This is because a second is a long time online; studies have shown that a delay of a single second in loading a web page can damage your brand and your sales.
For every second it takes to load your website you lose 11% of page views, 16% in customer satisfaction and 7% less in sales conversions.
All these statistics add up to a negative impact on your bottom line.
- 40% of your customers will leave your site if the page takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
- 11% fewer page views after just a 1 second delay in page load time.
- 16% decrease in customer satisfaction after just a 1-second delay in page load time.
- 20% impact on conversion rate after a 1-second delay in mobile load times.
How To Test Your WordPress Website Speed
There are many ways that you can speed up the pages on your WordPress website, but to do that you must first ascertain what is causing the decreased performance. The WP Engine Page Performance tool allows you to test your page speed and provides actionable data and expert recommendations on how to address any issues within your site that may be causing a costly delay.
The Page Performance tool is now available as part of the User Portal for all WPMaintain customers or those hosting their websites directly with WP Engine – to subject a web page to a battery of tests is as easy as typing in a URL. From the tool, you will receive a number of key metrics, such as the speed the page renders, or cacheability. The report also includes a visitor experience film strip that gives a visual representation of what a customer sees when they visit your site, and how long it takes for the page to appear. Seeing your website through your customers’ eyes will provide valuable insights that will help to improve the customer experience.
In turn, that improved experience will lead to high visitor retention and increased conversions – and all of this is available simply by entering a URL into your their website speed tool.
What Does a Website Speed Report Tell You?
In addition to customer insights, all the statistics are benchmarked against industry standards so you can see where you stand in relation to your competitors. The test is simple to perform and you can even schedule regular tests on priority URLs and have the results delivered straight to your inbox with a frequency that matches your web development process. The reports are informative but, more importantly, they provide Performance Intelligence, which allows you to not only isolate any issues but also rectify them.
The value of WP Engine’s Page Performance tool isn’t just in the simplicity of performing the test, but also in the provision of targeted solutions to any problems that these tests may uncover. Rather than working on a trial and error basis until you address the problem, Page Performance will isolate the issues and suggest areas where you can improve your site speed. The value of the tool is that it offers both real-time data and actionable insights. Together, these two elements are a powerful way to improve your site performance. The tool is a fast and efficient way to deliver benefits to your brand image, SEO rankings and, ultimately, to the bottom line – because, after all, time is money.
