Increase Shopify Site Speed to Improve Revenue Growth

Shopify site speed directly impacts revenue in a number of ways. A speedy website reduces frustration and significantly lowers bounce rates, resulting in better conversion rates and more completed transactions.

Optimizing to increase Shopify site speed not only improves user experience but also attracts more organic traffic to your site. Shopify site speed is a fundamental factor in search engine optimization (SEO) since search engines like Google consider site speed a key indicator of quality and user-friendliness and prioritize faster-loading sites.

Here’s why speed matters and how you can increase your Shopify site speed for maximum profitability.

The Impact of Load Times on Ecommerce Performance

Shopify site speed can seriously influence a business’s bottom line since load times affect key metrics like bounce rates, conversion rates, and overall customer satisfaction.

Bounce Rates and User Engagement

Slow loading times are a prime cause of high bounce rates. When a site takes too long to load, users leave before interacting with any content, and they likely don’t come back. 

Conversion Rates and Revenue

The relationship between site speed and conversion rates is direct. Even a one-second improvement in load times can boost mobile conversion rates by up to 27%. 

Faster websites provide a smoother, more enjoyable shopping experience, which in turn encourages customers to complete purchases, directly boosting ecommerce revenue.

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

A sluggish website not only frustrates users but also hurts their perception of your brand. 

One study found that 79% of customers are less likely to make repeat purchases from a site that has disappointed them with slow loading speeds. Optimizing website speed has a direct impact on customer retention and reduced acquisition costs over time.

The Link Between Page Speed and Paid Advertising Efficacy

Increasing Shopify site speed is very likely to result in better returns on paid advertising. Faster load times can dramatically enhance ad performance, leading to higher ad Quality Scores, lower cost-per-click (CPC), and increased return on investment (ROI). 

Investing in faster page speeds increases the likelihood that paid traffic will convert, maximizing the efficacy of your ad spend. However, Shopify site speed also has an effect on how much it will cost you to advertise.

Quality Score is a metric used by search engines like Google to determine the relevance and quality of your ads and landing pages. One of the key factors influencing Quality Score is the landing page experience, which includes page speed. Faster-loading pages are perceived by search engines as offering a better user experience, thus improving the Quality Scores of your ads, resulting in better ad placements at lower costs.

Ads with higher Quality Scores generally result in lower CPCs because search engines reward ads that provide a good user experience so each click costs you less and your advertising budget can stretch further.

Therefore, by increasing Shopify site speed, you get paid ads in front of more potential customers, and those potential customers are more likely to convert. 

Diagnosing Shopify Store Speed Issues

Diagnosing Shopifty site speed issues accurately demands tools that can measure website speed and identify potential bottlenecks:

• Google PageSpeed Insights provides a comprehensive analysis of your online store’s loading speed and offers actionable recommendations for improvement. Just enter your store’s URL, and PageSpeed will evaluate performance on both mobile and desktop devices. It provides metrics such as the page load time, time to first byte (time between a browser requesting a page and when it gets the first byte back), and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which indicates how long it takes for the largest content element on your page to load.
• Shopify’s Web Performance Dashboard uses Core Web Vitals to gauge real user experiences on your online store, examining factors like apps, theme code, and the quantity and size of images and videos. It’s invaluable for tracking performance trends over time and identifying specific pages or elements that may be causing slowdowns.

Core Factors Slowing Down Your Shopify Store

Once you’ve gathered data from these tools, the next step is to identify and address the bottlenecks. Common issues are heavy themes, unoptimized images, excessive third-party scripts, and overloaded app integrations. Pinpointing these areas enables you to take targeted actions to improve your store’s overall performance.

Unoptimized Images

One of the most frequent causes of a slow Shopify store is large, unoptimized images. High-resolution images make your products look great, but they also tend to be large files. When not properly optimized, they consume a lot of bandwidth and slow down page loading times.

Heavy Use of Apps

Shopify’s app ecosystem lets store owners add a wide range of functionalities to their sites, from customer reviews to social media feeds. However, each app introduces additional JavaScript and CSS that need to be loaded when a user visits your site. This can significantly increase loading times, especially if many apps are in use. 

Bulky Third-Party Code

Many Shopify store owners use third-party code like tag managers, analytics tools, and custom widgets. If the code is bulky and poorly optimized, it slows down your store.

Optimizing Shopify for Speed: Quick Wins for Immediate Improvements

Making your Shopify store load faster often doesn’t require extensive overhauls. Here are some quick and actionable steps that can be implemented immediately to increase Shopify site speed:

• Compress Images: Since high-quality images are a prime culprit for a slow Shopify site, compressing them is a straightforward fix. Utilize Shopify’s built-in capabilities with image Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to automatically optimize images. Not only will your images be appropriately compressed, but also be delivered in the most efficient format suited to the user’s device. Be sure to regularly check and compress any new images before uploading them.
• Audit Apps: A thorough audit of the apps you currently have installed can reveal ones that are no longer needed or don’t contribute enough value to justify their impact on performance. For essential apps, check if there are lighter alternatives or if the app developer provides versions optimized for better performance.
• Optimize Your Theme: A streamlined, fast-loading Shopify theme, preferably one that adheres to the Online Store 2.0 standards, is designed to be more efficient and flexible–and therefore faster. Customize your theme to remove any unused features or scripts that could be slowing down your page load times.
• Use a Single Hero Image: Simplify your design by using a single image for the hero image at the top of the page instead of a slider or multiple large images at the top of your pages to reduce the amount of data that needs to be loaded when users first visit your site.

Advanced Strategies for Enhanced Performance on Shopify Site Speed

While basic optimizations are a good start, more technical strategies may be necessary if you still need to increase Shopify site speed when the basic fixes have been covered. Here are some advanced techniques that can make a big difference in your Shopify site speed:

• Code Minification: Shopify often handles some level of minification automatically, but ensuring that any custom code or third-party scripts are also minified can further boost performance. Remove unnecessary characters (such as spaces, line breaks, and comments) from your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files to reduce the size of your files, which decreases the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the network and speeds up your site’s load times. Tools like UglifyJS for JavaScript and CSSNano for CSS can automate this process.
• Combine files: Combine files where possible to reduce HTTP requests. It can be applied to your CSS and JavaScript files. Merging several files into one reduces the number of round trips required to load the page. Tools like Webpack or Gulp can automate the process of combining files. 
• Lazy Loading: Lazy loading is a clever technique to significantly cut initial page load times and reduce bandwidth usage. It works by loading only the content that is needed when it’s needed, such as images or videos that only appear when the user scrolls to them. Lazy loading can be done manually via custom JavaScript code or by using Shopify apps. 
• Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN distributes your store’s content across a network of global servers so that wherever your customers are in the world, they receive data from the nearest server, significantly speeding loading times. Shopify provides a built-in CDN via Cloudflare, but regular checks on the CDN’s status and configurations ensure optimal performance. Since Shopify’s CDN is a shared resource across the entire ecosystem, using your own setup could greatly improve speed, especially if you are heavily video-driven.
• Advanced Caching Techniques: While Shopify handles some level of caching on its platform, additional caching strategies like adding Cloudflare can further enhance site performance.
• Database Optimization: For stores with large inventories or customer databases, optimizing database interactions can improve page load speeds. Ensure that indexing is used effectively to speed up data retrieval.
• Implement AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages): For mobile users, implementing AMP can drastically cut down load times. AMP creates lightweight versions of your pages to speed up mobile loading times, which can be crucial, especially considering the increasing traffic from mobile devices.

Maintaining Optimal Speed Post-Optimization

Once you’ve optimized your Shopify store for speed, don’t assume that your site will stay fast. Regular monitoring and timely updates are key to a fast Shopify site, especially as new features and apps are introduced. Here are some best practices for ongoing monitoring and improvement of your Shopify store’s speed:

• Regular Speed Testing: Regularly measure your store’s speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Shopify’s own speed testing tools. These tests help you understand how your site performs under different conditions and identify new issues as they arise. Conduct these tests at regular intervals or after significant changes to your site, like new app installations or theme updates.
• Stay Updated with Shopify Features: Shopify is always rolling out updates and new features that can impact your store’s performance. Keeping your Shopify store and all associated apps up-to-date ensures you’re utilizing the latest improvements and security patches. Make sure you have updated to a Shopify 2.0 theme since speed was at the crux of this update.
• Optimize New Content and Features: As you add new content, products, or features to your store, ensure they are optimized for speed. Compress new images, minify added CSS or JavaScript files, and review the impact of any new third-party scripts or apps.
• Monitor and Audit Apps Regularly: Periodically remove outdated or unused apps that may be slowing down your site and check for more efficient alternatives or updates for apps you need. If you find yourself relying on an app heavily and it’s become a part of your business, think about building the app yourself with the help of a developer. Save on the cost and add the ability for customization as well as speed reduction measures.

If you are still finding less than stellar results – Shopify has launched Hydrogen for this very reason. It’s a headless option that allows the store owner to be as fast as they want to be along with a site that is ready for any type of scale.

Increase Shopify Site Speed for Revenue Growth

It can be easy to overlook site speed as you work on perfecting your Shopify listings, but optimizing the speed of your Shopify site is essential not only for user experience and boosting organic traffic but also for maximizing the effectiveness of paid advertising campaigns. 

Faster site speeds contribute significantly to higher search engine rankings, essential for attracting more organic visitors. When potential customers click through from paid ads, they encounter a smooth, fast-loading page, making it much more likely that they’ll make a purchase. 

Fast loading times are increasingly becoming a basic expectation for online shoppers. Websites that load quickly will see higher engagement rates, more satisfied customers, and a noticeable increase in repeat business.

As Google continues to prioritize user experience in its ranking algorithms, Shopify site speed becomes even more critical to your overall SEO strategy.

By focusing on strategies to increase Shopify site speed, brands can ensure better service for their customers, improved visibility in search engines, and more effective use of their marketing budgets, leading to increased revenue overall.

About the Author: As the Director, Marketing at adQuadrant, Nick Grant leverages more than 20 years of experience working across a variety of tech verticals. Nick grew up in California and earned his BS in Business with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. After college, he relocated to Seattle to pursue his passion for startups, where he worked at various dot-coms before co-founding a successful visual strategy agency in 2010. Now back in California, Nick spends his time hiking around San Luis Obispo County with his wife and son, honing his talent as a concert photographer, and perfecting his handstand skills.