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.

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