I’m just wondering, my site loads in about 7 seconds, I’m running Jshop, I’m not sure if the slow speed is effecting conversion, any ideas?

I’m thinking that I might dump it out and put it on another server, see if the slow speed is a result of the shop configuration or the server space I am using.

The site is: http://www.digidave.co.uk

I’m pretty sure the config is good, but no harm in trying, right?

Luke

Thanks for the link to the study summary. I believe this puts further weight behind making site performance a priority. There are a couple points in the study that I would like to know more about:

1) On the summary they mention this data was collected in survey form. Depending on how this survey was conducted and to whom, I would say that what panelist communicate might be slighted disjointed from expectations or actions in a real world environment. When you are being asked by a moderator, in a group, or removed from the process in a web survey two seconds sounds reasonable. I expect my stuff and NOW, because I am ready to buy and this is 2010. It would be time consuming, but what would be interesting is observing real browsing/shopping to see how those figures differ.

2) What would also be interesting to see is if users relax on this alleged two second rule, if they see some aspects of the website populating. So testing if our page does not or cannot load in two seconds, would re-arranging code so some web elements appear while the heavy lifting is still going on keep more people in the process. My assumption is yes, by the way.

3) This study and data does not take into account entrances sources. If I am typing in an address because my friend told me, “You have to see this product because it will change you life”. Then I am going to wait longer with much anticipation. If I am comparison shopping for a product and arriving from search results filled with alternative sites, I am much less likely to put up with loading shenanigans.

In my mind if this site is not working, then to the back button and a competitor I go. So does this mean for sites that get a lot of direct or type in traffic loading is not important, absolutely not. But there is a difference in the types of users coming to your site and you need to be aware of their expectations on your business.

It is good to see that the internet is maturing over time, and users are demanding more. It can make our job a bit more difficult, but it also presents an opportunity for use to shine over competitors as well.

Thanks again for the article.

http://www.akamai.com/html/about/press/releases/2009/press_091409.html

The important points are that customers become impatient after just 2 seconds waiting for a page to load, while a full 40% of consumers won’t wait 3 seconds and will simply abandon the site for a competitor.

The really interesting thing is that these numbers are significantly lower than a few years ago which means that consumers are getting less patient with website load times.

Thanks for the great response. I would caution in putting so much weight in the top 100 sites. I think it is a good indicator, but with these sites being so brand heavy users are going to put up with more. Many times the top sites are optimized not for user experience, but rather for IT and available resources issues.

The Yahoo link you provided is great resource as well.

I am glad that you found value in the resources at http://www.websiteoptimization.com. You are right the report does give a nice action item list for testing.

Thanks again for the great contribution.

Yahoo offers some terrific optimization recommendations at:
http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

Also I really like the report that websiteoptimization.com offers this would be a great place to go to identify changes you’d do in an AB test.