Site speed has operated in the shadows for years. Merchants will nod heads approvingly when discussing performance, but far too rarely does Intention turn to action. In these go-go days of digital tech, site speed is the bridesmaid, losing out too often to other new shiny tech baubles.
But, when we know the score -- the benefit of site speed -- it is impossible to ignore how critical a fast site experience is to you and your shoppers.
We analyzed the shopping activity of more than 25 billion page views tracked across the YOTTAA community -- in total, comprising more than 5 billion shopper sessions -- with one aim: what is the value of 1 second? What benefit do merchants see from faster page loads? Undoubtedly, faster loading sites provide merchants with three gifts.
Gift #1: Conversion rate lift
On mobile, a 1 second improvement in average page load time across the session lifts conversion 5.7%. Remember, mobile conversion rates typically trail desktop rates for a variety of reasons, not limited to shopping intention, and context (is the shopper in a store?). With faster loads, though, mobile sites begin to perform better. The higher uptick of mobile conversion is a slight glimmer that the mobile conversion gap may actually be close-able.
Meanwhile, desktop shoppers also respond well with faster page loads across the session, as conversion rate rises 3.3% for every second faster.
While faster appears to be better, there’s more to this story, which brings us to...
Gift number 2: Lower bounce rate
Slow to load pages are trampolines, bouncing shoppers off your site. 1 second of page load improvement helps reduce bounce rate by 12% on mobile and desktop.
With reduced page load time, shoppers give brands and retailer more at-bats; more chances to merchandise, to inspire, and to keep the journey going. And that brings us to the final gift...
Gift #3: More page views
Shoppers view about a half page more per session in these marginally faster sessions - a bit more on desktop, .52 pages, a bit less on mobile, .38 pages. And, this extra page is meaningful to your shopper relationship. Given that 2/3rds of page views are either category pages or PDPs, you earn a chance to impress and connect with the shopper. Simply put, shoppers view more pages per session when sites load faster.
Putting it all together, 1 second delivers nearly 6% conversion gain, reduces bounce by 12% and is the gateway to a deeper shopper journey.
All that, because of a second.
Want more site speed insights? Check out the Site Speed Standard.