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Designer Wellness - Site Speed Audit

Brough to you by
Roadrunner
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- Shopify Site Speed Experts

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Website:
https://designerwellness.com/
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Link to PageSpeed Test Results
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Overview
The Designer Wellness site has solid performance and loading speed on desktop devices.
However, the website is failing 3 of the 4 core performance metrics on mobile devices.
Most notably, the site’s Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is 13.0 seconds on mobile. It’s recommended that ecommerce site have an LCP of 2-3 seconds on mobile devices.
Not only is LCP the most common way a website’s page load time is measured, a poor LCP time will have negative effects on a site’s conversion rate and bounce rate (which will hurt its organic ranking and paid marketing performance).
The primary technical issue slowing down the site’s load time is excess Javascript/HTML/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.
I recommend a codebase audit to remove the excess/unused code. This will have positive impacts on the page load time, which will have positive impacts on conversion rates, search ranking, paid marketing performance, and overall customer experience.
For more information about optimizing the site, visit the section titled Next Steps.
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Mobile Page Speed Audit

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Summary

The Designer Wellness Shopify site is failing 3 of the 4 core performance metrics on mobile devices: First Contentful Paint, Largest Contentful Paint, and Total Blocking Time.
The most important metric to note is Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). Not only is LCP the most common way of measuring a website’s page load time, poor LCP time will have negative effects on conversion rate and bounce rate (which will hurt search rankings and paid marketing performance).
The site had an LCP of 13 seconds on mobile devices. It is recommended that ecommerce sites have an LCP of 2-3 seconds.
There are two technical issues that are causing the poor performance on mobile:
Excess/Unused Javascript, HTML, and CSS code
Slow main thread loading, likely due to the excess/unused code present in the site.

Results

First Contentful Paint: 3.0 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: 13.0 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.
Total Blocking Time: 6560 ms (6.56 seconds)
Explanation: Total Blocking Time (TBT) measures how responsive your site is to user input (i.e. if the user performs an action, such as click a button, how long before the next action can be performed).
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 0.3 seconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.049
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.
Optime score for ecommerce sites is < 0.1.
Speed Index: 12.3 seconds
Explanation: Speed Index (SI) measures how quickly content appears on your website. The value is determined visually by analyzing screenshots of your website during the page load process. Speed Index is a lesser important metric comparatively; however, optimizing it will benefit the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 3 seconds.

Optimization

Accord to the PageSpeed results, there are 4 technical issues slowing down the website:
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Reduce Javascript execution time / Reduce excess Javascript, HTML, CSS
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.
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Desktop Page Speed Audit

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Summary

The Designer Wellness site has much better performance on desktop devices than on mobile devices.
The only metric to note is Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). The site is has an LCP of 3.2 seconds on desktop. It’s recommended for ecommerce sites to have an LCP between 1 - 3 seconds on desktop.
Since the LCP is barely outside the standard range, it’s likely having little effect on conversion rate and bounce rate.
The same technical issues that are effecting the site on mobile devices are effecting the site on desktop.
Optimizing the site to improve mobile performance will have positive effects on desktop performance.

Results

First Contentful Paint: 0.6 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: 3.2 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.
Total Blocking Time: 330 ms (0.33 seconds)
Explanation: Total Blocking Time (TBT) measures how responsive your site is to user input (i.e. if the user performs an action, such as click a button, how long before the next action can be performed).
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 0.3 seconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.03
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.
Optime score for ecommerce sites is < 0.1.
Speed Index: 3.9 seconds
Explanation: Speed Index (SI) measures how quickly content appears on your website. The value is determined visually by analyzing screenshots of your website during the page load process. Speed Index is a lesser important metric comparatively; however, optimizing it will benefit the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
Optimal time for ecommerce sites is < 3 seconds.

Optimization

Accord to the PageSpeed results, there are 4 technical issues slowing down the website:
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image.png
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Reduce Javascript execution time
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.
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Next Steps

Anyone selling products on the internet should think about their website’s speed. It plays a major part in how effectively a website can turn visitors into paying customers.
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Shopify
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found that a 1 second improvement in website speed can boost mobile conversion by up to 27%.
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Deloitte
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found that a 0.1 second improvement in website speed can increase overall conversion rates by 8.4%.
Other sources have found interesting links between fast site speed and better SEO, lower cost acquisition costs when using paid ads, and an increase in repeat purchases.

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.

Site speed is important.

That’s why I started
Roadrunner
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, a done-for-you site speed optimization agency helping Shopify brands improve their online performance.

Our process is simple, straightforward, and requires no downtime for the website at all.

If you’re interested in learning more about the work we do at Roadrunner, please reach out to my on my
LinkedIn
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or via email (kris@tryroadrunner.com).

Best,
Kris
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