Mobile Users 32% More Likely to Leave Sites with Slow Page Load Time

They say speed kills. However, if you don’t have a fast page load speed on mobile, the internet will kill you (or at least your rankings). A slow page load time is the last thing you want when you’re looking to grow your website’s traffic.

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that waiting for a page to load is annoying. This is either because of society’s collectively shortening attention spans or because we now interpret slow load speed as an indication that the page won’t load at all. 

The ultimate result? Users will leave a site if it takes too long to load.

The Findings

A few seconds may not seem like much, but time is of the essence when it comes to loading web pages.

According to the Google/SOASTA Research conducted in 2017, mobile users are 32% more likely to leave your site if the page load time increases from one second to three seconds. 

A mere two-second delay can result in a third of your hard-earned traffic leaving your site right away. This can prove to be highly detrimental to your business.

Your site is the destination for email click-throughs and social media posts. Your page load speed on mobile devices is critical to your return on investment in cross-channel marketing campaigns.

What Exactly is Slow Page Load Time?

Page load time, in its most basic form, is the average amount of time it takes for a page to appear on your screen. It is calculated from start to finish (when you click on a page link or type in a Web address) (when the page is fully loaded in the browser). Generally speaking, page load time is often measured in seconds.

Your website should ideally load and be ready to use in 1-2 seconds. Anything more than that is a slow page load time.

While we’re at it, page load times are not the only factor that helps keep visitors on your site. Your website’s graphic design also plays a huge role. Studies find that a whopping 94% of visitors will leave sites with poor graphic design.

What is Driving the Demand for Quicker Page Load Times?

Mobile users are propelling the demand for faster page load times. As of today, mobile devices account for slightly more than half of all online traffic, and this trend is accelerating with the increased use of tablets and mobiles, particularly among millennials and Gen Z.

Because such a large proportion of internet users are on mobile devices, and since they prefer fast-loading sites, you must ensure quick page load times on your site. If you fail to do that, a lot of users will leave your site, making your bounce rates much higher.

A high bounce rate is likely with a slow page load speed. Google uses this information as an indicator that the content is irrelevant and has a short dwell time, further portraying the content as uninteresting.

In the context of online shopping, online shoppers in today’s world don’t have to put up with slow websites because they have innumerable options. If one of your pages doesn’t load quickly, your customers will move on to faster online stores, and instead of converting those clicks into sales, you’ll have delivered a bad customer experience.

How to Get Rid of Slow Page Load Time?

Now that you’ve realized the significance of your site’s load time for mobile devices, you must optimize it for faster performance. Set aside a few minutes to implement the ten quick tips listed below to reduce the load time of your website:

Cache Optimization

Mobile caches, unlike desktop browsers, cannot store a large amount of content. That is why it is critical to optimize your mobile browser caches in order to reduce page loading time. Steer clear of any unnecessary server requests by ensuring that your mobile browser caches resources in local memory.

Embedding Resources Directly into HTML

This is yet another nifty trick, that’s quite handy in reducing load time. However, be aware that it may increase the page size, undermining your optimization efforts. As a result, you should invest in a program that allows you to embed site resources in HTML while simultaneously also allowing you to embed resources only when necessary.

Minimize JavaScript Parsing

You’d be surprised by the time taken for JavaScript parsing. When carried out on mobile browsers, expect a few seconds to be added to your page’s loading time! Shelve the parsing of unnecessary script tags and do wonders for decreasing your page load times!

Remove All the Redirects 

Redirects typically take longer to process. As a result, removing redirects pays off. Allow your users to access the mobile site directly, but don’t forget to include a link to the desktop site for those who prefer to visit that instead!

Across The Board Optimization

Remove unnecessary characters from the source code, but don’t tamper with its functionality. Minify all JavaScript and CSS to reduce bandwidth usage and improve caching.

Opt For HTML5 and CSS3

Because HTML5 and CSS3 are lightweight, mobile sites employing them load faster. Furthermore, these two make it extremely simple for developers to create an awesome, fully-functional, and navigable site without having to work until the wee hours of the morning.

Resize Images

Resize images on your mobile site to make them load faster. Use lightweight images because not only do they consume less bandwidth but they are also processed far more quickly. Always remember: a mobile site without optimized images is an incomplete mobile site!

Switch to Touch Events

Out with the old and in with the new! When a user clicks on a mobile site button, there is usually a significant delay. This delay ranged from 1-7 seconds. To reduce the delay, replace the click event with the touch event.

A Special Ingredient- AJAX

One way to speed up your site’s load time is to make sure it gets data from the server without having to refresh it every time. This is where AJAX comes in handy. AJAX ensures that the necessary content is processed while the visitor is still browsing the page.

Work Magic Using a CDN

The Content Delivery Network (CDN) delivers pages and content to users based on their geographic location. Take advantage of a  CDN like Amazon CloudFront to reduce page load time today!

Maintaining a quick page load time is critical for increasing conversion rates and sales revenue. While a few extra seconds may not seem like much, statistics show that as each second passes, the possibility of losing prospective customers grows. After all, mobile users are 32% more likely to leave your site if it takes too long to load!

Looking Ahead

If you’re concerned that your website’s slow page load time is impeding your company’s growth, there are a few solutions to reduce the time it takes to load your website. Online tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights allow you to time and test the page speed of your website. 

As you can see, a slow page load time has a negative impact on conversion rates and, as a result, your entire business. Making your load time as efficient as possible doesn’t have to take a long time or a lot of effort, but it does require some thought. So, start thinking about how you can improve the speed of your web pages — you’ll notice an improvement in UX, conversions, time-on-page, and revenue.