Page Load Times vs Conversion Rates
I recently read Andy B. King’s book Website Optimization and was surprised by some of the statistics in it. It shows that there’s a very clear connection between page load times and conversion rates. Statistics from Google and Amazon show that an increase in load time has a direct and profound impact on user engagement.
The results
For Google an increase in page load time from 0.4 second to 0.9 seconds decreased traffic and ad revenues by 20%. For Amazon every 100 ms increase in load times decreased sales with 1%.
I’m surprised that such relatively small changes in load times had such a massive impact on conversion rates.
The importance of speed
These statistics makes me even more convinced that speed is one of the most important factors for how users experience your application/web site. According to Andy speed is crucial for engaging the user.
Speed is the most important factor, after site attractiveness, to increasing flow in users. People who are more engaged while browsing your site will learn faster and show an improved attitude and behavior toward your site
- Andy King, Website Optimization, page 148
Decrease in tolerance for load times
A rule of thumb have been that if page load time exceed 8 to 10 seconds, the user’s frustration increases. Newer research has shown that about a third of all broadband users are reluctant to wait more than 4 seconds for a web page to load. For narrowband users almost half of them won’t wait more than six seconds.
Optimize for speed
It has always been important to optimize for speed, but maybe it’s even more important now than before. The audience is more demanding and the competition is harder. A great start if you want to learn more about how to optimize your site is Andys book, Website Optimization.
Illustration by Paul Moline Designs
[...] King auch anschaulich Zahlenmaterial weiter, welches Blogger Gabriel Svennerberg in seinem Beitrag Page Load Times vs. Conversion Rates teilweise [...]
[...] want to check out Cherokee, their official project website is at: http://www.cherokee-project.com Gabriel Svennerberg’s blog [...]
[...] Gabriel Svennerberg [...]
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[...] Broadband connections are not a worldwide standard yet, people not on an ADSL or faster line have to spend more time to search for and to access information online. A website that loads faster can thus help you a great deal to reach users with a slow Internet connection. “[...] if page load time exceed 8 to 10 seconds, the user’s frustration increases. Newer research has shown that about a third of all broadband users are reluctant to wait more than 4 seconds for a web page to load. For narrowband users almost half of them won’t wait more than six seconds.” (Source: In Usability We Trust) [...]
[...] Gabriel Svennerberg的数据表明，对于Google，页面的下载时间每增加0.4到0.9秒，流量和收入会降低20%；对于Amazon，每增加100毫秒的页面下载时间，销售量会降低1%。同样，在我给一个包含大量图片（包括背景图片）的登陆页“瘦身”之后，成功降低了将近10%的bounce rate。所以，上面的例子中，50秒钟已经是天文数字了，我们真没有那么多“时间”可以挥霍。 [...]