July 19, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team
It’s a fact: Consumers trying to add items to their shopping cart get frustrated when the webpage takes a long time to load. According to TagMan.com, providers of ecommerce solutions are concerned about the speed in which their web pages load, and are taking action to streamline their business pages. New survey data by global tag management leader TagMan (www.tagman.com) shows that 81% of respondents are concerned or very concerned about how quickly their page will load. In response to these concerns, nearly 60% say they’ve taken some steps to improve site speed, but are concerned and think they could do more to help their page.
One of the most helpful measures a webmaster can take in speeding up their web page is to optimize or remove third-party images, links and tags. Theses tags are often mismanaged and stored inefficiently, which translates into slower loading time for the web page. An alarming 71% of respondents to the survey say that they are aware of this step, but only 35% have taken the necessary action to assist with faster load times.
According to an Aberdeen Group report, every extra second a page takes to load can result in approximately a seven percent loss of conversions. Tests at Amazon revealed similar results, showing that every 100 ms increase in load time on Amazon.com decreased sales by 1%. Consumers using broadband to add items to their shopping cart are more impatient than dial up users.
Over time, the general speed of web pages have decreased as faster Internet connection have become more affordable and more common. In 2006, a study found that 40% of online shoppers feel that the most influential factor for them to revisit a site is whether the website will load quickly. Since a negative experience with an online shopping site is likely to fester into a general distaste for the company, having a faster loading web page is more likely to develop return customer relations. Therefore, faster loading web pages are more likely to lead to long term sales and ultimately more items in consumers’ online shopping carts.
Taylor is originally from Washington, DC, but has lived in the Seattle area for the past 5 years. He’s a senior at the University of Washington, studying Political Science (with no interest in entering the political world). He’s more interested in the Tech industry, especially consumer electronics, cloud computing, and how mobile internet and devices will change the business world. He spends most of his free time tinkering with his Subaru and surfing whenever possible.
