The E-Commerce industry is continuously evolving with the advancement in technology and smartphone users. Due to this prospect expectation is continuously increasing, but most of the time prospects come across one of the common problems of slow loading eCommerce websites. The internet has made it possible for users to quickly access the webpage but sometimes online store owners fail to meet prospects’ expectations by offering slow loading website speed. eCommerce website speed is one of the crucial keys to get online success.
Today most online store owners look to hire experienced website design companies for their business because they are aware of the fact that experienced hands ensure that your website performs well in every aspect. A slow-loading eCommerce website can lead to a higher bounce rate, lower engagement rate, conversion rate, and many more. Not only that but a slow-loading eCommerce website will never help you to gain a higher ranking in desktop as well as mobile searches.
If you are scrolling the internet to find the answer for how you can improve your eCommerce website speed then you have landed on the right article as we are going to highlight some of the best eCommerce website speed optimization tips that you can consider for better traffic and conversion on your website. Apart from that, we will also be offering you a detailed idea about how eCommerce website speed optimization can help your website and business in a number of ways.
If you are a WordPress user and your dashboard is facing problem-related to speed then make sure to check our blog on 6 Ways To Speed Up Your Slow WordPress Admin In 2020
An Overview Of eCommerce Website Speed
Today most retailers are shifting to online space to increase the product reach and business revenue. But most of the time new retailers commit a mistake by offering an unoptimized and slow-loading online store. These types of issues do more damage to the website and business than any good. That is the reason why most businesses today look to hire the best website design company that can help them to create the best eCommerce website for better ranking and conversion.
If you are someone getting low traffic and conversion on your website then we recommend you to pay special attention to website speed. Because your website engagement, ranking, and conversion are highly dependent on the speed of your website. A report by HubSpot states that nearly 93% of the users abandon the website because of slow loading speed. Not only that but nearly 47% of the users expect the website to load in 2-4 seconds. A delay of one or two seconds can do harm to your website and conversion. If your eCommerce website is taking time to load then the user will simply abandon your website and may never return back on it.
That is the reason why it’s said eCommerce website speed is crucial to get online success. No matter whether you are using a custom-coded eCommerce website or hiring an experienced WordPress website design company to help you build a fully functioning online store. Your goal should be to create and offer an eCommerce website that matches your prospect’s expectations and encourages them to explore more about your website and business.
Almost every retailer shifts to online space with more expectation and dedicates their time and money to create an eCommerce website that delivers its message and connects with more customers. It would be heartbreaking to see your business losing customers to your competitors’ online store just because of small issues called speed. That is the reason why we are creating this article to help many retailers out there improve their eCommerce website speed for better traffic and conversion.
In the coming paragraphs, we will be offering detailed ideas about how you can improve your eCommerce website speed. But before that let’s take a look at what benefits you will get after optimizing your eCommerce website for speed. If your eCommerce website is getting lower conversion they make sure to check our blog on eCommerce Web Design Tips To Improve Conversion Rate In 2021
Why Is It Important to Improve eCommerce Website Speed?
By now you must have recognized that the eCommerce website speed is the foundation of a better user experience. The more time your page takes to display the elements the higher the bounce rate will be. By opting for these practices you are indirectly asking your site visitors to select your competitor’s website over others. Yes, if your website is not optimized for speed then it will automatically become difficult for you to convert your visitors as you will be creating a negative experience for your prospects.
Today’s e-commerce industry has become highly competitive and no business today can afford to lose any of the customers to their competitors’ websites. Mainly if they get impressed with the services and experience your competitors are offering then it will be highly difficult for you to bring them back on your website. Every eCommerce website is trying to drive maximum traffic and conversion on its website using various techniques. That is the reason why it has become important for you to offer optimized eCommerce websites to your customers.
Nearly 53% of mobile users abandon websites that are taking more than three seconds to load. Not only that but 87% of the users abandon online stores taking more than 2-3 seconds to load. All these statistics can offer you a detailed idea about how important it is for your website and business to offer a speed-optimized eCommerce website. You might be offering a helpful product to your customers but if the site is not optimized for speed then users will not show internet in your website and product.
Because all these small factors contribute toward creating a strong sense of trust that is needed if you are looking to get more sales online. A small issue in the speed can damage your website and the efforts that you are putting in to create a strong online presence. Remember website speed can decide the positive and negative experience the site visitors are going to have on your website. There are chances that users might land on your website by waiting for a few more seconds but later on, if they start visiting other pages and get the same slow speed then they will not hesitate to look for other options.
That is the reason why it’s said to drive more organic traffic and to convert more visitors you need to ensure that users landing on your website are easily able to engage with the online store. Below we are going to highlight some of the important points that can offer you a clear idea about why you need to optimize your eCommerce website speed?
1. Better User Experience
In today’s competitive marketplace to drive more traffic and convert more site visitors, you need to ensure that you are offering a better user experience. The reason why we have listed on the top is that the more bad or negative user experience you create the higher chances will be to get poor ratings and reviews about websites which can lead to lower traffic and conversion. No matter how aesthetically attractive eCommerce website design you are able to create and offer with appealing animation.
If your website is taking long to display the elements and graphics then users will simply abandon your website and look for some other options. Almost every time users feel annoyed after visiting a sluggish website as it makes it difficult for them to move around and look at other pages and products. If your eCommerce website is slugging then users will bounce back and look for some other alternative without aunty hesitation. By improving website speed you can offer a positive user experience that leads to better traffic and conversions on your website.
A faster website makes it easy for users to visit different product pages on your eCommerce website. Not only that but they are quickly able to find the product they are looking for on your website and make the final purchase quickly. All these are indications of good or we can say the best user experience that every shopper expects from every eCommerce website. That is the reason why today most retailers look to hire an experienced website design company that can help them to create the best eCommerce website design that drives maximum traffic and conversion on websites.
2. Reduces bounce rate
Today bounce rate is one of the most hated terms by almost every eCommerce website owner. No one wants their prospects to jump to another website or we can say competitor website because bringing them back onto the website becomes difficult for marketers. There are a lot of reasons that could give rise to the highest bounce rate like poor design, typography, color scheme, product placement, and many more. But if your eCommerce website is optimized in every small aspect but your website is still facing a higher bounce rate then speed can be the reason behind it.
A slow-loading website is not liked by any shopper mainly because it becomes difficult for t5hem to quickly find the product and complete the final purchase. Not only that but users have become impatient and if your website is taking time to display elements inside it then users will simply leave your website without even looking at what you have got to offer. Every website today looks for some or other techniques that can help them to reduce website bounce rate metrics.
By improving your eCommerce website speed you are not only able to offer a better user experience but also ensure that every user landing on your online store is quickly able to search for products and make purchases. In short, by improving your website speed you ensure that you are able to reduce your website bounce rate. A low bounce rate not only improves website conversion but also helps in getting a higher ranking on the search engine result page.
3. Better Ranking In Search Engine
Every business today wishes to rank its web pages on the top in the search engine with a goal to drive more organic traffic on the website. If you are running a website for long then you must be aware of the fact that there are a number of factors Google considers when deciding the rank of a website like a website’s mobile friendliness, safe browsing, page experience, and many more. The performance of your website plays a crucial role in deciding the page experience metrics. The performance of your eCommerce website is dependent on your website speed.
The reason why Google considers speed as the important ranking factor is that google recommends the site to searchers. If your website speed is not optimized then it will not only create a bad impression about your eCommerce website but searchers will also get negative experiences from the world’s leading search engine. In recent times, Google has launched different algorithms just with the goal to offer the best user experience to searchers. By improving your eCommerce website speed you are able to increase the chances of getting a higher ranking on the search engine result page.
A fast-loading website ranks on the top in the search engine result page making it easy for the prospects to find your product on the search engine result page. Undoubtedly there are a number of factors that decide the ranking but speed is something overlooked by most of the websites on the internet. Remember a small difference in seconds can lead to a lower ranking on the search engine result page. If you are getting your website designed by an experienced website design company then you don’t have to worry about ranking as they ensure to offer a website that ranks well in search engines and helps you to generate maximum ROI.
4. Improve website conversion
Like we have mentioned earlier, eCommerce website speed decides the user experience your prospects are going to get and also determines the ranking of the website. Apart from that your website speed also decides whether the user landing on your website will convert or not. An eCommerce website can get two types of customers: first are those who are aware of what they want to buy from your store and second are those who like to explore more about the product and then make their purchase decision.
If your website is not optimized for speed then you might end up losing both types of customers as shoppers aware of the product will not be able to quickly purchase the product and other shoppers may fail to explore your slow loading online store. Remember a small 100-millisecond delay in page response time can lower your conversion rate by 7%. On the other hand, a 0.1-second improvement in mobile speed can increase the conversion by 8.4%. If your pages load quickly then you will be able to convince your customers to stay on your website and perform the final purchase.
Not to mention but a slow loading website speed turns off shoppers and due to this instead of searching for the right product they leave your website. If you’re spending hundreds and thousands of dollars in getting the product then why compromise with website designs. Instead, you can hire an experienced and award-winning website design company that can help you to create the best eCommerce website that drives more traffic and conversions on your website.
5. Enhanced mobile Usability
If your goal is not just to drive traffic and conversion but also to encourage site visitors to return back on your website for future purchases then it is important to pay special attention to mobile usability. Smartphone shoppers are continuously increasing their expectations. Optimizing your online store for mobile usability can be the best thing that you can do to create a strong online presence. But most of the time speed becomes the primary reason that troubles mobile usability.
Today shoppers have started to rely more on mobile devices. If an online store is not optimized for speed then users landing on your website through mobile devices may face issues that may result in higher bounce rates and cart abandonment rates. In most parts of the world, the mobile connection is still inconsistent and slow, if your website is not optimized for speed then the user with slow and inconsistent speed may never be able to land on your website.
Now you must be wondering how fast your eCommerce website should load? Then here is the answer: if you want to offer better mobile usability to your prospects then your website needs to load in under 5 seconds. If it is taking more than that then you might end up losing your prospects to your competitor’s websites. Google test my site can offer you a better idea about the performance of your eCommerce website. Once you are able to speed up your eCommerce website for mobile devices then you will be able to improve usability which will result in better traffic and conversion.
By now you must have a detailed idea about what benefits you get if you optimize your eCommerce website for speed. Before you move on to learn about the tips that can help you to optimize your eCommerce website speed let’s take a look at what actually impacts your website speed.
What Impacts eCommerce Website Loading Speed?
In the coming paragraphs, you will be getting a detailed idea about how you can improve your eCommerce website speed but before that, you need to understand what impacts your website speed. Well, today with the increase in the number of features, functionality, and optimizations more and more eCommerce website owners look to add more features to drive more sales conversion on their website. But sometimes the features you add to your eCommerce website become the primary reason behind slow website loading speed.
In the same way, every eCommerce website owner is getting access to a large number of options when it comes to selecting host, theme, plugin, addons, and many more. Because most of the site owners get confused and end up selecting the wrong host, plugin, theme, and more which leads to slower website speed. Apart from hosting and plugin, there are other factors that lead to slow loading website speed. Let’s take a look at some of them:
- Web hosting is one of the most important and common results behind slow eCommerce website speed. Undoubtedly to run a website you need a host but that doesn’t mean any host. Most of the time due to selecting the wrong host leads to slow loading website speed. That is the reason why it is said to pay special attention when selecting then host for your eCommerce website
- Cache-related issues are another common issue that can lead to slow eCommerce website speed. If your eCommerce website is not serving cached pages then there are high chances that it will overload your server and slow your fully functioning eCommerce website speed. Sometimes cache related issues can crash your entire eCommerce website.
- Large image size is another factor that leads to slow website speed. Adding a larger image file size can slow the web page loading which may impact your whole eCommerce website speed. That is the reason why it’s recommended to optimize your website images for better speed and ranking.
- Installing too many add ons. Most eCommerce websites focus on adding too many addons with a goal to offer a feature full eCommerce website and the best user experience to site visitors. But sometimes these types of actions lead to slow loading website design that does more harm than good. Most of the add ons are bloated with codes that lead to slow website speed. That is the reason why it is recommended to select the best add ons and look at their functioning before integrating them into your eCommerce website.
The above-mentioned points are the few common problems that lead to slow website speed. There can be a number of reasons behind slow loading websites like bloated themes, larger media files, and many more. Before you start optimizing your eCommerce website for speed it’s essential to identify what is making your eCommerce website slow. Most of the time DIY websites come across these speed-related issues as it becomes difficult for site owners to focus on every small aspect.
That is the reason why most of the retailers looking to shift to online space look to hire an experienced website design company that can help them to create an optimized website that drives more traffic and conversion on the website. They will ensure that the features they are including on your website offer your business more benefits in every way possible. Now that you have a brief idea about what impacts eCommerce website loading speed. Next, lest take a look at how you can improve your eCommerce website speed.
How To Speed Up eCommerce Website Speed?
1. Start finding the slow loading pages using different tools
When we say website speed then it should not be understood as it’s not about the entire website but more about a single page. You must be aware of the fact that every page in your eCommerce website may contain different amounts of CSS, JS files, images, and content. It means every page in your eCommerce website has a different weightage and will need a different amount of time to load. If your eCommerce website contains too many pages then it might be difficult for you to identify the right page that is causing the slow loading speed.
That is the reason why we recommend you analyze the home page, product page, and category page separately. Because these are the points where customers enter into your eCommerce website. If the entry point is not optimized for speed then it will automatically create a bad impression and there are high chances that the user might leave your website without even looking at what you have got to offer.
To check the speed and performance of the eCommerce website there is no better tool than Google PageSpeed insight. It is a free tool that can be used to test the speed of your eCommerce website pages for both the desktop as well as the mobile version. The tools measure the performance metric of your website and compare it with the chrome user experience report. Depending on the result the average load speed is determined and the result between 1-100 is displayed.
If any of your pages show low results then it will clearly indicate that you need to make changes to the page. PageSpeed insight also offers you ideas about where you need to make changes to your page. In short, it offers you a clear idea about what is making your website speed slow. Apart from that, you can also make use of the GTMetrix, another free tool that gives detailed information about your page in a well-arranged way. The more informed you are about what is making your website slow the easier it will become for you to clear the issues without disturbing the whole website.
If you are using a custom-coded eCommerce website then you can always take the help of an experienced website design company to help you get rid of the slow-loading web pages issues. Or you have another option to get your website redesigned as it will update your whole website and rejuvenate your existing users as well.
2. Selecting the right Hosting Provider
The next thing that you can look into when optimizing your eCommerce website speed is the hosting provider you are using. As mentioned earlier, most of the time the hosting you are using for your website becomes the primary reason behind slow loading website speed. Slet the best host for your eCommerce website can enhance your online presence and offer you a better ranking alo9ng with conversion and results. On the other hand, if you end up selecting the wrong hosting provider for your website then it can impact your website in a number of ways.
With the wide range of hosting providers available most of the time new beginners fall into the trap of selecting the wrong ones for their website. Many times price is the major reason as most of the new beginners prefer to select the cheap one for their website. Undoubtedly every new retailer does not start with a good budget but there are many popular hosting providers that are available for lower cost or we can say affordable prices.
The reason why the host you select should be appropriate is that sending requests and getting a response is done by the server and if the server is properly configured then the user may find it difficult to access the website properly. In the beginning, most new retailers prefer to buy shared hosting as it costs less but remember the risk involved is high. Because as the name suggests the server is shared by different websites. This means if your neighboring website is coming across any problem then there are high chances that there might be consequences on your website as well.
The shared hosting might be cost-effective but the risk involved is very high because the server will be shared with multiple websites. That means if your neighboring website comes across any problem then there might be consequences on your website as well. So we recommend avoiding taking shared hosting for your WordPress website. By doing so you are automatically eliminating the risk and optimize your WordPress website speed.
In the beginning, you can go with the shared hosting but as you start seeing a rise in the traffic then we recommend you select the VPS or dedicated hosting for your website. This way you will be able to offer better security and avoid all the speed-related issues that can hamper your website. VPS hosting comes with the right balance between speed and cost. So you can always consider VPS and managed hoisting in your website.
If you are looking to know the best hosting provider that you can select for your eCommerce website then we recommend you to check our blog on 5 Best Hosting Providers To Select For Your Online Store
3. Optimize Website Images & Other Media
Not to mention but your eCommerce website must be having various media content like [product images, videos, and many more. While adding these elements can offer you many benefits right from grabbing user attention to offering them a reason on why they should select your website and make a purchase. But if the same media files are not optimized then it can harm your website in a number of ways. Not to mention but every eCommerce website looks to add high-quality images and videos and those media files have higher image sizes.
If the file size is not reduced then it will automatically make the page bulkier that will result in slow loading pages. Almost every file size media file needs more space compared to text and media files you add can play a major role in deciding the speed of your eCommerce website. Undoubtedly without images people will never convert to your eCommerce website and adding a larger media file size can lead to slower website speed that can result in lower traffic and conversion. So the question comes down to how to optimize speed?
One of the best ways to do it is by adding compressed images and using a third-party server to add videos to your eCommerce website. Remember compressing images will not decrease the quality but will make your images small in size which you can upload to your eCommerce website without impacting its speed and performance. Most of the time new beginners get confused that reducing the size of the images means reducing the quality and adding low-quality blurry images. Compressing all the images and media files and lowering your website laid time by 1 or 2 seconds.
There are various online tools available that can help you to compress the images you add to your eCommerce website. Compress ToolUr is one of the popular tools that allows you to compress multiple images at once. You can select the size, percentage, and many more. If you are using WordPress then you can make use of image compression plugins like WP Smush and more using which you can compress multiple images in your eCommerce website at once. The plugin comes with a bulk compression option where you can easily compress your images at once.
Remember the plugin comes in the free as well as paid version so depending on your eCommerce website size and the images inside it you can decide whether you want to go with the free or paid version. For example, the free version of WP Smush allows you to compress 50 images at once but when it comes to the paid version you can compress unlimited images. So here are some of the important points you can consider before installing any image compression plugin on your website:
- Before you download any plugin make sure to check the features offered by the plugin as WordPress offers you a bunch of plugins just for image compressions.
- Check the time taken by the plugin to compress the images. Some of the plugins in your eCommerce website take a long time to compress the images.
- The next thing you can look for is whether the plugin allows you to convert the jpg file into png file
- Make sure to check the plugin reputation before making any purchase
- And most importantly make sure to check the plugin for security issues
4. Make Use Of CDN (content delivery network)
Another important and most effective way to optimize your eCommerce website for better speed is by making use of CDN (content delivery network). This type of network has various servers spread across the world. They make it easy for the user to access the web pages as quickly as possible. Once you successfully select the best CDN for your eCommerce website then all your files will be copied on these servers spread across the world.
This way you will ensure that when a user tries to access your eCommerce website from a different location then they are able to access your web page as quickly as possible. The nearest server will be responding to the user’s request allowing them to access your website design as quickly as possible. A CDN (content delivery network) ensures that your website loads faster regardless of the location it is getting accessed.
Since there are a number of servers available can easily make your product available for every user around the world (if it matches your shipping policy). CDN is best for all types of websites mainly for the online store that drives more traffic from different countries. If your website is getting quick access from anywhere then it will also contribute toward your website performance metric which will result in better ranking on the search engine result page.
5. Reduce HTTP request
Not to mention but every eCommerce website tries various techniques to make users stay on the product page and purchase the product before leaving. That is the reason why they add different elements in their eCommerce website pages for better engagement and conversion. If you are doing the same then you need to read this, the more elements you add to your product page the more requests the browser will send to the server and the higher chances will be that your website speed will start to drop as the HTTP request starts to increase.
To optimize your eCommerce website for speed you need to reduce the HTTP request which can be done in multiple ways. One of the most effective ways is by removing all the unnecessary elements that you think are not making any impression or encouraging users to convert into paying customers. You can look into the extension, images, and more elements dedicated to their effectiveness. Even if you find any button unnecessarily placed on your website then you can look to remove them.
Another effective technique is caching, every time customers visit your web page their browser loads all the files from the server. In the coming paragraphs, we will be offering your detailed idea about how caching works and how it will help you to improve your website speed. So if you are looking to improve your eCommerce website speed then it’s highly recommended to reduce the HTTP request.
If you are getting your eCommerce website designed by an experienced website design company then you don’t have to worry about the website speed as they will ensure that your website performs well in every aspect and offers you maximum ROI.
6. Enable Page Caching using plugins
Caching is one of the most effective ways to improve your eCommerce website speed as it dynamically creates the web pages when someone requests them. If you are using Woocommerce then you need to know that it is a dynamic eCommerce platform. It means all your data on your web page are stored in the database and the page is generated only when a user requests them by visiting your website.
The process of sending requests and getting responses is done each time someone requests your web page. But if your website is getting more and more visitors then your website may slow down and there are high chances that your website may crash. That is why we recommend you make use of the cache plugin for your eCommerce store. By doing this you will ensure that whenever a user requests for any web page on your website then instead of generating the page every time the cache plugin will offer the cached version of the web page.
This way you can easily free up your server response time making it more effective and efficient. There are some of the best plugins available like WP super cache, W3 Total Cache, Autoptimize, and many more. Apart from that, you can also check with your hosting provider as some of the popular hosts like SiteGround and Bluehost offer their own caching systems for better results.
There are free and paid plugins available that you can use for your eCommerce website but WP Rocket is the one we recommend you to use as it automatically prepares the cached version of your web page and keeps them up to date. If you are getting your eCommerce website designed by an experienced WordPress website design company then you don’t have to worry about the website speed as they will ensure that your website performs well in every aspect.
7. Keep the core web technology updated
The next thing that we recommend you to do is keep the core technology updated to the latest version. Whether it’s PHP. HTML or WordPress it’s always recommended to keep the core technology updated as it will not only enhance your website performance but also the speed. The updates are offered with a goal to offer a better experience to the site owners and the users. If you are using the best hosting provider then they will send you notifications about the latest version of PHP.
But still, we recommend you to keep a track of the updates as most of the site owners avoid opening their hosting backs regularly. If you are updating PHP or any other theme and plugin in your website then it’s always recommended to make use of the staging site. Implementing the updates directly into your live website can do harm to your online store. Because most of the time the other plugins and themes are not compatible with the updates which can lead to different problems in your website.
That is the reason why we recommend you to make use of the staging site to test the update and spring on the result you get you can make changes to your live website. If you have takes maintenance service from an experienced website design company then you don’t have to worry about the updates and security as they will ensure that your website performance without any flaws.
8. Make use of lazy loading
To optimize your eCommerce website speed you can also make use of lazy loading. Not to mention but your eCommerce website must be having various images and videos and other photo galleries to grab more site visitors’ attention and convert them into paying customers. But most of the time until the whole media element loads the web page will not display the whole website.
By integrating lazy loading you ensure that the user is able to view the media elements that are visible on the screen in the frame they are viewing. The other media elements are replaced with placeholder images.
This way users are quickly able to view your web page and as they start scrolling the page they are able to get access to other media elements. This particular technique will be helpful when you can long web pages with a number of products. In short, we can say it can help your category page to display its products quickly, mainly when it contains more than 100 products.
If you are using WordPress then you can make use of popular plugins like WP Rocket, BJ lazy load, and many more to help your eCommerce website load faster whenever someone tries to access the web pages. Remember lazy loading can help your eCommerce website in a number of ways. If you are not so technical and running a custom-coded e-commerce website design then we recommend you consult with an experienced website design company for your business.
Conclusion
By now you must have a detailed idea about what benefits you will get by improving your eCommerce website speed and how you can improve your eCommerce website speed for better traffic and conversion. Remember your eCommerce website speed can disease the user experience, conversion, bounce rate, and many more. Selecting the right host along with the right plugin and theme can help you to optimize your website speed and performance. That is the reason why you need to pay special attention when it comes to creating a fully functioning online store.
You can always consider the above-mentioned tips to optimize your eCommerce website speed. But if you are not so technical and handy with managing the dashboard and codes then we recommend you take the help of experts so that you don’t end up losing crucial data. You can always consult with an experienced and award-winning website design company to help optimize your eCommerce website for better traffic and conversion. If you haven’t redesigned your website for long then you can also get your website redesigned for better performance and conversion.