3 strategies to improve your eCommerce site speed

Nowadays, for a business to succeed, it is necessary to be immersed in today's digital world and optimize the website to accomplish several factors that can influence your customers' perspective.  

 

One of them is the speed of your eCommerce. It can make or break your online success. Every second counts from retaining visitors to securing conversions to keeping your customers engaged and satisfied. Slow-loading pages frustrate users and adversely affect your search engine rankings, leading to potential revenue loss. 

 

In this article, we will leave aside the Mexican fulfillment solutions to explore three essential strategies for enhancing the speed of your eCommerce site, helping you deliver a seamless and lightning-fast browsing experience for your customers.

Why is website speed important?

We've already mentioned some reasons why it is important to check your website's speed load constantly. However, it's not only for security or user satisfaction. Here we are going to share with you some other reasons for its importance:

 

• Search Engine Rankings: Search engines like Google consider website speed as a ranking factor. Faster websites tend to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), while slower sites may be penalized with lower rankings. Improving your website's speed can positively impact your search visibility, driving more organic traffic to your site and boosting your online presence.

• Conversion Rates: The speed of your website directly influences conversion rates. Research has shown that even a one-second delay in page load time can decrease conversions and revenue. By optimizing your site's speed, you can lead to higher conversion rates and ultimately increased sales and revenue for your business.

• Mobile Experience: With the increasing use of mobile devices for online browsing and shopping, website speed is even more critical. Mobile users expect fast-loading pages. Optimizing your website speed ensures a seamless experience for mobile users, helping you capture a larger share of the growing mobile market.

How to test your eCommerce’s speed?

Now that you've learned why an adequate loading speed is important, we offer you three ways you can verify it.

 

• Online Speed Testing Tools: Several free and paid online tools are available that provide comprehensive insights into your website's speed performance. 

• Browser Developer Tools: Most modern web browsers have built-in developer tools with performance analysis features. 

• Google PageSpeed Insights: It provides speed analysis and offers suggestions for optimizing your website for better performance. It evaluates your site's desktop and mobile versions and assigns a score based on various factors.

How to improve your eCommerce loading speed?

You must do more than check it frequently to keep your loading speed in an optimal range. That's why we will share with you some of the strategies we recommend to our clients.  

1.- Weight of the images and media

Images are crucial for eCommerce websites as they showcase products and visually engage visitors. However, large image files can slow down page loading times. Don't worry; there are ways to minimize their weight without compromising their quality.

 

• Use image compression: There are tools and plugins available that automatically compress images during the upload process, such as TinyPNG, JPEG Optimizer, or plugins like WP Smush for WordPress sites.

• Resize images: Ensure that images are sized appropriately for their display dimensions on the website. Avoid uploading images that are larger than necessary, as oversized images take longer to load. 

• Consider webP format: WebP is a modern image format developed by Google that provides superior compression compared to JPEG and PNG formats. 

2.- Use Browser Caching

Browser caching is a technique that allows web browsers to store static resources from a website locally on a user's device. By effectively leveraging browser caching techniques, eCommerce websites can significantly reduce server load, minimize bandwidth usage, and improve loading speeds for both new and returning visitors.

 

We recommend periodically reviewing and updating cache policies based on changes to your website's content and resources. Monitor caching effectiveness using web performance monitoring tools and adjust cache expiration times and directives as needed to maintain optimal performance.

3.- Avoid redirects and fix broken links

By avoiding redirects and fixing broken links, eCommerce websites can streamline the browsing experience, reduce friction, and improve loading speed and user satisfaction. These practices contribute to a more efficient and reliable online shopping experience, ultimately driving higher engagement and conversion rates.

 

On one hand, redirects occur when a web page or resource is requested but instead of serving the requested content directly, the server sends a response with a different URL to redirect the browser to another location. While redirects are sometimes necessary for site organization or when updating URLs, excessive redirects can significantly impact loading speed.

 

On the other hand, broken links, also known as dead links or 404 errors, occur when a URL points to a page or resource that no longer exists or cannot be accessed. Both of these situations not only impact your loading speed; but also the image and reputation of your business. 

 

Now that you have learned the importance of your eCommerce's loading speed, keep it checked and optimized. If you find this article useful, don't forget to share it on social media and stay tuned on our blog for more content.