The speed of a website is an essential part of measuring its success. Unfortunately, too few business owners are aware of the importance of this factor. In this article, we will see some of the reasons why having a fast website is of utmost importance for any business.
Introduction
Internet users are looking for immediacy. They run on speed to navigate through this vast world that is the Web. Unfortunately, a large part of the websites on the current Web suffer from poor performance leaving Internet users dissatisfied. From a "business" point of view, the weak performance of a website can have a very negative impact on the customer experience and thereby slow down a company's sales, while having a detrimental influence on its brand image.
Let's see together why having a fast and efficient website is a necessity for any business in our modern world.
Having more customers, who come back more often
One of the inescapable facts of the Web is this: Internet users are impatient. Indeed, did you know that:
- 50% of users will abandon a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
- 47% of people expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less.
These figures may seem strong, but they are true! Several companies in all industries lose up to 50% of their web visitors every day due to slowness.
Conversely, when a website is optimized in terms of speed, we regularly observe not only an increase in visits, but also recurring visits. In other words, when a website is fast:
- The number of visitors increases,
- They stay longer,
- And they come back more often.
At the same time, the consumption of information via mobile devices is increasing dramatically:
- By 2020, 70% of the world's population is expected to use smartphones.
- According to Google, 53% of mobile websites are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load.
- In this same study, Google determined that the average loading time for mobile sites is 19 seconds on a 3G connection.
Due to the technical details that characterize them, mobile devices generally require even better performing websites. It then becomes imperative for a company to offer its customers a fast experience whether on their desktop or mobile devices.
In fact, if the loading time (on computer or mobile) of the website does not meet customer expectations, the company will be penalized by sometimes losing up to half of the visits even before users have had access to all the information they were seeking.
Increase your income
Who says increase in visits, says potential increase in income.
Indeed, many studies prove that a fast website engages the visitor more to browse the content. For a company, these results allow it to achieve its marketing objectives.
For any business that deploys a web marketing strategy, having a high-performance and fast website is an effective way to stand out, to build customer loyalty, but above all, to increase its conversion rate linked to its website .
Demonstrate professionalism
They say that it's the first impression that counts, but what happens when that first impression comes in the form of a blank page or a message saying "Please wait"? Regardless of its visual appearance, a slow website can leave a bad image of the company it represents.
It is important to provide a quality customer experience both offline and online.
Being more competitive
Since a large portion of websites are slow, having a fast website can provide a significant competitive advantage.
As we know, Internet users when they are looking for information, adopt an impulsive behavior dictated by the speed of access to the information are looking for. Thus, if they compare a list of competitors for a given service, the companies whose website is among the fastest will have a clear advantage.
How about you, how does your website perform compared to your competitors?
How do I know if my website is performing well?
In the realm of the web, there are several easy-to-understand tools to measure the speed of a website. Some like the free performance analysis tool from Morébec work according to a score system. They analyze the speed of a Web page by observing its computer code and by noting the various problems which can have an impact on its speed, then according to this analysis, will rank the website with a score out of 100 called a performance index. Obviously, the closer we get to a performance index of 100, the faster the website is.
To ensure that a website is fast, the steps to follow are simple:
- Analyze your website with a performance analysis tool,
- Seek help from an optimization expert to improve site speed
- Regularly monitor the performance of your site with a monitoring service.
Conclusion
To conclude, the lack of speed of websites is a plague to which no one is immune. Increasing the loading speed of the pages of its website allows a company to enjoy the following advantages:
- Increase in number of visits
- Increase in income
- Demonstration of greater professionalism
- A gain in competitive advantage