Milliseconds make millions
Tags: webdev, webperf
Published: 2020-09-11 04:47:26

[Milliseconds make millions](https://www2.deloitte.com/ie/en/pages/consulting/articles/milliseconds-make-millions.html) is a new study that shows the significant impact of site speed on the customer's actions on mobile devices. The results show that even small improvements can have a positive effect on the business results for brands.

Based on a 0.1-second improvement, the key findings they made should convince every product owner, marketing manager, or decision-maker to invest in web performance or, even better, to encourage creating a dedicated performance team.

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The results reveal that mobile speed improvements have a direct correlation to improved funnel progression. Besides that, they observed a positive change in page views, conversion rates, and average order value. A 0.1-second improvement of mobile site speed increases conversion rates by 8.4% for retail sites and 10.1% for travel sites.

## The need for mobile speed

Speed has a significant impact on user experience. As more and more people use their mobile phones in their daily lives, speed plays a vital role in their web experience. We, as users on the web, are sensitive. A user loses focus after 1 second (High-Performance Browser Networking - Ilya Grigorik).

| Time | User Impact |
| ----------- | ----------- |
| 0 - 16ms | Users perceive an action or animation as smooth as 60 frames are rendered every second. That is 16 ms per frame. |
| 0 – 100 ms | In this range, the user feels that the responses to his actions are instant. |
| 100 – 300 ms | Users experience a small perceptible delay. |
| 300 - 1000 ms | Actions feel slow, and the user recognizes that something has to be done (page load, etc.) |
| 1000 ms - +  | Users will likely have a mental context switch. |
| 10 s - +  | Users will leave. |

## Study summary

All of the improvements that were observed resulted from an 0.1s improvement of four metrics: 

- First Meaningful Paint
- Estimated Input Latency
- Observed Load (Avg. Page Load Time in Google Analytics)
- Max Server Latency (Time To First Byte)

## Retail

For retail, the study includes 15 brands, and the findings are based on 20.5 million user sessions with an improvement of 0.1s of the four metrics. They observed a positive change in progression through the purchase funnel on mobile devices. The user transaction increased by 8.4%, and the average order values increased by 9.2%.

![Retail results](https://marcradziwill.com/assets/images/milliseconds-make-millions/8457ca73-1200.jpeg 'Retail results')

[source](https://web.dev/milliseconds-make-millions/)

For retail product details page are very important. Many customers from ads will come to the product details page directly. After the improvement, they measured an increase of 3.2% from users that navigated from the product listing page to the details page. Additionally, the results show a rise of 9.1% of the users that added the product to the basket.

## Travel

The results were based on 7.4 million users for travel, and by 0.1s improvement of mobile site speed, they measured a 10.1% increment for the conversion rate. The page views per session rose by almost 3%, and the bounce rate on product listing pages decreased by 5.4%. These numbers seem little, but depending on your revenue, they can bring dollar signs into your managers' eyes.

![Travel results](https://marcradziwill.com/assets/images/milliseconds-make-millions/88a865cc-1200.jpeg 'Travel results')

[source](https://web.dev/milliseconds-make-millions/)

## Luxury

The data from the luxury brands based on 2.1 million user sessions had a significant impact on the user's behavior. The results show a 40.1% increase in users that moved from the product details page to add to basket, and the bounce rate of these pages decreased by 4.8% on desktop and 3.8% on mobile.

![Luxury results](https://marcradziwill.com/assets/images/milliseconds-make-millions/2b478e0b-1200.jpeg 'Luxury results')

[source](https://web.dev/milliseconds-make-millions/)

## Lead generation

Lead generation describes the consumer engagement and likelihood to convert to a customer. The data based on 505k user sessions and also had a considerable impact. They measured a 21.6% increase from the first step of the form to the form submission page, and the bounce rate decreased 8.3% on mobile and 3.4% on desktop.

![Lead generation results](https://marcradziwill.com/assets/images/milliseconds-make-millions/db16ce79-1200.jpeg 'Lead generation results')

[source](https://web.dev/milliseconds-make-millions/)

## What should this tell you?

Speed is essential for your business. If your marketing manager hasn't tried to convince your decision-makers yet, show them the study results. The numbers speak for themselves, and no one can ignore a rise in a 10% conversion rate.

## Conclusion <div id="conclusion"></div>

In this post, I presented you with the new study "milliseconds make millions". Read the [full version](https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ie/Documents/Consulting/Milliseconds_Make_Millions_report.pdf) if you want to know more.

If you like this article, smile for a moment, share it, follow me, [check out my RSS feed](https://marcradziwill.com/blog/rss.xml), and [subscribe to my newsletter](https://marcradziwill.com/newsletter/).

Cheers Marc

### Further Reading

- [Milliseconds make millions (web.dev article)](https://web.dev/milliseconds-make-millions/)
- [Milliseconds make millions - Study (pdf)](https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ie/Documents/Consulting/Milliseconds_Make_Millions_report.pdf)