In 2015, almost a third of all website visits were made via mobile devices such as smartphones (21.9 %) or tablets (10.1 %). The annual growth rates are remarkable: compared to 2014, access via smartphones in Germany increased by 7.3 % and access via tablets by 3.4 % [1]. If this trend continues (which is to be expected), mobile devices will soon play a more important role than traditional desktop computers or laptops in terms of website access.
Of course, this trend does not stop at the practice website. Doctors are therefore advised to optimise their practice website for mobile devices, if they have not already done so. In concrete terms, this means that a website should be technically designed in such a way that the presentation of the content is automatically orientated to the screen size - always with the aim of presenting the content in such a way that it is optimally legible for the visitor. A practice website optimised for mobile devices will therefore look different on a desktop computer than on a smartphone. This is known as responsive web design (see also https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_Webdesign).
Customer sample: How many visits to the practice website were made via mobile devices?
Can the above figures, which refer to ALL accesses on the web, really be simply broken down to practice homepages? Or do patients prefer to use their laptop or desktop computer for research or doctor searches? We investigated this question and used Google Analytics to carry out a small visitor analysis on selected customer homepages.
Period: October 2015 until December 2015
Source: Google Analytics
Example 1:
Dental practice
Desktop: 53 %
Smartphone: 37 %
Tablet: 10 %
2nd example:
Dental clinic
Desktop: 55 %
Smartphone: 31 %
Tablet: 14 %
3. example:
Clinic for Aesthetic Surgery
Smartphone: 49 %
Desktop: 35 %
Tablet: 16 %
4th example:
Practice for Aesthetic Surgery
Smartphone: 57 %
Desktop: 35 %
Tablet: 8 %
Conclusion
In fact, access to Practice homepages apparently takes place more often than average via mobile devices. People interested in plastic and aesthetic procedures in particular already seem to prefer using their smartphone to find out about services and practices/clinics. Of course, these figures are not representative - however, it can be assumed that the proportions are similar for other practices. In this respect, practice owners should not wait too long to adapt their homepage.
Tip
If you are not sure whether your practice website is already optimised for mobile devices, you can test this free of charge at the following link: http://mattkersley.com/responsive/. Simply type in the Internet address of your practice website and check how it is displayed in the various sections. Ideally, your content should also be displayed legibly in the narrow sections. If content or images are cut off, this indicates that your homepage has not yet been optimised for mobile devices.
Sources
[1] Adobe Digital Index: Europe's Best Of The Best, Europe 2014: http://tinyurl.com/jtnwdna
