The loading speed of an ecommerce directly influences its conversion rate, bounce rate or the visibility of your online store in search engines. Many studies have shown that if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load, the customer will abandon it and look for what they need on another website. This is because customers want to quickly access the information and products they are looking for, without having to wait a long time, otherwise they will leave the store.

Next, we tell you how loading speed can affect your online conversion rate.

User experience:

Users have increasing expectations in terms of speed and efficiency when browsing different online stores. If a site takes too long to load, visitors are likely to become impatient and leave the page before loading is complete. This can lead to a frustrating and negative experience, making users less likely to complete the purchase.

Shopping cart abandonment:

If the checkout process is slow and complicated, users are more likely to abandon their shopping cart before completing the transaction. This is known as "cart abandonment" and can be caused, in part, by poor loading speed. At the time of purchase it is vital that your page loads effectively, so that the customer does not hesitate and continues until the end.

SEO and search engine visibility:

Search engines, such as Google, take into account the loading speed of a website when determining its ranking in search results. If your site loads slowly, it is less likely to appear at the top of the results, which will decrease the visibility of your business. In turn, lower visibility can reduce site traffic and therefore negatively affect the conversion rate.

Mobile devices:

Mobile first, more and more people are accessing the Internet through mobile devices, which is why it is crucial that your online store loads quickly on these devices. Upload speed can be even more critical on mobile devices due to bandwidth and processing power limitations.

Once we know how loading speed can affect our online business, it is important that we know some ways to optimize loading speed. Here we leave you some recommendations:

1. Compress and optimize images.

Images are usually one of the main causes of slow loading of a web page. You can reduce its size and optimize its format using image compression tools without compromising too much on quality. Also, be sure to specify proper dimensions and sizes for images within the HTML code.

2. Optimize caching.

Using caching allows elements to be saved in the user's browser memory after the first load, which speeds up subsequent visits because instead of having to load from scratch, it will use the elements you have loaded.

3. Monitor server performance.

Make sure your server is configured correctly and is capable of handling the expected traffic load. Consider using a reliable hosting provider that offers good performance and adequate resources for your ecommerce.

4. Perform speed tests.

Analyze the performance of your website to find out what points are failing and what improvements can be made. There are tools that will help you improve speed, such as Google PageSpeed.

Optimizing the loading speed is a continuous process, so you must carry out tests regularly to improve the different points and make the user experience the best possible.

Tools like Shopify or Shopify Plus offer some advantages in terms of loading speed, such as: a scalable infrastructure that adjusts to the needs of your online store; both can optimize images automatically… In addition, Shopify Plus offers the “Edge Caching” function, this technology generates the pages to be displayed in advance and caches them on Shopify's servers, causing the page to be displayed very quickly to users.

At Webmefy we help you optimize the speed of your website, giving your users a better experience in your ecommerce and increasing your conversion rate. Talk later?