Imagine visiting a new store and standing outside for 30 seconds, waiting for the automatic doors to open. You’d likely turn around and go somewhere else.
That’s what your customers experience when your website takes too long to load.
Here’s the reality:
If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, about 40% of visitors leave immediately.
On mobile, that number jumps to over 50%.
They don’t browse your services, they don’t read your content – they just leave and head back to searching for a solution to their problem, often ending up with one of your competitors.
It sounds like bad news, but it’s actually an opportunity.
If your competitors’ websites are slow, a fast-loading site will give you a competitive advantage.
So, what usually slows a website down?
- Oversized images and videos
- Low-quality or cheap website hosting
- Bloated or error-filled code
- Too many plugins running in the background
The good news is that with proper website maintenance all of these are fixable.
At SGD, we regularly help clients resolve these issues and the results are more enquiries, more sales, and happier customers.
If you’re unsure about your site’s speed, start by running a free test with GT Metrix.
The two key metrics you are looking for are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures how long it takes for the largest visible element (image, video, or text block) to load on the page. It reflects when the main content becomes usable for the visitor. Ideally under 2.5 seconds
- Total Blocking Time (TBT): This measures the amount of time the page is blocked from responding to user input (like clicks or taps) during loading. It’s a strong indicator of interactivity and responsiveness. Lower is better, ideally under 200 ms
These two metrics align closely with Google’s Core Web Vitals and provide the clearest picture of both perceived speed and usability.
When optimising a website for speed, even a one-second improvement can make a measurable difference in conversions.
Want help with your website speed? Explore our process for creating fast, conversion-driven websites here: Website Design Process.
