How to the Measure Business impact of Web Performance

Measuring the Business Impactof Web Performance

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Buddy Brewer [@bbrewer]

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Why Care About Performance?Slow load times damage traffic and sales

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Why Care About Performance?Slow load times also damage reputation

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Performance isn’t just one simple numberWeb sites deliver good and bad experiences every day

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How Should I Approach Performance?Performance optimization in three steps

How fast am I?

How fast should I be?

How do I get there?

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How fast should I be?The industry has lagged here

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What is Real User Measurement?JavaScript-based Real User Performance Analytics

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Tracking ConversionsWhat’s a “Conversion”?

OrdersShares, Likes, CommentsPage ViewsSubscriptionsSignupsDealer LocatorsGame Item Purchase

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Measuring the impact of speed on businessExample 1: Impact of speed on conversion rate

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Measuring the impact of speed on businessExample 2: Impact of speed on bounce rate

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This Means We Can Measure PatienceAnd if we can measure it, we can manage it

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Example

Time range: 1 monthMedian Load Time: 4.12Visits: 25MConversion Rate: 2.7%Average Order: $100

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Can We Do Better?Speed increases drive business improvements

Median Load Time: 4.12sTotal Conversion Rate: 2.7%Conversion Rate @ 3.0s: 4.9%

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Faster pages convert more frequently

4.12 sec

2.7%

3.0 sec

4.9%

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What Are We Playing For?Impact is Measurable and Significant

Total Conversion Rate: 2.7%Best Case Conversion Rate: 4.9%Conversion Gap: 2.2%Visits: 25MAOV: $100

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What Are We Playing For?Impact is Measurable and Significant

(4.9% - 2.7%) * 25M * $100 = $55M

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What Are We Playing For?Impact is Measurable and Significant

1 second = $55M

BUT

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Potential vs Realistic GoalsImpossible to achieve ideal speed at 100th percentile

Median Load Time: 4.12sTotal Conversion Rate: 2.7%Conversion Rate @ 3.0s: 4.9%

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Refining Performance GoalsWe can make these more realistic and iterative

Target Load Time: 4 sec (vs 3 sec)Percentile at 4 sec: 49Target Percentile: 60thPercentile Gap: 11%

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What Are We Playing For?Impact is Measurable and Significant

(4.9% - 2.7%) * (11% * 25M) * $100 = $6M

Improving from4.12 sec @ 50th percentile

to4.0 sec @ 60th percentile

=$6M / month

100% data collectionStored foreverProcessed in real timeCorrelated to things that matter

© 2014 SOASTA CONFIDENTIAL - All rights reserved.

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Customer Spotlight - StaplesPerformance improvements lead to business gains

mPulse data led to changes in JavaScript, CSSReduced JavaScript size by 48%Refactored CSS, reduced size by 83%Shaved 1 full second off of Home page median load timeShaved 6 seconds off the 98th percentileConversion improved by 10%

Free Speed Assessmentwww.soasta.com/performance