5 Reasons Why Website Speed Matters for Your Dropshipping Business

The speed at which your website loads is detrimental to the success of your dropshipping business. Here’s why.

When a website takes a long time to load, user experience is seriously impacted. And this can lead to a domino effect that impacts site traffic, conversion rates, and SEO. In order to gain the upper hand in the world of dropshipping, your website will need to undergo regular technical SEO optimizations. This will improve site performance and give you the edge over competitors with slower-to-load dropshipping platforms.

So how can you improve your website’s loading time and response speeds? Well, condensing images; minimizing the number of JavaScript and CSS files; and moving your website to a more reliable host can all help. But why is it so important to speed your dropshipping website up? Let’s find out.

What is website speed and how can it impact your dropshipping business?

If you were to go out to eat at a restaurant and received slow service from the waiter, how likely would you be to go back to that same restaurant? Not very likely is our guess. Now, apply this to a website you visit. If a site takes a really long time to load, it is likely to hurt user experience. This, at very least, will see you losing customers rather than retaining them.

It can also result in poor search engine rankings and lower overall site traffic. This is because website speed (or performance) is determined by how efficiently a browser can load a fully functioning webpage from a website. If your dropshipping business platform is slow to load it will usually drive away potential customers.

And if your dropshipping platform loads quickly, you can expect to see an increase in traffic and an uplift in your conversion rates too.

Let’s look at some statistics: the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation in the UK) loses 10% of users with each additional second of loading time. And Yahoo! reduced its page load time by only 0.4 seconds and saw site traffic increase by 9%.

The optimal load time of an eCommerce store is actually just 2 seconds or less.

Why is site speed important for your dropshipping business?

There are many reasons that site speed is extremely important for the success of your dropshipping business. So, we’ll take you through a handful of reasons you should make it your mission to improve load time.

Website speed impacts conversion rate

Given that site speed directly affects the speed at which a customer can complete their desired action, they are less likely to convert on a product (aka make a purchase) if your website is slow to load. Customers are far more likely to stick with efficient websites that load quickly. And as a direct result, they are far more likely to convert at a higher rate too. And so, improving your website performance and load time is an integral part of the optimization process.

Website speed impacts bounce rate

Bounce rate is measured by the percentage of website visitors that exit your website after viewing only a single page. If your dropshipping business platform takes longer than a few seconds to load, customers are more likely to close the window and search for a more efficient site. What’s more, the likelihood of a customer bouncing away from your site increases by 32% (that’s almost a third) when page load time jumps from one up to three seconds. But, if your site pages load within two seconds, your average bounce rate should fall to just 9%.

Website speed impacts SEO best practices

The most recent Google algorithm updates are rewarding sites that prioritize getting helpful and relevant information to users as quickly as possible. This means that site performance is extremely important if you want to rank highly in Google search rankings. It’s also worth noting that Google rewards websites on a mobile-first basis too. This means that it’s key to implement fast load times and user-friendly interaction features on mobile devices for effective SEO. It’s also worth noting that the sites ranked on page one of Google search results generally have an average page speed of 1.65 seconds.

Website speed affects user experience

If your dropshipping website takes an age to load and is a little lackluster where response load times are concerned, your site offers a bad user experience. Not only is waiting for content to load frustrating, but it is also likely to result in them leaving your website. And don’t expect them to return either. 40% of consumers would abandon a site if it hadn’t loaded within 3 seconds.

What factors have an effect on the site speed of my dropshipping business

Many different things will impact the time it takes your dropshipping website to load and respond to customer interactions. These include (but aren’t limited to):

• Page weight. Page weight refers to the number of elements a website needs to load. And this can have a huge impact on site performance. Customer-friendly features such as large JavaScript files, video content, and high-definition images will all add additional load time to any given page. So, keeping your website light with smaller file sizes to ensure quick-loading pages is essential.
• Network conditions. So, you’ve managed to keep your pages lightweight for speedier load times, but all is still not well. Why? Network speed can also impact the time it takes for your website to load. Unfortunately, this one is a problem you can’t fully address.
• Hosting location. Where your website is being hosted will also impact site speed. So, if the content offered by your dropshipping business has to travel a long way to get to where it has been requested, network latency is to be expected.

Some of these factors are out of your hands. However, some website speed issues can be addressed to improve your dropshipping site’s speed. And there are a few other solutions that could help improve your website speed too. Find out more below.

How can I improve my dropshipping website's speed?

Several things can help improve your site loading and response speed with minimal effort on your part.

Integrating WP Astra is a great idea for non-coders. The WordPress Astra is fast and fully customizable. And this WordPress theme is an appropriate choice for blogs, personal portfolios, business websites, and (the key one here) WooCommerce dropshipping eCommerce website.

Astra has been specifically designed to be extremely lightweight and boasts unrivalled loading speeds. This WordPress integration was developed with SEO in mind. WP Astra comes with integrated Schema.org code and is Native AMP-ready (Accelerated Mobile Pages), so search engines are practically guaranteed to reward your site.

Astra also offers additional special features and templates which allow it to work in perfect harmony with alternative page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and many more.

Another key integration to consider is Spocket. With WordPress WooCommerce, Astra and Spocket, you’ve got yourself a winning combination that’s going to be very difficult to beat.

What are the benefits of integrating Spocket into your dropshipping platform?

When it comes to dropshipping, Spocket is one of the best platforms around. So, if you’re interested in launching dropshipping business via the WordPress WooCommerce platform and integrating Astra, be sure to sign up for Spocket too.

The key to running a prosperous dropshipping business is being super fussy about which suppliers you partner with. And Spocket has made it its mission to shoulder that responsibility. Spocket has a direct connection with WordPress WooCommerce which facilitates dropshipping businesses finding suppliers that they can rely on. Suppliers that will ship products directly to their customers. And the Spocket platform is right to be proud of its rigorous screening process.

Spocket will only accept partnerships with high-quality suppliers. And if you’re not able to meet its strict standards, your business will not be approved. It’s also good to know that the majority of Spocket’s rivals aren't nearly as rigorous in their partner selection process.

Spocket has a strict verification process. And every would-be supplier must tick each box before receiving approval to be a dropshipping partner.

Here is an overview of the expected standards a supplier needs to meet before being approved to supply for Spocket dropshipping eCommerce entrepreneurs:

• A supplier’s products must be high-quality and meet both EU and US standards
• A supplier must have a good reputation
• A supplier must be able to provide fast shipping and tracking information
• A supplier’s products must be competitively priced
• A supplier is required to maintain an order success rate of 95%
• A supplier is required to answer any order inquiries 24-48 hours after shipment

When, and only when a supplier has successfully proven themselves capable across all of the outlined criteria will they be approved. These requirements are in place to protect businesses using Spocket. They ensure that only high-quality products are sold to their customers and help to minimize potential eCommerce problems.

Upcoming Spocket features that can help your dropshipping business succeed

Spocket is continually building on and improving its range of user-friendly features that will improve your dropshipping site. Check out the latest site-savvy implemented features below.

SmartLi: Spocket’s AI writer

SmartLi has been engineered to support e-commerce and dropshipping businesses with SEO-optimized content creation. Creating fresh and engaging content is effective in attracting and retaining customers. But high-quality content takes time. And if content creation isn’t in your skillset, it can be costly too.

Don’t panic, SmartLi is on hand to help! SmartLi is an AI writer that helps you create engaging and fully optimized content while keeping costs to a minimum. With Spocket’s AI writer, you can generate anything your site requires including text for ads, blogs, or product descriptions in just a matter of seconds. Given how much time would need to be spent researching and writing, the value of SmartLi is evident.

Plus, SmartLi’s algorithms will identify and incorporate relevant keywords and phrases too. This will result in your content ranking higher in search engine results pages which should lead to more traffic and thus, more conversions. Win-win.

DropGenius: Spocket’s AI store builder

Do you feel like launching a profitable dropshipping e-store in minutes? Well, with DropGenius you absolutely can! DropGenius is an AI-powered dropshipping store builder that will allow you to build your dream dropshipping store with little-to-no effort. All you’ll have to do is pick out a color scheme, define your category, and split that category into relevant subcategories. Then, in no time at all, your store will be ready to start selling.

Your set-up details will then be shared via email. What’s more, DropGenius has been through rigorous in-house testing. Spocket has made sure that its AI Builder delivers the highest possible conversion rates. And, just like SmartLi, the DropGenius AI algorithms have been programmed to ensure that you are always recommended the very best products. Grant yourself confidence in your products and their ability to convert.

DropGenius also boasts customized themes. This will enable you to tailor your site theme to your preferences. Your store should look professional and engaging to build trust with your customers. And with more than 1 million products to choose from, the future of your store is in great hands.

Jubilee: The White Label Beauty Dropshipping App

Fancy building your own cosmetics and beauty brand? How about skipping out on the hassle of manufacturing and stocking products? That’s where Jubilee comes in.

Spocket has designed its very own white-label beauty dropshipping app so that you can create your brand through US suppliers offering high-quality white-label dropshipping products.

And, you won’t need to worry about minimum order quantities either. Take full advantage of private label packaging and fast worldwide shipping to advance the success of your new beauty brand with Spocket.