Business must move fast to stay alive and flourish, but apparently some companies and website developers think that “Speed Kills.”
On the “Information Superhighway” speed is akin to prompt customer service, and if your website is slow, your potential customers are waiting…waiting…WAITI…oh, look at that, they got sick of it and just left.
The result? Your business lost a customer and lost money.
So how does one determine what is considered “fast” for a website? One obvious measure is simply how fast does the website load.
That is, once a visitor clicks a search result link or types in your site address, how many seconds (or milliseconds) does it take for them to see your beautiful website on the screen.
So, how fast is “fast?”
Several studies have been done on a typical internet user’s expectations for load time, as well as at what point do they get tired of waiting and click away. Conclusion? Patience is not much of a virtue when browsing.
In one survey, 50% of online travel shoppers expected a site to load in 2 seconds or less.
57% of these shoppers will abandon a site if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds.
This survey was done on a couple thousand travel shoppers. Regardless of their browsing purpose, I’m sure these web users didn’t suddenly develop more patience when going to any other website in any other industry. Take a look at your own browsing habits. When a site takes 5, 6, 7 seconds or more what’s your reaction? If you’re one of the rare patient people in the world, you may wait.
Indications are that most people do not. After all, there are millions of other options out there.
Even if some of your potential customers are waiting, your website loading speed is of the essence to maximize the number of conversions and customers you could be acquiring.
Just as in a “brick and mortar” shop, online ease-of-access is vital. Have you ever made a trip to a traditional store only to go elsewhere because you simply couldn’t get there due to horrible traffic, terrible parking or worse, the store was unexpectedly closed?
The same applies to a business website. This “need for speed” trend is only increasing with the rise of mobile Internet use. Slower mobile connection speeds create a greater need for speed-optimized websites.
Conclusion
If your online presence is too difficult to reach, your customers will find another business.
Don’t let them!
- Invest in web hosting that is fast.
- Don’t bloat your sites with unnecessary graphics, heavy images or outdated animations.
- Make it an attractive site, sure, but first emphasize making it fast and giving users clear options when the site loads, particularly for the rising number of mobile users.
I’ve seen dozens of “beautiful showcase” websites that take 10 seconds or MORE to load. Only my curiosity kept me around to even see the “beautiful” website. Website visitors won’t be that masochistic.
So don’t waste money on inefficient bells and whistles. Invest in the basics of your website user experience. Contact us if you have any questions. We can help make sure your site isn’t clogging the fast lane!
