Mobile-first is just a buzzword. Try journey-first instead.

You’ve heard it in strategy meetings, pitches, briefs: “We take a mobile-first approach.” After all, everyone’s on their phones now, right? It sounds smart, forward-thinking, even a little edgy. But going mobile-first isn’t always the smartest move…

The problem with one-size-fits-all thinking

Mobile-first design came from a good place. The logic was to strip your content and layout down to the bare essentials so it works on a small screen. If it works there, it’ll work anywhere.

But the problem is - not everyone’s using their phone to explore your site. In fact, for a lot of B2B businesses in particular, the data tells a different story:

• Desktop users often account for 50% or more of all traffic.

• Mobile users tend to be attracted to a few types of content: blog posts, contact pages and career opportunities for instance.

• The people making serious business decisions? They're probably on a laptop or at a desk, not swiping through your website on their commute.

So designing everything mobile-first assumes a lot. And that assumption can quietly sabotage the experience for the a major proportion of your users.

Introducing the ‘journey-first’ approach

What if, instead of starting with the device, we started with the journey?

With a journey-first approach, it’s about context. Designing for the moment, not just the medium. We stop obsessing over screen sizes and instead, we start designing for situations and circumstances. 

One a page by page basis, ask yourself:

• Where is the user coming from?

• What are they trying to do here?

• What device are they most likely using?

• What’s the one thing they need next?

• What would success look like for them - and for you?

By understanding where someone is in their decision-making process, we can tailor the experience to match.

After reviewing the page make sure to test it on both desktop and mobile - not just for looks but also for function and usability. Then review and iterate - invite users to put your page through its paces after launch or check out your analytics and make further refinements based on actual journeys.

Busting the myth

Mobile-first might sound progressive - but journey-first is what makes your website truly perform. 

Optimising for mobile doesn’t automatically mean you’ve optimised for your users. That takes deeper thinking. It takes knowing your audience, your product and the real-life journeys people take to find and trust you. 

To dive deeper into your own customer journeys, get in touch.