User Friction & Site Performance Blog | Blue Triangle

Stop Losing Impatient Customers to Competing Websites

Written by Adam Wood | Feb 16, 2022 4:47:26 PM

Are You Funding Your Competitors?

Modern consumers demand extremely fast-loading websites. Recent internet statistics indicate that 47% of users expect business websites to completely load within two seconds. If it takes three seconds or longer,  40% will abandon that website and will likely go to a competitor.

Enterprises need to recognize the impact web page optimization has on its ability to convert visitors and generate more revenue. Each web page serves a unique business purpose, from providing users with relevant and informative content, to empowering the audience to take a desired action. Ultimately, the end goal for most web pages is to increase digital sales and improve an organization's revenue.

But having engaging content, compelling videos, or a visually stunning landing page isn't enough to substantially drive your business revenue. If your web pages aren't optimized, then they won't help you reach your desired business outcomes.

Why? Because slow, inefficient web pages can significantly hinder organizations from achieving their optimal potential. For example, Blue Triangle discovered for one Apparel Retailer that a Product Detail Page with a one-second delay page load time was costing $132,592 in missed revenue per week.

Simply put, web page optimization matters because optimized pages provide a greater digital experience for your customers and better business outcomes for you.

Below, we explore how web optimization positively impacts your business revenue.

1. Maximize Conversions

The average conversion rate for landing pages across various industries is 2.35%. But with web page optimization, it's possible for businesses to achieve an 11.45% conversion rate or higher.

By improving web performance and speed, there is a direct correlation to increased conversions. In one of our customer simulations, we found a 0.5-second improvement in site speed resulted in a 27% increase in conversions and a 3% uptick in average order value.

Web page optimization allows enterprises to attract and retain site traffic based on geography, device type, browser, and more. A/B testing further helps organizations gauge the performance of their web pages, determine areas for improvement, and opportunities to drive traffic. In many cases, changing the layout, navigation, flow of messaging, or page elements causing slow site speed can have a meaningful impact on conversion.

Optimization also entails consistent website performance monitoring. By closely observing the overall health of your website, you can pinpoint pages that are sensitive to site slowness and cost your organization missed revenue opportunities. This not only improves conversion and customer experience but helps you prioritize site optimization initiatives that reap the greatest ROI.

2. Delightful Customer Experiences

Customer experience (CX) is one of the biggest trends for 2022 and should be the cornerstone of any digital sales and marketing strategy. By optimizing web pages, you are able to provide your customers with a consistent, memorable digital experience across device types, such as desktop and mobile. 

From an SEO perspective, highly optimized web pages help drive organic traffic. Google ranks web pages and sites in search engine results based on site performance and speed. By optimizing your web pages, you increase their visibility in Google's search results. As more organic traffic lands on your site and high-quality visitors navigate the customer journey, there is a greater opportunity for conversion, and thus more revenue.

Apart from improved visibility in search engine results, optimizing web pages helps organizations give customers rapid access to relevant content and allow them to enjoy faster page load times. 

This is crucial as 86% of customers are willing to pay more if it means a better experience for them. In addition, businesses that deliver great CX have seen an 80% increase in revenue.

3. Prevent Customer Churn

Nearly 60% of customers abandon a brand they love after two or three bad interactions. On top of that, 88% say they’re likely not to return to a website after a poor experience. So, what’s the cost of a bad customer experience? Brands around the globe report losing $4.7 trillion annually.

Web page optimization provides enterprises a way to remedy why customers may exit certain web pages or abandon carts before completing a purchase. Blue Triangle has observed that shoppers grow extremely sensitive to site performance and speed, particularly with websites with steeper performance curves. Don’t let slow-loading web pages be a reason for visitors to leave your site and shop at a competitor!

Regular website performance monitoring also helps pinpoint the sources of customer churn or frustration, such as unresponsive pages and counterintuitive navigation. Spotting these issues quickly allows enterprises to address them immediately and recover lost revenue.

4. Improve Brand Reputation 

Web page optimization not only enhances the visibility of your website but also improves your brand reputation and customer loyalty. It's crucial for businesses to always remember that their website is an extension of their brand. By optimizing your web pages, you give your customers positive online experiences on a consistent basis.

The numbers validate this. According to a study, 90% of customers will likely trust businesses they rated as providing a “very good” customer engagement. Additionally, 94% say they will more likely repeat their business with such companies.

 

The Bottom Line

Today’s customers are impatient. They expect speed from brands and will immediately leave a website that fails to load within an acceptable time frame. It is this expectation that underpins the undeniable correlation between site performance and revenue. Enterprises are putting revenue at risk if they fail to optimize web pages and deliver frictionless customer experiences.

Thus, it's imperative for enterprises to consistently perform web page optimization which ensures their site performance and speed meets customer expectations. This will help drive conversions and reach target revenue and KPI objectives.

Also, by correlating site performance with revenue, your organization can prioritize revenue-driven initiatives that maximize your budget and ROI.

Learn more about Blue Triangle Business Analytics to optimize the customer journey and boost web page conversions.