LiquidPixels Announces New Optimization Tool for Significant Reduction in E-Tail Page Load Speed
By: LiquidPixels | April 2, 2020 | 4 Min Read
Image Optimization Key to Limiting Page Abandonment and “Mobile First” Indexing
Rochester, NY — April 2, 2020
LiquidPixels, Inc., the premier provider of enterprise-class dynamic imaging solutions, today announced a new, free tool allowing visitors to understand the tremendous benefits of website image weight reduction. The new optimize.liquidpixels.com image analysis tool provides an assessment of how the images on any website affect page weight, which has a significant impact on website user experience and visitor abandonment rates.
According to Google/SOASTA Research, the probability of page bounce increases 32 percent as page load time increases from one second to three seconds. In addition, Google recently announced that by September it would index websites according to how well their pages were optimized for a mobile-first experience.
LiquidPixels generated a comparison of 17 retailers’ home pages from a cross section of product and industry categories through its new analysis engine to gauge which had prioritized how images impacted site load times and performance. Based on image weight, results varied from Target, which loaded the fastest, to Chow Tai Fook jewelers, which took the longest to load. The full list of tested retailer image optimization is in the chart below.
To illustrate the data, Tesco PLC has a 15.8MB page weight. On a 17Mbps mobile connection it would take almost seven seconds to download. If it were image optimized, the page weight (i.e., the page with optimized images) would be 12.4MB, which would download in five seconds. That’s a 28.6 percent increase in speed, or a two second savings.
Amazon.com is one of the most visited sites in the world; however, most people view the pages that are customized to their preferences. An analysis of the Amazon Basics page showed a staggering 29.3MB page weight. On a 17Mbps mobile connection, it would take 13 seconds to download. However, with imagery optimization, that download time would be cut by two seconds.
Chow Tai Fook, the privately-held Hong Kong conglomerate with holdings in fine jewelry, property development, hospitality, and retail, has an enormous page weight of 48.6MB that would take almost 23 seconds to load on a standard mobile connection. But, with optimized imagery, the load time would improve by at least five seconds.
Speed matters. According to research conducted by unbounce, 26.9 percent of mobile site visitors will only wait between one and three seconds for a site to load before they leave (Google says most leave if the site does not load in three seconds). 32.3 percent of visitors can wait four to six seconds before leaving, 24 percent wait between seven to 10 seconds, and 5.3 percent will wait up to 13 seconds before leaving for another site.
Image optimization is required for a site to download and render quickly on a mobile device. This capability is even more important as more shopping moves to the phone. Starting in September, Google will prioritize its site indexing by how well they are optimized for mobile. Sites that do not optimize how quickly they are delivered and correctly displayed on consumer devices will drop in organic search results.
“We were surprised at how much more some of the largest retailers on the web could be doing to optimize their site images consumption by today’s mobile-first shoppers,” said Steve Kristy, CEO, LiquidPixels. “The small sample we tested represents a broad swath of e-tailers—from jewelers to home improvement giants, to luxury goods, groceries, and clothing. All of these businesses rely on high fidelity images to encourage sales; but there’s so much more they could be doing to improve the shopping experience—especially on mobile devices—by optimizing images for quicker page loads and ultimately, conversions.”
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About LiquidPixels
LiquidPixels leads the imaging revolution. Built on open standards, our LiquiFire Dynamic Imaging Solutions integrate into existing Web and workflow environments, enhancing product creation and visualization while reducing production costs. Founded in 2000, LiquidPixels makes its patented technology available as a hosted service or via on-site enterprise servers with solutions that may be tailored to each of our customers’ unique needs. For more information, visit us at LiquidPixels.com.
Contact: Bruce G. Owens, Jr.
Email: sales@liquidpixels.com
Phone: 866-808-4937 (x307)
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