How Load Time Affects Your Website And Bottom Line

We’ve been noticing that many internet users are becoming more and more impatient when it comes to finding what they want online in a timely manner.  Remember the sound that your 14.4k modem made back in the day and how long it used to take you just to connect to the web?  Think about how far we’ve come since then.  The new reality now is that the average person has a device in their pocket that has more power than a state of the art computer from 1997.  I remember having to wait about 5 seconds for a picture to appear online; but at the time it was perfectly acceptable.  Think about what you would do if your smartphone took 5 seconds to load a picture now….  Not a fun thought.  You wouldn’t go to McDonalds and order a BigMac just to wait 20 minutes to get it, would you?  Absolutely not.  And neither would 90% of the population…

So, why is it so important to understand the average consumer browsing the web today?  Well, if you’re a business owner, the lack of that knowledge can hurt your bottom line.  Every second counts.  Long loading time is a major reason why some people abandon websites.  The longer it takes a website to load, the more likely the consumer will leave and go to a different website.  Even if you have the best product, the best service and the best price…. does it really matter?  No.  Not if the the end user decides your information takes way too long to show up on their screen.  Think about it.  Your online presence may be your 1st impression to that customer, and we all know how important that 1st impression is.

Lets put our “Store Owner Shoes” on for a moment.  You own a large “Green Widget” company.  On average, your “Green Widget” eCommerce site generates $10,000 in revenue per day.  If you learned that you could add an extra $20,000 to your top line every month without any dramatic changes, would you want to know more?  Lets talk about how this is happening to many businesses all over.  I’ll share the data with you and break down the math.

About half of consumers expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less.  Your “Green Widget” site takes 4 seconds to load.  How many customers do you think you lost before they even gave you a chance?  Decreasing the load time of your site by even 1 second will generate an extra $20,000 per month in sales.  Every second shaved off your load time results in a 7% increase in conversions.  There it is – nice and easy.  No boring SEO book to read, no advertising seminars to attend, no expensive consultants to hire….none of that.

So how can you decrease the load time of a Magento eCommerce Storefront?  The answer is simple.  Use our Magento speed test form and we’ll tell you how to improve it.

Here a few questions to review with your developer or host:

1.  How many other domains will I be sharing a server with?
2.  Is the SSL Certificate included?
3.  Is your host / data center PCI compliant?
4.  Is your hosting provider offering SSD (solid state drive) technology throughout the entire platform? (no spinning disks)
5.  So you are running an open source eCommerce platform. Is your host on top of its security vulnerabilities?
6.  What are your current time to 1st byte expectations for my site?
7.  Does your current host specialize in Magento specific solutions & is migration free?
8.  How long will it take you to get an accurate & competitive quote while researching?
(Without picking up the phone and potentially running into sales pressure.)
9.  Does your host offer 24/7 support?
10. Will they answer your phone call in under 10 seconds or do you have to go through a long automated process?
11.  What do those online reviews look like?

Lastly, remember the RULE OF 7.   –  A 1 second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in eCommerce conversions.

Tom P February 6, 2014