As a business seeking to thrive in a digital world, your website is one of the most important tools you have for connecting with your market, lead generation and encouraging new customers to contact you directly. Everything about your website design, even down to the little details, matters when it comes to customer satisfaction and user experience (UX.) The significance of proper user experience is especially
While a lot of time and effort often goes into visual aesthetics and user experience, you don’t want to forget one of the most critical elements of all – page load speed.
3 Reasons Quick Page Load Speed is a Must
Simply put, page load speed is the amount of time a user spends waiting for all the content on one of your web pages to load. Research tells us that nearly half of consumers expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less which demonstrates a rather extreme lack of patience. While this might not be the first time you’ve heard this statistic, you might be wondering what the impact of page load speed is on your digital performance. Let’s take a minute and talk about exactly why speed matters.
Customers Expect It
In today’s age of advanced technology and instant gratification, customers have no patience for slow loading sites. In fact, each nanosecond they wait after that magical 2-second mark makes them significantly more likely to back out and try your competitor’s site instead.
Even supergiant corporations like Walmart can succumb to the loss of users from poor load speed. They noticed that when load speed jumped from 1 to 4 seconds that their conversions declined sharply, and that even a mere one-second improvement resulted in a 2% increase in conversions.
Your Reputation Depends on It
Your site is often the first impression that a customer has about your business, and they’re going to judge what happens during those first few encounters severely. If you’ve invested in web development that isn’t optimized to appease load speed expectations, it going to send a negative message about your ability as a business.
A fast loading website sends the message that you’re a strong, reliable brand that isn’t just trying to fumble their way through the dark. In other words, page speed supplies the confidence that customers need to invest in your brand.
It’s Important for SEO
Fast loading pages help to supply a positive UX, and that’s something that Google regards highly. When your pages are slow to load you can suffer the effects of high bounce and exit rates, which both reflect poorly for SEO purposes. For businesses that are looking to get their foot in the digital world, every element of SEO matters, including web development with a focus on speed and UX.
A Web Design Company Can Help
When was the last time you assessed the health of your page speed? An experienced web designer can help you build a site that meets your customer’s demands for speed and usability. We are web design experts and are ready to help you further your digital success. Contact us today to learn more.
