Responsive Mobile Design is Not Enough for Real Estate Sales (and Zillow and Google Already Know)

Giants track how consumers use mobile and focus on engagement in apps

At the 2015 Barton Ventures Mobile Web Summit, the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Zillow, Rich Barton, noted that, recurringly across companies he invests in, "mobile web gets the majority of mobile users (as high as 70 percent), but a small fraction of engagement (as low as 5 percent)."

At Inman Connect San Francisco, another event that took place earlier this year, Google revealed research showing that consumers now spend more time on their phones than on desktops. It's normal to pull out phones while standing in grocery lines, at sporting events, and in front of a house for sale. Ultimately, this means we are logging on multiple times a day, and these "mobile moments," as Google calls them, add up to big usage numbers.

Two takeaways from Zillow and Google

First, consumers are using mobile devices more and more because it gets them the information they want right away, from a device they always have with them.

Second, while attention must be paid to the flood of searchers using the web from their devices, engagement happens more in well designed apps than in responsive websites. This is because mobile apps are fast and to the point. They are quickly opened via an icon on your phone after you download them. Instant gratification becomes a factor as apps immediately get you to the information you want.