Every website aims to achieve a great user experience. Several factors contribute to this and speed is one of the most important, if not the top one. Great user experience leads to better conversions and reduced bounce rates. Speed is also a major SEO factor which means you can’t achieve higher rankings if your website loads slow.
Statistics show that even a fraction of a second makes a hell of a difference. It affects user experience, rankings, and even sales and conversions. Following are the reasons why website speed matters much more today than it did previously and why web developers should do everything to make sure their website is as fast as possible.
First Impression
Your website speed is your chance to put a pleasant first impression. If it has loaded in under 3 seconds, the next thing that comes to customer’s mind is that the website is safe, authentic and professional. As, psychologically, he is happy and his first interaction with the website is good, there is a higher chance of him ending up with doing business with you.
On the other hand, slow websites kill user experience. If a customer has to wait long, it is just natural for them to assume that the website is unsafe and untrustworthy. Because you have failed to create an instant good first impression, such customers will be reluctant to buy products or services from you. They will abandon your website, never to come back.
Users Have Plenty of Options
Google displays millions of relevant search results against a specific keyword. Users won’t hesitate to leave your website and click on one of your competitor’s if it loads slower than what they expect. According to a statistic, 40% people leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. The Google recommended page load time is under 2 seconds. Users on the internet want things immediately and if your website fails to deliver it, they have countless other places to go to.
Speed is Critical for Conversions & Revenues
If speed diverts your potential customers to your competitors, it is eating up a good portion of your revenue. Consider the above stat “40% people leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load” and calculate your losses per month and per year. Greg Linden found out in one of his studies on Amazon that a delay of one second would cost Amazon $745 million a year. Similarly, a research led by Akamai found out that a delay of 2 seconds can increase bounce rate by more than 100%.
Striking findings have come out of all the studies conducted by eCommerce giants and experts in relation to website speed. All of them confirm that speed does affect user experience, customer engagement, conversions, rankings, and direct revenues.
Speed Affects SEO
Everyone expects and loves faster results. Search engines know this and rise up to this need. Website speed is a major SEO factor in Google’s search algorithm. Google first declared it an SEO signal back in 2010 and its importance has only increased since then, especially after Google’s algorithm speed update. Slow websites hardly get higher rankings. Although speed is a direct ranking factor, it also affects your rankings indirectly through low CTR and high bounce rate.
The whole purpose of Google’s search algorithm is to serve user’s queries and display them the most relevant results. One of the factors Google measures relevance is through customer engagement and dwell time. If customers leave a website after visiting the entrance page (bounce rate), it signals Google that the website is not very relevant, thus negatively affects its rankings.
Speed is Critical for E-Commerce Success
The topmost important factor that merchants consider while choosing an eCommerce platform is speed. They know its importance for their online success and are willing to do everything that makes their store fast. Every second matters when it comes to speed optimization. As an example, Magento is a widely used eCommerce platform and speed optimization for Magento 2 is what every Magento 2 merchant is looking for. They don’t want to be left behind their competitors and throw away a lot of their fortunes merely due to their website speed.
Negatively Affects Word of Mouth
No one is going to refer your website to others if they had a bad experience with it. Other sites also don’t want their visitors to expose to slow-loading content so they will think twice before linking to you. This affects your business reputation and long term success.
Conclusion
The above reasons are enough to highlight the importance of website speed in 2020. These should make you believe that speed should be your primary concern, for the simple reason that it affects everything from user experience to conversions and from rankings to reputation.