There are 3 metrics to pay attention to when testing a website’s load time & performance:
First Contentful Paint (FCP) time: how long it takes for the first pixels to load
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) time: how long it takes for the largest image & text to load on the site. This is the most common way of measuring how long it takes for a site to be fully loaded for a visitor.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): this is a measure of how “stable” the website is when loading (i.e. do images load in and stay in place or do they shift up/down when loading in the website)
FCP, LCP, and CLS are used to measure a website’s overall performance. Together, these 3 metrics have a strong impact a website’s conversion rate, organic ranking, paid marketing performance, and overall customer experience.
According to the audit results:
The Bleekman site has an good CLS score on mobile and desktop devices.
The Bleekman site has a poor FCP time on mobile and desktop devices.
The Bleekman site has a poor LCP time on mobile and desktop devices.
Exact measurements from the audit:
The Bleekman website has a FCP time of 1.9s on mobile and desktop. It’s recommended that ecommerce sites have a FCP time of <1.8s.
The Bleekman website has a LCP time of 3.8s on mobile and 4.2s on desktop. It’s recommended that ecommerce sites have a LCP time of <2.5s.
In short, this means that the Bleekman website is taking too long to load on both mobile and desktop devices.
The extra load time might seem minimal; however, ecommerce is a game of milliseconds.
Research shows that conversion rates will increase with every additional millisecond you are able to shave off of the website’s load time.
Also, online shoppers are impatient. 53% of visitors will leave a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load (
Based on the site speed audit results, there are a handful of technical issues slowing down the website.
Most notably, the site is being slowed down by to excess Javascript, HTML, and CSS code present in the site. This is a the most common occurrence in ecommerce sites hosted on Shopify. Every app installed, theme change, and third party script (i.e. Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, etc.) injects code into the site. Even if the app/theme is removed, the code stays behind, accumulating over time.
The best way to improve the Bleekman website’s load time is by optimizing the codebase.
During this process, necessary Javascript & CSS code is compressed to run more efficiently, and unused code is deleted altogether.
Deleting this code not only will improve the website’s load time, but will increase the site’s overall conversion rate.
1 second improvement in page load time will increase mobile CVR by up to 27% (
to help ecommerce companies maximize their conversion rate through proper site speed optimization. To date, we’ve helped more than a dozen Shopify sites increase their CVR by 20-50% through site speed optimization.
If you’d like to learn more about our site speed optimization services:
Explanation: First Contentful Paint (FCP) measures how long it takes for content to start appearing on a website. This is typically an empty box or plain text. It’s the first pixels rendered in for the site.
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 1.8 seconds.
Largest Contentful Paint: 3.8 seconds
Explanation: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for a website to display its biggest single content element. It's one of the most common ways to measure page load time.
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 2.5 seconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift: 0
Explanation: Cumulative Layout Shift is a measure of how “stable” your website it after it first renders. A website that has content shift down as more object load will have a higher score. Cumulative Layout Shift is one of the core ranking factors for Google.
In short, this means that there is a substantial amount Javascript, HTML, and CSS code that is slowing down the site. There are four ways that Javascript code can accumulate on your site: when you connect a new Shopify app, when you use certain themes, when you use third-party scripts such as Facebook Pixel or Google Analytics, and if you have custom code on your site. The biggest culprit is Shopify apps. Each app “injects” a bit of code into your site. Even if the app is deleted, the code it injects stays behind. Over time, this code will slow down your site’s load time.
Minimize main-thread work
Main thread overload happens when too many tasks, like heavy JavaScript execution, complex CSS code, and third-party scripts, are processed simultaneously. This slows down the site’s load time. The best way to fix this is to delete unused Javascript, compress essential Javascript code, and remove unnecessary third party scripts.
Optimize Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
The LCP takes up a considerable amount of main thread resources when loading. As a result, it needs to be optimized through image compression, preloading important page elements, and eliminating unused CSS and Javascript files.
Reduce the impact of third-party code
Third-party scripts, such as ads, analytics, and social media widgets, can slow down your site. Delaying the firing of analytics, or deferring them from using the main thread, can improve performance.
Desktop Page Speed Audit
Results
First Contentful Paint: 1.9 seconds
Explanation: First Contentful Paint (FCP) measures how long it takes for content to start appearing on a website. This is typically an empty box or plain text. It’s the first pixels rendered in for the site.
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 1.8 seconds.
Largest Contentful Paint: 4.2 seconds
Explanation: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for a website to display its biggest single content element. It's one of the most common ways to measure page load time.
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 2.5 seconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.01
Explanation: Cumulative Layout Shift is a measure of how “stable” your website it after it first renders. A website that has content shift down as more object load will have a higher score. Cumulative Layout Shift is one of the core ranking factors for Google.
In short, this means that there is a substantial amount Javascript, HTML, and CSS code that is slowing down the site. There are four ways that Javascript code can accumulate on your site: when you connect a new Shopify app, when you use certain themes, when you use third-party scripts such as Facebook Pixel or Google Analytics, and if you have custom code on your site. The biggest culprit is Shopify apps. Each app “injects” a bit of code into your site. Even if the app is deleted, the code it injects stays behind. Over time, this code will slow down your site’s load time.
Minimize main-thread work
Main thread overload happens when too many tasks, like heavy JavaScript execution, complex CSS code, and third-party scripts, are processed simultaneously. This slows down the site’s load time. The best way to fix this is to delete unused Javascript, compress essential Javascript code, and remove unnecessary third party scripts.
Optimize Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
The LCP takes up a considerable amount of main thread resources when loading. As a result, it needs to be optimized through image compression, preloading important page elements, and eliminating unused CSS and Javascript files.
Reduce the impact of third-party code
Third-party scripts, such as ads, analytics, and social media widgets, can slow down your site. Delaying the firing of analytics, or deferring them from using the main thread, can improve performance.
It’s common for the same technical issues to affect the site on mobile and on the web. The issues are extenuated on mobile due to the lower processing power.
Ecommerce Site Speed Statistics
Anyone selling products on the internet should think about their website’s speed. It’s the biggest lever any ecommerce business can make to increase sales and revenue.
And the research backs it up:
Improving a website’s load time by 1 second can increase mobile conversion rate by up to 27% (
Let’s make it real with an example. Let’s say an ecommerce site get’s 100,000 visitors per month and has a 3% conversion rate.
If that site is optimized for speed, and see a 20% increase in conversion rates, it would go from 3000 sales/month to 3600 sales/month. At an AOV of $30, that’s an addition $20,000 per month in sales for every 100,000 visitors.