on their mobile devices for information and REALTORS® should work to meet them at this intersection. Responsive Web Design will help with this.

As we move into the future, it is more likely that the first impression members give to a prospective clients will come from their website. If clients are driving around a neighborhood and notice a property with a member’s name and website on it, they will most likely look up that member on their phone or tablet first. This first exposure to the agent’s website will help define the experience they expect to have with the agent. If your web presence is one that’s hard to navigate and doesn’t consider what matters to them first, they will feel like they weren’t considered.

The information above was taken from the NAR article titled “Responsive Wed Design in Real Estate”. You can download it here.