Speed: The 'Forgotten' Conversion Factor

Speed: The ‘Forgotten’ Conversion Factor @AndyDavies NCC Group May 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/josepina/286052072/

How we commonly think of conversions…

https://www.flickr.com/photos/z0/19814021505

But in reality ‘conversions’ come in many forms

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lb1gb/2579266652

It’s not just about getting visitors to buy things!

- sign ups / subscriptions - completing tasks - clicking on adverts - sharing things - finding a store / restaurant

Many things affect conversion

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nelc/1208393486

Conversion varies by Landing Page1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Bounce & Conversion Rate

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Conversion RateBounce Rate

And by device too…iPhone 6/7

iPhone 5/5s

iPad

iPhone 6/7 Plus

Galaxy S6

Galaxy S7 Edge

Galaxy S7

Galaxy S6 Edge

Galaxy S5

Galaxy A3

Conversion / Bounce Rate

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Conversion RateBounce Rate

Con

vers

ion

Rat

e

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

Screen Area (‘000 Pixels)

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000

DesktopMobileTablet

And maybe even by screen size?

Con

vers

ion

Rat

e

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

Screen Area (‘000 Pixels)

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000

DesktopMobileTablet

But revenue can be heavily skewed

So how does Speed affect Conversion?

Impr

essi

ons

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

DesktopMobileTablet

Different visitors have different experiences…

Impr

essi

ons

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

DesktopMobileTablet

50%50%

And many of them are having slow ones

Con

vers

ion

Rat

e

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

Boun

ce R

ate

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Bounce RateConversion Rate

It affects Conversion and Bounce Rates

Con

vers

ion

Rat

e

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

Boun

ce R

ate

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Bounce RateConversion Rate

It affects Conversion and Bounce RatesConversion Rate drops by 1% over

3 seconds

Boun

ce R

ate

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

DesktopMobileTablet

Of course Bounce Rate varies by device type

Con

vers

ion

Rat

es

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

DesktopMobileTablet

As does Conversion Rate too

Boun

ce R

ate

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Site 1Site 2Site 3

Every site has a different Bounce Rate profile

Con

vers

ion

Rat

e

0%

2.5%

5%

7.5%

10%

Page Load Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Site 1Site 3Site 4

And yup… Conversion Rate curves vary between sites too

Lower end of range can be very noisy

‘OK, I’m convinced but…’

How do I convince everyone else?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/text100/8265351472

Case studies are a great place to start

https://wpostats.com

But there’s nothing better than having something made to measure

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fronx/2862975043

Interlude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHSUp7msCIE

Vs

iPhone 6 on WiFi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHSUp7msCIE

Vs

iPhone 6 on WiFi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHSUp7msCIE

Vs

iPhone 6 on WiFi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHSUp7msCIE

Vs

iPhone 6 on WiFi

Wait… they changed all four wheels?https://www.flickr.com/photos/cellardoorfilms/7620375702

Response Time in Man-computer Conversational TransactionsRobert B. Miller, 1968

Instan

tSea

mless

Yawn!

100ms 1s 10s

So yes, our attention span is shorted than a goldfish

https://www.flickr.com/photos/watts_photos/23124797946

Working? Useful? Usable?

What are we thinking when a page is loading?

Focus on reducing Time to Useful and Useable…Becoming useful

Becoming usable

What’s happening here?

Small changes… can make a big difference!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/genevieve719/10110046076

Optimise your fonts

http://www.flickr.com/photos/splorp/4951916342

Tame your Third-Parties

Manage images effectively

https://www.flickr.com/photos/orkomedix/5026054826

Use the Platform

Test on realistic devices

Understand the critical path

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dno1967b/8347363864

How much is 150ms improvement worth?(was 300ms on Android)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/basheertome/4762529213

http://www.flickr.com/photos/auntiep/5024494612

@AndyDavies

[email protected]

http://slideshare.net/andydavies