Why Does Shopify Page Speed Matter?
Many people say that the secret to a successful business is your approach, and we 100% agree with that. It's all about your mindset. This is what determines what you think is important for your business, so it plays a huge part in your success story.
As a Shopify store merchant looking to stand out from the millions of eCommerce stores, it is important that you identify your key ingredient to success, and in this case, it's your Shopify page speed.
Learn how to improve your Shopify page speed:
The question now is, why does my Shopify page speed matter? How much consideration should I put into my Shopify's store speed?
The answer is simple. Imagine this, you are starving on a hot afternoon, and you enter into a cafeteria, and there are about 50 people present, but only 5 booths serving.
Lane 1 has 10 people on a queue, lane 2 and 3 have 6 people each, lane 4 has 12 people, and then there is lane 5, with only 2 people standing on the queue, assuming that all the queues progress at the same rate, which are you most likely to join?
Nobody likes to wait; that's why when it comes to Shopify stores, the fastest wins.
There are only a few things worse than a slow store, especially for an online business owner or a Shopify store owner.
In this article, we will discuss why your store's Shopify page speed needs to be optimised, the benefits of doing so, and tips to improve your Shopify store speed.
Why Does Shopify Page Speed Matter
It isn't just impatience; there are real advantages to having a fast Shopify page speed. Here are a few:
- Increases sales and conversions
- Optimizes SEO
- Decreases bouncing rate
- Optimizes your work rate
- Excellent PR
Increases Sales and Conversions
Remember our cafeteria analogy? Having a fast site is crucial to making sales.
In fact, a research carried out by Cloudflare proves this. In this research, pages that loaded in 2.4 seconds had a conversion rate of 1.9%, while pages that loaded in 3.3 seconds had a conversion rate of 1.5%.
This proves that if your page takes a long time to load, visitors are less likely to respond to your call to actions, probably because they dread another long wait.
When your page loads quickly, you encourage your customers to wander for longer, even if it's out of plain curiosity. And who knows? You may make a new customer that way.
Optimizes SEO
Google uses site performance as a tool for search engine rankings. This is why faster loading sites are ranked higher on Google over slower sites.
This means that with a fast store, when a potential buyer googles your products, your site is ranked higher in the results than it would have if your site wasn't so fast.
This optimization applies to images too. If the images on your Shopify site are optimised, they help your store retain its speed.
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In addition, they are more likely to pop up in the images section when your product is searched. Think of it as killing two birds with one stone.
Obviously, with great SEO, your store will reach thousands of more people, and this, in turn, makes a great impact on your business profit.
Decreases Bounce Rate
There are two reasons for a high bounce rate. It's either your SEO and copy aren't making enough of an impact, or your site is simply too slow.
With a faster Shopify page speed, your visitors want to see more. And in fact, they can see more of what you've got in less time. This is because you've made page-flipping easy.
The effect of this on your sales is obvious, but that's not the only advantage. Having a fast-loading page increases your effectiveness, so it's easier to carry out tasks like running a poll or simply building a community with your customers.
Optimizes Your Work Rate
With a faster, well-optimized Shopify site speed, there is no need to hold back or tread on eggshells. It is a great strategy for taking hold of your audience and converting one-time buyers to regular customers.
You can go all out; ask if they'd like to join your subscriber's list. Having a fast site gives you that confidence that is needed to make big steps and even the smaller steps that are needed to change the game.
With a fast-loading site, all of your hard work pays off faster, and it takes less effort.
If you're looking to turn your store into a community or foster a relationship with your customers, you should consider optimizing your page speed for more impact.
Excellent PR
Last but not least, one of the advantages of a fast-loading Shopify store is the edge it gives you over other stores selling the same product.
If having a great theme makes you stand out more, support those features with a great speed, and you are sure to step up in the ranking.
Having a super-fast site also increases your Shopify store, which is typically a comparison between your store and other similar stores.
In other words, it makes your company look good. Over time, this starts to pay off, so if you don't see an immediate boost in your company status, a little consistency might be the answer.
How to Improve Your Shopify Page Speed
Now that we have highlighted the benefits to a fast Shopify page speed, here are a few ways to improve the loading time of your store;
1. Make Use of AMP
Automated Mobile Pages, called AMPs, are great when the majority of your consumers access your store through a mobile device. Since 79% of online consumers shop with a mobile phone, it is safe for all business types.
2. Delete Shopify Apps
You should note this doesn't mean you should go on a frenzy and delete the apps that make your page unique, but carefully consider what apps are necessary and what apps aren't.
Even when apps are deleted, some of their data remains stored on your website and can slowly accumulate. This should also be cleared.
3. Compress Images
Uncompressed images are probably the most common cause of high bounce rates. All images uploaded on your website should be in the .jpg format and adequately sized and compressed for optimization.
If you're looking to get ahead in sales or have made big plans for this business year, it is advisable to constantly monitor your site speed. A good site should load in under 3 seconds. Every extra second it takes costs you, visitors.
What now? Once you have identified speed problems with your store, the next step would be to hire a world-class speed optimization agency.
At EcomExperts, we offer site speed optimization services to Shopify and Shopify plus stores, fixing speed problems by writing clean lines of code. With us, you can be sure of a much faster Shopify store, which means better conversions, more sales, and more ROAS.
About The Author
Andrew Durot lives and breathes eCommerce. After his time at Airbnb, he founded ecomexperts.io - a world-leading speed performance agency. Andrew and his team specialize in Shopify store speed and site performance.