Does your dealership website load fast enough for your customers? The average time it takes for an automotive mobile landing page to load fully is 9.5 seconds. However, 53% of users will exit a mobile page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load, according to research from Google. How long does it take for your automotive website to load? You can check on the speed of your website here
People spend a lot more time doing research and being selective when it comes to a car purchase compared to other purchases because of how expensive cars are. According to Think With Google, a customer’s car-buying journey included 139 Google searches, with 71% of the searches being conducted on a mobile device. Consumers will leave dealership websites that load slowly and search for another, and therefore those dealerships never make it to the final cut for the customer. If you want to rise above the competition, you need to have a website that loads quickly.
What happens if my dealership website loads too slowly?
We live in a world where consumers want to find new information as fast as they can, on-the-go.
Here are some statistics that show how much website speed can affect your business:
- The average American adult has an attention span of 8 seconds or less.
- In 2018, a one-second delay was equal to a 7% reduction in conversions (Forbes Magazine).
- A website that takes 7 seconds to load increases the probability of bouncing by 113% (Google).
Not only does a slow website turn away potential new customers, but it also hurts your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google uses the landing page experience of sites as a factor in determining search engine rankings. A slow website gets higher bounce rates, which lowers your overall ranking. A website that loads quickly will rank higher because of the higher quality experience, a better score on search engines, and because customers are more likely to stay on the site.
What causes a website to load slowly?
Many things or a combination of factors can contribute to a slowly loading website. The most common reasons include, but are not limited to:
- Too many advertisements
- Lack of a browser cache
- Too many plugins or extensions
- Bad website hosting
- Unclean coding
Usually, the most common reason for a website to load slowly is because of unoptimized images and graphics. A web page on a dealership website will often have more than 15 photos, but they don’t automatically resize themselves for the screen they’re viewed on, thus slowing down the entire process.
Most online searches today are made on a mobile device. However, a lot of dealership websites haven’t been optimized for smartphones or tablets. Websites will load slowly on other devices if they aren’t mobile-optimized. It takes time for the pages that were meant for desktop computers to try to display properly on a much smaller screen. This means that having a website that is responsive to any device is more crucial now than ever before.
What should I do if my dealer website loads slowly?
There isn’t one perfect solution to fix this issue, but there are a few things that you can do. Try looking at the backend of your website to see if there are any coding errors. Repeated or incorrect codes can cause your site to slow down, and it is usually not hard to fix as long as you know what you’re doing.
Try to minimize the number of plugins, extensions, and advertisements on your website. If you have too many graphics that take up a lot of storage, try to cut down on those as well. The more content a website needs to load, the slower it will load, so try splitting your content onto different pages.
The best thing to do is to use a responsive web design because this will ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and can display properly on any screen size.
At AutoJini, we know the importance and the struggle of having a website that loads quickly while still having all the essential features. AutoJini.com has optimized all websites to load in less than 4 seconds. This way, you will never have to miss out on a potential new customer or sale. Our sites are made with a responsive web design, meaning that all of the content and graphics will automatically adjust to work seamlessly on any device. Call or contact us today to get started!