I normally do not post about something as tactical as this, but it has a huge impact on brand perception. Recently, as I have been approached by companies trying to sell me their services, I have found several of them do not have websites that work on my Safari browser. Logins don’t work. Navigation does not work. Text is overlapped. I try my Firefox browser. The same result. DuckDuckGo. The same result. I approach them about this. They tell me their website works best (no, only works) on a Google Chrome browser. But I work from a MacBook Air and an iPhone. I do not want to load yet another browser on both devices. And, just in case you are wondering, I have the latest versions of the browsers that I do use, so it is not that.
How can I perceive a company to be professional and worthy of doing business with if its website does not work using common browsers. It gets worse. There are companies whose websites are not set up to work well on mobile devices. Most online platforms and web development tools make it easy to create mobile-friendly versions of websites. It is not rocket science.
Don’t even try to solicit business if your website doesn’t work using common browsers or mobile devices. You will waste the potential customer’s time and you will create a very negative brand perception. How can companies think this is acceptable in today’s world?
If you outsource development and maintenance of your website (which most companies do), make sure the website is compatible with all major browsers and mobile devices.
