Website Speed and Why It Matters

Similarly to how slow service at a restaurant often results in poor Google reviews and fewer future visits, the same is true for the web. Slow site speed can (and often does) result in poor search engine rankings, higher bounce rates, lower overall site traffic, and worst of all – a negative user experience.

As the internet continues to evolve, users are becoming increasingly more impatient – and most of them aren’t willing to wait for more than 2 seconds for the website to load.

If your website isn’t fast, you’re likely missing out on additional leads (and sales) for your dealership.

Why is site speed important?

You may be wondering whether or not shaving a few seconds off of your website’s page load time really has such a major impact on customer satisfaction and revenue. That’s a fair question – but market data tells us that this is really the case.

Many studies have shown that site speed has a direct impact on conversion rate. Here are some of the most relevant findings:

1. For every additional second of load time (between seconds 0-5), website conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% (Portent)
2. The probability of a bounce increases 32% as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds (Think with Google)
3. The average mobile page takes 15.3 seconds to load (Think with Google), while 47% of customer expect it to load in 2 seconds or less
4. Almost 70% of consumers admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer (Unbounce)
5. The highest online conversion rates occur on pages with load times between 0-2 seconds (Portent)

Aside from impacting your website’s current conversion rate, poor performance also greatly impacts future conversions by hampering your organic search engine rankings.

In the summer of 2018, Google started looking at mobile site speed as a ranking factor. Today, 3 of the top 4 SEO UX signals are page speed dependent. These include time on site, pages per session, and bounce rate.

Similar criteria are also used in Google paid search factors, meaning that your Adwords efforts will suffer because of slow speed. A poor performing website will need to spend much more to place higher, resulting in a lower ROI.

The solution

At Driverseat, we understand the importance of website performance, which is why our dealership websites are built for speed.

If you’re ready to tackle site speed and increase your website’s conversion rate, we’ve got you covered. Schedule a demo, and we’ll show you why Driverseat is the platform for the next generation of car dealerships.