Even though it is 2016, some internet users are still stuck in their old Internet Explorer (IE) browsers. That being said, companies are questioning whether they should bother optimizing for old internet explorer browsers. Before making this decision, we urge you to consider whether this could be a messy process or if it could be detrimental to the consistency in your marketing efforts.
If you’re on the fence about optimizing your web page for the remaining outdated IE users, look at these four reasons before you decide.
If Microsoft isn’t supporting its own older versions of Internet Explorer, than neither should you. Without Microsoft’s support, the browsers will no longer have security updates which will pose threats for any of their users. Ultimately this should cause a natural shift for users of old IE versions to use the newest IE versions. Attempting to optimize your web page for this slowly fading market will be a waste of time and money for your efforts.
2. Users of older versions of Internet Explorer make up a small market
Although Internet Explorer is among the top three web browsers used, it holds the smallest market of users at 6.2% currently. Even further, the percentage of users of IE who use versions older than IE9 is 0.3%. The number keeps dropping for users of old IE browsers, which proves it wouldn’t be a smart choice to cater to this small and diminishing group of users.
3. It is an unnecessary cost with a simple solution
Paying to optimize your webpage to support the small percentage of old IE users isn’t worth the money you put into it. Alternatively, you can save the money you would spend and simply send out a friendly notification to your viewers to update their browser. You can use Javascript, which can detect if your user is on an outdated internet browser.It will prompt a notification for the user to notify them that their browser is out of date and they can click the button provided to update their browser. Additionally if you’re just trying to see if your browser is even compatible with old IE versions (earlierst is IE 6), prices range from free all the way up to $499 per month.
4. Users of outdated IE web browsers aren’t concerned with changing
There’s only going to be a select amount of people who are adamant about not changing their web browsers for a variety of reasons, especially the time it takes to configure their existing browsers. Those users aren’t online looking for the beautifully illustrated web page that you have created- they’re looking for content. If you focus on producing enriched webpage content and introduce the option for a browser update, you will save yourself from investing too much into an uninterested market.
After addressing these reasons why optimizing for older version of Internet Explorer is not in your best interest, ultimately it would be wiser to convince your market to convert to a newer browser and avoid the complication of webpage optimization. Overall, you should consider what would be most beneficial to your target market and if moving forward with catering to the old IE version user is the best move for your business.
If you need any additional help with web page optimization, feel free to schedule a consultation.