There are certain things that never change, whether referring to life or web design. Page load speed is one of these timeless things that all web designers should be concerned about.
Nobody - especially Google - likes a slow loading site, which is a factor that is even more important as websites become larger and more functional. The goal of keeping sites performing well and positively impacting sales has become a challenge for every web design company.
Page Load Time and Conversions Correlation
Beyond the simple fact that users hate waiting for a slow loading website, there is a definite connection between slow web design and reduced conversions.
There have been quite a few studies done on this topic, each of which has led to the same conclusion. Users now expect any website including mobile ones to load within 2 to 3 seconds, after which the chance of losing that audience increases exponentially.
For every additional second a page takes to load, web designers risk losing more potential conversions as users click off and seek another more responsive site to find the information they seek.
Up to 40% of users will abandon a page that does not load within 2 to 3 seconds. Nearly 80% of users say they would not return to a site with slow loading pages, close to half of those users would tell others not to use a site for this reason.
Again, a slow web design means both lost conversions and sales. It means fewer signups, reduces site traffic, affects SEO, and leads to lower pagerank, all of which are sales killers.
Page Load Time - More Important than Ever
As each web design company has focused increasingly on producing better and more effective mobile websites, page load time is becoming increasingly important as well.
Web pages with greater functionality are getting bigger, while speed is becoming even more significant due to increased mobile use.
Web designers must carefully manage page sizes and load times so that websites have the best chance of generating traffic, SEO, and conversions without suffering the effects of slow loading.
Vital Need To Detect and Manage Page Load Time
To produce the most effective mobile websites that convert well, a web design company must continuously monitor page load times using any of the currently available analytics tools.
They can then pinpoint those pages that are not performing well. The focus must then shift to troubleshooting slower pages to speed them up.
Common issues that slow down mobile websites can be corrected using GZIP file compression, images properly resized and optimized for smallest size with the highest quality, efficient management of CSS and JavaScript, and avoiding redirects. The use of page caches and efficient CDNs can also speed up page loading speed.
In the End
No matter how much web design changes over the years, certain factors like page load time will always be critical.
Fast load times correlate with more conversions, while slow load times correlate with fewer.
To be sure your site performs its best, always work with web designers who understand this important detail and can efficiently craft functional sites. Choose a web design company with a good track record of fast-loading sites and good conversion rates!