How Web App Speed Affects Conversions & Revenue

There is a strong correlation between site speed & revenue. If your site speed is >5 seconds, you should be worried. Here’s why…

You may have heard the old saying “patience is a virtue,” meaning waiting for something without getting discouraged is a great quality to have. However, for most of us, that “virtue” goes out the window when we encounter slow page load time.

Here’s a web speed and conversion fun fact: if your web page or web app takes longer than 3 seconds to load, research shows that you could be losing nearly half your visitors.

In turn, website speed affects revenue. Tweaking your web app to load pages 1 second faster leads to a 7% increase in conversions. In other words, if your app brings in £100k or 50 new customers each day, speeding up your web application by 1 second brings in an additional £7,000 or 350 new users daily.

The reason is simple: no one wants to sit and watch a page load, so faster web applications lead to happier visitors. Optimising for customer experience leads to more conversions, and ultimately increased revenue.

Web App Speed and Conversions

Your web app only has a 5-10 second window to make a good impression on potential customers. Retaining users is crucial to improving conversions. Slow sites have a negative impact on revenue, and fast sites are shown to increase conversion rates. In general, the longer it takes for a webpage to load, the less likely it is that a person will take action on your website.

Conversion Rate

A conversion takes place when a visitor takes a desired action on a web application such as sending an email (Gmail), filling out an online form or editing a document (Microsoft Office 365), adding something to their shopping cart (Amazon) or playing a video (Netflix). Conversion rate is defined as the number of times a site visitor takes the specified action divided by the number of total site visitors. For example, if a website has 200 total visitors and 10 of those visitors complete the contact form, then the conversion rate for the contact form page is 5%.

Web App Speed

Web App load speed is the difference in time between entering a page URL in a browser or clicking on a link and when the content of a web app page is completely visible on your screen. As you know, your page content (text, images and/or video), the speed of your device, the speed of your internet connection and many other factors affect how quickly the page loads.

What Is the Impact of Page Load Speed on Conversion Rates?

We have gathered five important statistics that help us answer that very question…

1. The first 5 seconds of page-load time have the highest impact on conversion rates. (Portent, 2022)
2. Conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time (between 0-5 seconds). (Portent, 2022)
3. Nearly 70% of consumers admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer. (Unbounce, 2019)
4. The highest eCommerce conversion rates occur on pages with load times between 0-2 seconds. (Portent, 2022)
5. Website conversion rates drop by an average of 2.11% with each additional second of load time (between seconds 0-9). (Portent, 2022)

Bonus: 100ms in Extra Load Time Cost Amazon 1% Revenue

• Year published: 2006
• Metrics covered: Conversion rate
• Read here: Amazon Page Speed Study

In 2006, Amazon found that every 100ms in added page load time cost them 1% in sales. This Amazon case study is one of the most well-known and referenced in relation to page speed and performance metrics.

Despite being over 10 years old, the key takeaway remains: having a fast site is important for your bottom line.

Takeaway

Rapid page load speed is critical to the success of your web application. Your web application must load quickly and smoothly so people will stay on your site long enough to convert and make your business more prosperous.

If you have any questions about how we can help you speed up your web application or if you would like to chat with one of our experts about building a brand new web application then get in touch today, we’d love to hear from you.