If you’ve been in business over the last 10 years, chances are you’ve heard that a website is an important part of your marketing strategy. 76{b96076133fe2223c8d05470fe9428b3312879515b4c32f98bade61cbd4879fe1} of adults utilize online shopping. It’s only natural that any business owner looking to succeed in the digital or material world will make sure their business is online. What you may not have heard of is the importance of website speed.
The reality is that customers are more impatient with website load times than ever. The speed of your website may be the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity. Here’s why:
No one cares about features when they get in the way
Chatbots, Instagram feeds, and ‘try-on’ features. They’re all great features to have on a website… but not if it drags your website down. There isn’t a customer in the world who is going to be thankful for a chatbot that pops up over every product page they’re trying to look at.
Far too often companies get obsessed with all the things they can add to their website. They feel if they offer more features, they’re customers will spend more. But if you’re not using a solution like WP Farm, you’ll quickly find that your hosting provider can’t maintain your usage. The more you ask your website to do, the more you need superior hosting and clean code. If you’re unable to provide both to your customers, consider removing features.
No one will wait for your website to load
How often have you decided to wait a full 10 seconds for a website to load? Chances are, you don’t wait that long. More often than not, you decided to go back to your Google search and click a new result. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your customers will feel any different. Instead, see what you can do to roll back website load speed. Ask your development team questions like:
- Are there any Javascript loads we can defer?
- What exactly is slowing the website down? Is it our code or our server?
- Are we sizing images properly?
Through this, you’ll be able to pinpoint what exactly is slowing your website down. More often than not, it’s a hosting provider with a server that cannot support the data usage of your website. If you do not have a development team, consider using a tool like GTMetrix and hiring an accredited developer to help you address the issues listed in the report.
In Conclusion: Fast websites boost conversions
It’s no secret that a fast website is what your customers and web visitors alike want and need. But did you know that your website’s speed can dramatically impact the purchase decision of your customer?
If your potential customers are waiting for a page to load… well, they won’t. They will leave your website and go to your competitor to complete their purchase. The average user stays waits 3 seconds for a website to load before they try again on a different web page. If your website is taking an ungodly amount of time to load- your conversion rate and overall sales are going to suffer.