In ecommerce, speed is everything. Fast delivery. Fast support. Fast package tracking.
And a fast online store.
A slow store – specifically, a Shopify store – spells doom for enterprise ecommerce businesses. Customers get frustrated. Conversion rates fall. Search rankings get dinged.
It’s a cascade of negative outcomes that can have a massive effect on the bottom line.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Here’s how Domaine’s team of engineering and technology experts approach website speed for brands on Shopify.
What is Shopify Speed Optimization?
Shopify speed optimization is the process of fine-tuning a Shopify store to ensure it loads quickly and efficiently. This involves addressing technical, design, and operational aspects that impact performance. In a world where customers expect instant access to information, speed optimization is non-negotiable.
Said differently, if your Shopify experience isn’t fast your business can’t compete.
How Shopify Speed Affects Your Store
Broadly, Shopify speed impacts three main areas of a website: user experience, SEO performance, and conversion rates– otherwise known as customers, rankings, and revenue (all of which tend to feed off one another).
Impact on User Experience (UX)
Fast-loading pages lead to better navigation, reduced bounce rates, and increased customer satisfaction. Conversely, slow load times frustrate users and can cause them to give up and take their purchasing power elsewhere.
SEO and Rankings
The speed of a brand’s Shopify store plays a significant role in its search engine performance. Google prioritizes fast websites. Load fast and you’ll climb the search engine results pages. Load slow and you’ll lose visibility and organic search traffic.
Conversion Rates
Even a delay of a few seconds in page load time can reduce conversions by up to 7%. A fast store not only improves user engagement but also leads to higher sales and revenue.
Common Shopify Speed Issues
Out of the box, Shopify is built for speed. (That’s one of the reasons why it’s a perfect fit for enterprise and mid-size brands.) Speed issues often arise, however, as a result of human error or lack of adherence to best practices. Common examples include:
Unoptimized Images and Videos
Large, uncompressed images and videos are a common culprit for slow page loads. Compressing images and using responsive sizes can significantly improve speed. Pulling videos in from third-party hosting platforms like Vimeo or Wistia can offload video load responsibilities.
Too Many Apps
Shopify’s app ecosystem is extensive, offering thousands of solutions for everything from inventory management to marketing integrations. But a Shopify site loaded with too many apps can still impact website speed. This is because each app requires additional scripts and those scripts need to load just like everything else on the site. As a result, it’s important to be strategic about which apps your business implements.
Heavy Themes and Unnecessary Scripts
Yes, Shopify is built for speed, but some themes – typically older ones – are not optimized for speed. Excessive custom scripts can further slow down your store too (see above). Streamlining these elements can enhance performance.
Lack of Caching or CDN Use
Caching stores frequently accessed data, while Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) ensure faster content delivery by reducing server load and latency. Both are essential for a fast Shopify store.
How We Optimize Shopify Speed at Domaine
Brands on Shopify approach our team with website speed issues that require expertise and experience in identifying the problem areas.
After exploring the problem through a discovery phase, we begin with a technical audit, led by our engineering experts that utilize tools such as Shopify’s Web Performance dashboard and Google’s Page Speed Insights. This audit evaluates the brand’s Shopify environment, including some of the common issues mentioned above (i.e., unoptimized assets, excess scripts, CDN use), as well as factoring in your business’ unique strategic needs and concerns (i.e. where can your brand make changes that will serve its growth?).
A great example of site speed optimizations serving one of our clients’ roadmaps is Domaine’s work with Peleton Apparel. After developing the brand’s online store, our team spent weeks optimizing performance. The result is one of the fastest-loading ecommerce experiences built on Shopify, delivering speed and efficiency across all devices and browsers, supporting over 250,000 sessions just hours after launch.
Once we uncover the speed issue culprit(s), we address them. Common strategies include:
Utilizing Shopify’s Built-In Features
Shopify features a number of speed enhancement tools that often get overlooked. Things like lazy loading and caching.
Minifying Code
Minifying code reduces file sizes and speed up the time required by the browser to download and execute said code. Think of it as getting rid of extra elements with code that a web browser doesn’t need to understand and run.
Minification can apply to JS, CSS, and HTML.
We do this directly within Shopify.
Third-Party Apps
The Shopify App Store features a number of solutions that can help with store speed, particularly as it relates to SEO. Of course, we’re always thoughtful about adding more apps to a Shopify environment because, as previously mentioned, apps themselves can impact site speed.
Speed Not Sacrifice
It’s important to note that we do not sacrifice brand or site aesthetics for speed. We know how important the brand experience and its impact on conversion rates and revenue. Our aim is to make sure all key metrics – speed, experience and conversion – are optimized for our brands.
Test, Deploy, Monitor
From there, we’re on to testing site speed across multiple browsers and devices, prior to pushing updates live. Once the data tells us we’ve made the right adjustments, we deploy.
But the job’s not finished. Ongoing monitoring is crucial. A Shopify store is a living thing. New products get added. New campaigns get launched. New content gets deployed. New apps and scripts get added. All of these things impact speed. So in order to avoid the same speed improvement exercise six or 12 months from now, we ensure that our clients’ Shopify stores are always fast. We monitor site performance regularly through regular audits. And when our clients want to launch something big or make major changes, we plan and execute with speed (along with experience and conversion!) in mind.
We Love Fast Shopify Stores
When a Shopify store is lightning quick, the customer experience is better, organic search traffic climbs, conversion rates increase and revenue scales. Whether we’re building from the ground up or making improvements to your existing Shopify environment, optimizing for speed is mission-critical.
Why Domaine?
Short answer: We only do Shopify. We are the largest Shopify design and development practice, built by ecommerce veterans who have worked across leading technologies and platforms. The long answer: our work with incredible brands committed to pushing the ecommerce envelope.
Have the need for (ecommerce) speed? Reach out and say hello.