Ecommerce Website Speed: 5 Ways It Can Increase Revenue

Site speed plays an important role in ecommerce revenue. A fast loading site is key to reducing bounce rate, improving user experience, and enabling your customers to easily convert. This article outlines five ways in which ecommerce website speed can help increase revenue.

Improve SEO

Most people don’t associate ecommerce website speed with SEO. However, Google factors in site speed to determine where a website should rank on search engine results pages.

The importance of page load speed is outlined in Google’s Core Web Vitals. Google also launched the Speed Update in 2018, which particularly relates to mobile search, and speed as a ranking factor.

Page load speed is set to become even more important in the near future, as Google recently announced its Google Page Experience Update, which is expected to come into play next year. This algorithm update focuses on user experience, factoring in how quickly pages load, first input delay, mobile usability and more.

Website speed can also impact the return on investment generated through search engine marketing. Ecommerce website speed is likely to impact the quality score you receive, which in turn can impact cost per click.

To summarize, improved website speed can help you rank higher on search engine results pages, meaning more traffic and increased revenue.

Reduce Bounce Rate

Once a user has found your ecommerce website, the first goal is to keep them on it long enough to find the products they need and make a purchase.

Ideally, you put plenty of time and effort into updating your website, writing content, ensuring products are displaying correctly and optimizing your site for usability. All of this work is essential to providing a good user experience to your customers, but if customers bounce, they won’t get to see your site.

Even a great website can experience skyrocketing bounce rates if customers have to wait too long for web pages to load. Customers can bounce due to slow site speed at any page on your site, whether they land on the homepage, another landing page, or the product page itself. Good ecommerce website speed is therefore essential to minimizing bounce rate and giving your users the opportunity to find your products and convert.

Improved ecommerce website speed can prevent bounce rate on desktop and mobile. According to research by Google, the likelihood of a mobile user bouncing increases by 90% when page load time increases from 1 second, to 5 seconds. The increase in bounce rate with page load time can be so great, that even fractions of a second can make a difference to how many users stay on your site and convert.

Enable Customers to Check Out Quickly

Even if your users find your ecommerce website and don’t immediately bounce, they may persevere long enough to find the products they need but bounce before checking out due to slow page load speed.

A slow-loading check out process can generate doubt in your users’ minds. A slow-loading checkout page is likely to be particularly frustrating to your customers, who have already found the items they need but are unable to complete their purchase as quickly as they hoped. Customers in a hurry might even open a new tab and check out your competitors’ site in the seconds they have to wait.

Making the checkout process as quick and easy as possible will ensure you are ahead of competitors.

Increase Average Spend

Improving your ecommerce website speed can help you drive revenue by increasing average spend.

Secure repeat sales with a fast loading site and “Buy Again” functionality.
Make is easy for customers to find what they need with a fast site that uses AI-driven personalization in merchandising and search.
Use coupons and promotions to increase average spend.

Make Your Site Mobile Friendly

An ecommerce site with excellent speed is far more user-friendly for mobile shoppers than a slow-running competitor site. According to Econsultancy, 74% of mobile users will abandon a site that takes longer than 5 seconds to load. A fast mobile site can keep your users attention long enough for them to find what they are looking for and complete their transaction. As such, a fast mobile site can drive revenue.

Boost Holiday Sales

Customers are in a hurry around the holidays, and a fast-loading site can boost your holiday sales. As the holiday season is the most profitable season of the year for many ecommerce retailers, reducing bounce rate and keeping customers on your site at this time can significantly impact revenue. If your site is quick to respond and customers can easily make holiday purchases, they’re less likely to bounce and more likely to come back and spend more.

If you’re expecting an influx of traffic around the holiday season, it’s also important that your site can handle the additional visitors. Ensure you have reliable hosting services to keep your site running so you can meet customer demand. Don’t underestimate the importance of mobile site speed over the holiday season. According to Statista, in 2019, 34.5% of holiday ecommerce revenue in the US came from users on smartphones.

Improve Customer Satisfaction

One way to improve the likelihood that users will return to your ecommerce website, recommend it to their friends, and continue to convert, is to ensure customer satisfaction.

Almost a decade ago in 2011, RightNow found that 89% of consumers would turn to a competitor after a negative customer experience. Expectations have only grown since then, and users are unlikely to return if they know they can shop more easily elsewhere.

Customer satisfaction is essential to conversion, to keep online shoppers returning and to uphold your brand image.

Build Your Website on a Fast Platform

One way to achieve improved ecommerce website speed is to build your website on a platform designed to ensure fast loading pages. If you’re using an outdated platform, the difference in speed can be huge, but even if your site is fairly new, the right platform can make a significant difference to site speed.

If you’re looking for a fast platform, ROC is worth your consideration. The ROC platform is built on .NET Core and React, and is designed for exceptional site speed. ROC is the fastest ecommerce solution currently available.

In the past year, ROC sites have handled over a billion transactions. ROC sites can be trusted to stay live through heavy traffic, no matter how many visitors you expect during your busiest season.