How Visual Response Rate Affects User Experience | Page Speed
In early 2018 I created an eCommerce website. I spent almost a thousand dollars on ads before I had my first sale. Just like magic, I made all that money disappear in one month. My first users were leaving without seeing a single page.
The average new user was spending 0 seconds on my site and leaving. Blink and you would miss them.
I started over and changed my wording to be more relevant to my ads. I updated the layout to follow the F-Shaped Pattern of Reading. I still saw absolutely no difference in my conversion rate because people were still spending my ad money before instantly leaving my page.
Don’t stress if you are at this stage. I was there for many months before I remembered one problem. People expect immediate results on the internet.
Faster visual responses help users stay engaged. In the software world there is an expectation that every application action should feel instantaneous. Typically this is a response that gives a visual cue back in 0.1 second or less[1].
Most websites fall into one of three categories
The fastest websites have tried everything, and need to innovate for improving their Page Speed.
Some websites that have devoted, and patient customers. However most new users don’t stay long enough to have their magic moment. That is where they understand the value of the product and buy in.
The final group is losing a lot of potential customers to long load times. Their site loads so slowly users assume that either the computer or the site is broken. This is where I started.
Part 2: Dropping Bounce Rates While Driving up Revenues
Shoutouts for proofreading & idea for article: Anastasia Walia Cat Lagman David Morrill Javier Rivilla Olivia Chun
References: