Why Web Performance Matters [SmashingConf Meets for Speed]

We talk a lot about web performance, but a lot of these conversations come from a purely technical perspective. Most people have a gut feeling that performance is important, but exactly what influence it has on your users and your business is often overlooked. In this talk I shared at Smashing Conference's 'Meets for Speed', I share why our need for fast online experiences is hard-wired, and how slow performance hurts your users and your business.

Transcript

1. Why web performance matters (especially now)
2. @tameverts
5. speedcurve.com/benchmarks/
6. “Web performance” Is it loading? Can I use it? How does it feel?
8. wsj.com/articles/google-search-ramps-up-penalties-for-slow-annoying-websites-11628614350
9. 2016 The internet is a basic human right.
10. Poor performance hurts a LOT of people.
11. People in rural areas People in Indigenous communities People with lower incomes Children Seniors People with accessibility challenges People in developing countries
12. “Oh… pity the hyper-impatient web generation. Such busy lives with so many important things to do — like post the latest drivel onto their Facebook pages or download the YouTube viral video of the day. Oops, sorry — of the minute.” Reader comment “For Impatient Web Users, an Eye Blink Is Too Long to Wait” The New York Times
13. “Digital privilege” Websites are performant enough because they’re performant for you.
14. The internet isn’t fast for everyone.
15. @tameverts
16. That’s 15,000,000 people in the US alone.
17. 1 out of 3 homes in the US do not have broadband access. (25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up) Federal Communications Commission, 2020 @tameverts
18. That’s 45,000,000 homes. And 12,000,000 children (many of whom are now learning remotely).
19. theverge.com/22177154/us-internet-speed-maps-competition-availability-fcc
20. “the homework gap”
21. 75% of Indigenous communities in Canada do not have access to broadband. @tameverts
22. Education Entrepreneurialism Social connection Governance Telemedicine
23. “I grew up with our community being under constant boil water advisories, and I wasn’t able to safely drink water out of the tap until just a few years ago. High-speed internet feels equally life changing.” Chief Willie Sellars, 2020
24. We can’t fix our networks, but we can fix our pages.
25. 2198kb HTTP Archive, September 2021 @tameverts
27. Big pages cost users.
30. Performance isn’t just about speed.
31. Page jank affects people with motor skill challenges (esp. on mobile). Assistive technology (e.g., screenreaders) may not work until the DOM fully loads. JavaScript can block assistive tech. @marcysutton
32. Users aged 65 and older are 43% slower at using websites than users aged 21-55. nngroup.com/articles/usability-for-senior-citizens/
33. business behaviour brain
34. Brain
35. The average web user believes they waste two days a year waiting for pages to load.
36. Stoyan Stefanov, The Psychology of Speed
37. Nielsen Norman Group, 1993 & 2010 @tameverts
40. “Web stress” When apps or sites are slow, we work 50% harder to stay on task. CA Technologies, 2011 @tameverts
42. Radware, 2013 Frustration peaks between 11.5 and 26% during browsing and checkout
43. Behaviour
45. “Phone rage”: How people react to slow mobile sites Tealeaf/Harris Interactive, 2011 @tameverts
46. 46 When do we start to interact with a page? Radware, 2014 @tameverts
47. nicj.net/measuring-continuity/
48. nicj.net/measuring-continuity/
49. Business
50. ❑ bounce rate ❑ cart size ❑ conversions ❑ revenue ❑ time on site ❑ page views ❑ SEO ❑ brand perception ❑ user retention ❑ competitors
51. WPOstat s.com
52. Bounce rate
53. @tameverts
54. Conversions
55. Every 1 second of load time improvement equaled a 2% conversion rate increase for Walmart Staples shaved 1 second from median load time, improved conversion rate by 10% Fanatics cut median load times by 2 seconds, almost doubled mobile conversions @tameverts
56. Retention
57. Strangeloop, 2011 @tameverts
58. Brand perception
60. fast slow @tameverts
61. SEO
62. wsj.com/articles/google-search-ramps-up-penalties-for-slow-annoying-websites-11628614350
64. Good pages rank slightly (1%) better than average. Slow pages rank significantly (3.7%) worse. sistrix.com/blog/core-web-vitals-is-a-measurable-ranking-factor/ @tameverts
65. Again… why should you care?
67. Between the ages of 25 and 60, our ability to use the web declines by 0.8% a year
68. Vision Dexterity Working memory
69. Thanks! @tameverts