Are your website visitors happy with your site’s performance? As happy as they could be? Maybe not, considering that people tend to complain only when a situation is so out of control that they have no other choice. With online visitors, they’ll often “show” their dissatisfaction by leaving your site (and never returning again). Check out these site performance statistics to see what’s driving your visitors away, and how your web hosting is playing a big role.
It’s a fact that a slow website will make online shoppers worry about whether or not their transaction will be a success. In general, shoppers perceive waiting online to be several factors longer than what they waited, so just imagine how slow a “slow site” actually seems to be for your customers. Plus, having a progress bar that still takes several seconds to load compounds the feeling. Pro tip: ditch progress bars!
Slow and Steady Loses the E-commerce Race
Well over half of American online shoppers say that slow sites are the number one reason they abandon shopping carts. In fact, just a two-second delay shoots up abandonment to well over 80%. The average abandonment rate is 71%, which is still very high, but slowness alone kicks it up an extra 10% or more. That’s a hit to your revenue that no-one can afford.
In total, abandoned shopping carts cost ecommerce stores over hundreds of billions per year. Of course, slowness isn’t the only factor (and it’s not always in your control). Still, when it makes up such a huge piece of the puzzle and is often easy to address, it’s akin to throwing away profits. Take that 10% plus due to slowness, and that alone is several tens of billions per year on all US e-commerce websites.
“Slow” is a Four-Letter Word
47% of people on smartphones expect sites to load in under two seconds. In addition, smartphone users want instant gratification even quicker than desktop users – this is even though mobile devices are, in general, slower to load.
Hopefully article has made you realize that website speed is a huge factor. Fortunately, it’s also a factor that’s in your control most of the time, beginning with your web host.
