Cutting the eCommerce Site Performance “Tightrope”
In the recent ShopifyPlus article, Performance vs. Functionality: Making the Right Site Speed Tradeoffs, they talk about the balancing act retailers have to perform when it comes to site speed and eCommerce features, AKA the “Performance Tightrope.” ShopifyPlus explains, “Successfully balancing performance and functionality is like walking a tightrope,” and “The trade-offs you make to functionality, experience, and design dictate your site’s performance, and it’s all about striking the right balance between performance and functionality.”
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While there is a direct impact from eCommerce site functionality, personalization, imagery, 3rd parties, etc. on site speed and performance, we’re here to tell you to ditch the balancing act and cut that performance tightrope. There is simply no need to sacrifice one over the other; you can have both.
Do NOT slash your site functionality
While there are many great points in this article regarding the connection between eCommerce site speed and conversion rate, there is a better way to address the “feature vs, site speed” obstacle. The article goes on to explain how brands can balance site speed and features by taking care of the “Performance Killers,” and how “Making informed decisions about the tradeoffs includes calculating the benefit of a particular feature with the burden it places on overall page speed. Be sure the benefit a feature provides warrants the reduction in speed and user experience.”
Although it is important to know exactly how features impact site performance, there is no tradeoff necessary. The shopping experience is extremely important to consumers, especially now that in-person shopping is no longer a safe option for many people due to the global pandemic. Shoppers want that personalized experience, the ratings and review features, the flexible payment 3rd parties, and all the fancy imagery and content. Some may even need these elements to make the purchase decision.
What brands can do instead to improve eCommerce site performance
The reality is, manually addressing the optimization of site features to increase speed is not ideal. With a scalable eCommerce acceleration platform, brands don’t have to pick and choose what is staying on their site or not, and can automatically and immediately increase page load speed by:
- Optimizing the loading of rich content and heavy images
- Sequencing 3rd party eCommerce technologies for optimal performance
- Detecting and remediating root performance problems before they impact shopper experience
By optimizing digital elements for performance, brands can use all the features and functionality they want, and will never have to “balance” shopper experience and site speed.
Want to learn how to speed up your site? Get a FREE Site Performance Snapshot report today!