Website speed is arguably the most important factor of user experience and as such represents one thing webmasters should never compromise on. This is especially important for eCommerce sites, whose overall performance heavily depends on how quickly visitors can navigate through its pages.
In relation to eCommerce sites in particular, last year’s Radware report reveals that 51% of US-based online shoppers say site slowness is the top reason for abandoning a purchase. Furthermore, only a 2-second delay in page load time during a transaction may increase abandonment rates up to 87%.
Clearly, online users expect to see page contents loaded in 2 seconds or less and this is a requirement great websites simply must fulfill. Otherwise, a business will see decreased engagements and goal completions, which can be devastating. Even websites that do not directly sell products or services can benefit from improving their page load time, most notably in terms of SEO.
Dedicated to user experience as it is, Google takes page load time into account when determining your search positions, which is another reason to optimize it. Now, there are different ways to improve your website’s speed, especially if you use WordPress. As one of the world’s favorite CMSs, WordPress provides different features that can help you optimize your website for maximum performance in several relatively simple steps. (more…)