Business impact of speeding up your online store

Are you curious how much will the speeding up your online store increase your revenue? Or are you already interested in Progressive Web Application, but still hesitate, whether it’s the right solution for your business? Either way, keep on reading, because we will give some of the most critical arguments to get started. 

We all know that mobile rules but…

The number of accesses to websites from mobile devices is growing. Nevertheless, websites have a 2-3 times worse conversion rate when accessed from mobile phones.

We often argue about what the site will look like and, frankly, everyone needs to say something about it:) But only 24% of users consider the visual design of the site to be the most important thing for them.

At the same time, another number dominates the pyramid below: 75% of people consider the speed of page loading to be the most important. In addition, 85% of people expect the mobile web to be as fast as the desktop and 53% of people leave the site if the loading time is more than 3 seconds.

Let's face it:  Do you and how often do you measure the speed of your site?

Source: Speed matters

How to measure the performance of your online store

If you want to know how your online store is doing, try Google Page Speed Insights or use Canarytrace for example if you want to go more in depth and track your results on an ongoing basis. Learn more about website measurement in this article.

Ideal performance vs. reality

Google Core Web Vitals

Google is aware of all this and is rolling out user-centric metrics Core Web Vitals. Based on them, Google will prefer websites with better score in these metrics and with better user experience. This will impact your SERP (Search Engine Results Page) position and consequently your conversion rate

Historically, we have had and still have a lot of performance metrics, but so far they have not reflected much of the user experience. The basic principle of Core Web Vitals is to focus on it. Learn more about Core Web Vitals in this article. Instructions on how to prepare for them can be found in this article.

Speed matters

And it is not just about customers preferences, it’s a matter of business success. Delliotte has conducted a study Millisecond make millions that focuses on the correlation between the speed of a website and the company's revenue. You can find out more about the study in this article. Probably the most important finding was that:

The longer the loading takes, the higher the bounce rate will be and the worse your SERP rank will be. That negatively affects your position in SERP. As you can see below, speed also affects customer loyalty.

  • 14% of shoppers will shop somewhere else next time if they have to wait for a page to load

  • 18% of shoppers will abandon their shopping cart if the site loads slowly

  • 46% say that checkout speed is the deciding factor in whether or not they return to a site

  • 1 second reduces customer satisfaction by 16%

    Source: LoadStorm, Econsultancy, Akamai, Radware

PWA: your speed and revenue booster

Firstly, let me explain what PWA is. A Progressive Web Application (PWA) is a modern type of web app that offers the benefits of native mobile app using the web browser. It can be easily installed on users’ device (bypassing the app stores) and can also be used offline.

What’s in it for customers

Let’s have a look at some issues that users care about. What do customers like/dislike? 

  • They love speed and hate to wait. They don’t want any unnecessary delays on websites.
  • Don’t like to download apps. The installation steals time, money and space in their smartphones. 
  • Like to keep the app going, regardless of the internet connection (pore or none). They expect at least some of the functionalities will work even if they are offline.
  • Don’t mind mobile notifications, if they are relevant and customized. 

How does PWA solve these issues?

  • It is fast, because it works with tools that can tell what needs to be loaded and what can be cashed. So, when the user returns to your website, the tools check what is new and old, and download only the new stuff. 
  • It is easy to install and replaces the mobile app. Users can install it in one click, for free and it takes only a little space in their device. Moreover, it does not disturb the user from the action on your site and possible conversion. 
  • It works offline, at least some of the features.
  • It improves engagement thanks to Web Push Notifications. Visitors return more often and have better engagement metrics compared to common users.

What’s in it for your business

When users install your PWA, you can benefit from better engagement metrics:

  • Users spend longer time on your sites. 
  • Your bounce rate will get lower.
  • It leads to higher conversion rates.
  • You can expect more repeat visits.
 

And what more, you will reach

  • Better customer experience
  • Great Core Web Vitals results
  • Increase in brand awareness and loyalty
  • More effective marketing campaigns

Let’s talk money

Are you already in trying hard to convince your stakeholders that PWA is exactly what your company needs? Let’s talk about the crucial argument: money. It is no surprise that the higher the engagement is, the more money you usually earn.

Evaluate the ROI

Use this Google's tool to evaluate how much speeding up your online store will bring you. This will give you a basic idea of the return on investment. It can help you make your decision.

Here's how to click through to the result:

Step 1: Go to this site and enter you domain.

Step 2: On the result page, scroll down to the block “Explore more speed tools” and expand it.

Step 3: Fill in all the values and there you are:)

But there is something more

There is also another benefit of using a PWA and that is the cost reduction and optimization:

1.  PWA as an alternative to mobile app

You will save costs and time for the development and maintenance of the mobile application, in addition to which you would have to develop separately for Android and iOS.

2. More effective marketing campaigns

A lower bounce rate and higher conversion rate lead to increase of  your quality score and less expensive and better performing PPC campaigns.

3. Less data, more money

Thanks to PWA technology, it is not necessary to download all the content of the website every time you visit it. You can compare it to the post office: you always pay more for a bigger/heavier package. Your website is also kind of a digital package which consists of images, videos, texts etc., so the larger the files are, the more you pay. It also causes delay in loading which means you lose even more money (for exploring the correlation between site’s speed and revenue have a look at our previous article).

Does it really work?

The answer is: yes, it does. Check out some examples of companies, that already benefit from turning to PWA. More case studies can be found on www.pwastats.com

Source: www.pwastats.com

Still not convinced?

In that case, let’s talk about it! Contact us using this form and we will reach you back. We are open to answer any questions you may have:)