Customers Will Love You for Speeding Up Your Ecommerce Website - Part 1
The COVID-19 pandemic hugely increased the number of people shopping online. Consumer behaviour changed drastically during the lockdown and many of those changes are here to stay! More people than ever are now shopping online, so it's important that you (and your website) keep up with them. A recent report concluded that an estimated £60bn each year is lost in sales as a result of slow loading times. E-commerce websites are only as good as the speed that they load. This is a fact of e-commerce life. Customers will quickly abandon your site if it takes too long to load, and you'll lose revenue in the process. It's crucial for e-commerce website owners to take steps to ensure their website loads quickly, or else customers will go elsewhere and find a faster e-commerce website! Here are four tips on how you can make your e-commerce website load fast enough for even the most impatient of customers:Install a WordPress Caching Plugin
The more people that visit your e-commerce website at any one time, the more chance there is of your website slowing down. By installing a caching plugin, the user will see a cached version of your HTML page. Thus freeing up your server resources - allowing your website to run smoothly (and fast).
There are many different plugins you can use, but WP Rocket is one of the best tools around. This tool automatically generates a cache of your website AND keeps it up to date.
Use the latest version of WordPress & WooCommerce
WordPress is always striving to improve the performance of their platforms and with each new version, they fix bugs and strengthen security. As a business (and website owner) it is your responsibility to keep your e-commerce website up to date. Regularly updating the software within your website will not only protect your site but will speed it up too. The latest version of WooCommerce also includes a host of features that should help to speed up your e-commerce website - such as their new REST API and increased Nginx cache size limit (to name just two).Optimise your product images
Images are an important tool for your e-commerce website. They help you to showcase and sell your products easily. Images are also important when it comes to the speed at which e-commerce websites load. The more images you have on your e-commerce website, the longer it can take to load. So, you must ensure that your images are optimised. Your images should be high-quality, but also as small as possible. The use of e-commerce plugins can ensure that your images are optimised and used in a way that will not slow down your e-commerce website, for example, WP Rocket's Image Optimizer plugin allows you to resize any image on the fly!Choose your plugins wisely
People often ask, how many plugins can I have on my website. The answer is, as many as you like. However, it is the quality not the quantity of the plugins that can slow down your website. One single poorly coded plugin can have a huge impact on your load time. So, you should ensure that the plugins on your e-commerce website are well coded and will not slow down. Check the reviews and online platforms before installing plugins to ensure they are going to serve you well.If you would like to know more about how to get started with an Ecommerce website then please take a look at www.thewebguys.co.uk or even book in a meeting directly with Brian to discuss how to get started using this link https://thewebguys.zohobookings.eu/#/customer/brianlynggaard
How to Correctly Configure Caching for WooCommerce
Simply installing a caching plugin like WP Rocket is the first step. For an e-commerce site, specific configuration is crucial to avoid functional errors. The most important rule is to exclude dynamic pages from the cache. These include the Cart, My Account, and Checkout pages. Caching these pages can show one customer's cart information to another, which is a major privacy and operational issue.
Most quality caching plugins have a dedicated section for WooCommerce exclusions where these pages are automatically omitted. You should also ensure that any user-specific content or cookies are not cached. Enabling features like browser caching is still highly beneficial, as it stores static assets like logos and CSS on the user's device, which speeds up repeat visits significantly.
Key Image Optimisation Techniques for Products
Effective image optimisation involves several steps to reduce file size without sacrificing quality. Here are three core techniques:
- Compression: This is the process of reducing the file size of an image. Lossy compression offers a large file size reduction with a minor, often unnoticeable, loss in quality. Lossless compression preserves all image data but provides a smaller size reduction. For most product photos, a small amount of lossy compression is ideal.
- Next-Gen Formats: Serve images in modern formats like WebP or AVIF. These offer superior compression over traditional JPEG and PNG files. Plugins like ShortPixel, Imagify, or EWWW Image Optimizer can automate this conversion process.
- Lazy Loading: This technique defers the loading of images that are not yet in the user's view. The browser only loads product images as the user scrolls down, making the initial page load much faster.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ecommerce Speed
What is a good page load time for an e-commerce site?
A good target is to have your page fully interactive in under 2.5 seconds. This aligns with Google's Core Web Vitals metric for Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). For online stores, conversion rates are proven to drop for every additional second of loading time, making speed a critical business metric.
Will deactivating unused plugins speed up my site?
Yes, but deleting them is better. Even inactive plugins can leave code that runs or adds queries to your database. It is a best practice to completely delete any plugins you are not actively using. Always perform a full site backup before deleting plugins.
How to Evaluate the Quality of a WordPress Plugin
A single poorly coded plugin can severely damage your site's performance. Before installing a new plugin on your WooCommerce store, assess its quality with these checks:
- Last Updated Date: A plugin that has not been updated in over six months may have compatibility or security issues with the latest version of WordPress or WooCommerce.
- Active Installations: A high number of active installations is often a sign of a trusted and stable plugin.
- Support Forum Activity: Check the plugin's support forum on the WordPress repository. Are developers actively answering questions and resolving issues? This indicates good maintenance and support.
- Code Bloat: Favour plugins that perform one function well over large, multi-purpose plugins that add many features you will not use, as these often load unnecessary scripts and styles.
