Your website is a big investment, and choosing the right web design firm can mean the difference between a website that becomes just another costly expense, or one that’s profitable, pays for itself and generates ongoing revenue.

Effective web design is not just about what your site looks like.  It also has to do with who you are designing for and how you are presenting your design. Millions of todays consumers are shopping and web surfing from their mobile devices and if you’re not designing for the mobile device users, you are losing a lot of potential costumers.  Take a look at some interesting facts about today’s mobile users.

• Sixty-five percent of mobile users said they used their mobile device to find a business to make an in-store purchase (Source: Google, 2011)
• 67% of consumers will use their smartphones to find store locations, 59% to compare prices, 51% to obtain product information, 46% to check product availability, 45% to read reviews, 45% to shop online, 41% to find and use coupons, 40% to scan bar codes, and 35% to access social media (Source: Deloitte’s 2011 Annual Holiday Survey)
• More than 60 percent of mobile buyers will make mobile purchases while at home (Source: Ipsos and PayPal Survey, 2011)
• 41% of smartphone owners have made a purchase from their mobile phone.
• 74 million consumers in the United States already shop from their mobile devices (Source: InMobi study, 2011)
• 75% of heavy mobile users said mobile search makes their lives easier, 63% said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information, and 32% said they use mobile search more than search engines on their computers(Source: Performics 2011 Mobile Search Insights Study, conducted by ROI Research)
• 78-84% of consumers now rely on their social networks when researching new products (Source: IBM Report, 2011)
• Consumers are 51% more likely to purchase from retailers that have mobile-specific websites (via Mobile Shopper session at NRF 2011)
• 73% of shoppers with smartphones prefer to reference their mobile device while in-store rather than ask a sales associate for help (Source: Accenture, reported by Internet Retailer, 2010)
• Nine in ten young adults aged 18 to 29 own a cell phone, and 20% of these make purchases from their mobile phones(Mobile Access 2010 Report, Pew Internet & American Life Project)
• 62 percent of consumers use their smartphones to search for a store location or directions, 40 percent search for price and product information, 38 percent check the status of an order, and, while in store, 32 percent browse product reviews (2010 IDC Survey)