Why website speed matters

To really drive home why website speed matters, here are a few lightning-fast stats:

• 47% expect a website to load in two seconds (or less!)
• 40% leave a website if it takes more than three seconds
• 52% state that speedy websites are important for their loyalty
• 14% will switch to another website if pages load slowly
• 23% will abandon their shopping attempt completely

As you can see, we don’t have time to sit around twiddling our thumbs, so let’s run through a few more reasons why website speed should be a key focus.

1. Website speed affects traffic and rankings

Google is the most-used search engine in the world, so what they say pretty much goes. While people expect a website to load in 2-3 seconds, Google prefers your website to load in under 2 seconds. If you can manage that, you’re more likely to appear first in searches.

Use Google’s site-speed testing tool – TestMySite – to see how you compare and get a few useful tips on how to speed up web page loading times.

2. You’re fighting for attention

Did you know that the average person has an 8-second attention span when visiting a website?

You need to grab their attention within that first 8 seconds or they’re gone. This could apply to loading speeds, intuitive layouts, relevant content, and so much more, but if your user doesn’t find what they’re looking for almost immediately, the chances are they’ll go elsewhere.

Here’s how bounce rates – the percentage of people who leave your website after visiting only a single page for a short period of time – vary by industry and the user’s intent, so you can tell if your website is hitting the mark.

3. How website speed equals conversions

Remember how 40% of people will abandon a web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load? Well, that 40% less people considering buying your service or product.

Let’s say you have a 10% conversion rate.

If 1,000 people visit your website, you’d convert 100 people.

Slow loading speed? Well, 400 people are already gone.

That’s become 10% of 600 people, so you’re now only converting 60 people.

See how conversion rates are directly related to website speed? Well, hurry up and do something about it!

4. Ready, steady… Gatsby!

If we’ve still got your attention, you already know the value of website speed, so you might also want to see it in action.

Take a quick look through our Brew website case study and you’ll see how Gatsby, our preferred website platform, allows our website to be at its digital best in all areas.