Website Performance: Speed

A one-second delay in load time reduces page views by 10% and customer satisfaction by 15%. Over 50% of online shoppers have claimed that if a site is too slow they will not make a purchase.

Page load times are now part of Google's search results ranking algorithm as they will rate faster pages higher because of customer satisfaction. With a heightened focus on the user experience both from designers and consumers, every lost second lowers the user's expectations for gratification which reduces conversions by 8%.

While eCommerce sites face the most issues related to speed and web performance relative to customer satisfaction and conversions, it can really affect any site as more and more consumers expect so much.

Tips for Making Site Faster

Understand Metrics

It is more than just load time. You also need to be aware of time-to-interact which lets you know how long a consumer has to wait before they can take action. This is important when deciding the order in which tasks are performed to ensure customers can act quickly versus waiting for a key element to load.

Keep Sites Simple

More is not always better when a simple, effective design will do. Keep the number of page elements as low as possible while being careful about the size of those elements. Reduce the number of HTTP requests as well.

Enable Compression

By using compression you can speed up the delivery of content by well over 50%.

Reduce Third-party Content

While third party content can be useful and is sometimes necessary, too much leaves you dependent on their performance in addition to yours.

Be Mobile

You need a site that is optimized for mobile if you want to have the speed mobile users expect.

Reduce Marketing Tags

Using one unified tag rather than multiple marketing tags makes things simpler and faster.

Avoid Large Images

Overly large images that have not been optimized are like anchors that weigh you down and slow you down. Make sure the image fits the purpose it is intended for and is sized properly and compressed.

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