Benchmarking Google Analytics - Average Site Speed and How it Influences Conversion Rates

Faster Means Better for eCommerce

In this post. I will discuss average site speed metrics and how site speed metrics influence conversion rate according to The Wolfgang E-Commerce Benchmarks 2016 Report. 

So first up, does site speed matter? It does to Google! Google founder Larry Page is famously obsessed with speed. Way back in 1996 before Google was called Google, Larry hypothesised that the faster Backrub (as Google was initially called) results load, the more the search engine will be used. This mission for speed dictated the minimal search page design which the world is now so familiar with.

Larry’s obsession with speed has transcended Google’s digital products. When a Googler is setting up a presentation and the room is waiting Larry can be heard counting loudly

“One-one thousand,

Two-one thousand

Three-one thousand

…”

While staring blankly at the wall, until the presentation is ready to go.

So would your website speed invoke Larry’s ire?

Here are the average site speed metrics.

Average Page Load Time: 6.5 seconds.

This is significantly slower than the 2 second threshold for e-commerce websites recommended by Google. Amazon’s research into site speed found that every one second delay reduces conversion rate by a whopping 7%.

We found Average Server Response time is 0.76 seconds.

We also found a strong correlation between low server response times and high conversion rates. This means for every two tenths of second you shave off your server response time you can expect to see an an 8% lift in conversion rate. Unsurprisingly, there was also a strong correlation between high server response time and high bounce rate when we examined engagementric metrics in detail.

Site speed is not only a conversion factor it’s a Google ranking factor. So when we talk about optimising site speed we are talking about a dramatic “multiplier effect” on revenue, from the combined benefit of more traffic coupled with a better conversion rate. For this reason, optimising site speed seems to be a no-brainer for performance focused digital marketers. 

You can read the full E-commerce Benchmarks 2016 study here.  Or check out the easy to digest infographic here. 

Moz  /  Inc  /  The Economist   /  RTE  /  The Irish Times  /  Newstalk Radio