E-commerce success in view: How poor webshop hosting reduces sales
The stage of modern commerce has long since gone digital and an effective web store forms the core of any successful e-commerce business.
While companies tirelessly hone product optimizations and refine marketing strategies, one elementary factor often remains hidden in the shadows: the hosting of the webshop.
But this is about much more than just technical infrastructure - it's about connecting directly with your potential customers and their online shopping behavior.
Poor web store hosting can have devastating effects on sales figures, so it's all the more important to take a closer look at the potential difficulties and far-reaching effects of poor web store hosting on sales figures.
We take an in-depth look at the potential problems and drastic consequences behind a poorly hosted web store.
The key role for an inspiring user experience in the web store
The speed at which your website loads is a crucial factor in the success of your web store.
One thing is certain: faster websites lead to more customers and more sales.
Inferior hosting leads to longer loading times because the server capacity is not enough to handle the traffic.
According to Google studies, more than 53% of users leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
This leads to a negative user experience and a decrease in sales.
How do I find out how fast my webshop is?
The speed of your web store is a crucial factor for the success of your e-commerce business. A slow loading time can scare off potential customers and lead to a drop in sales.
Therefore, the speed of your web store should be checked and ensured regularly.
There are several online tools that can help you measure the load time of your web store. The most popular ones include Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, Pingdom and WebPageTest.
Just enter the URL of your web store, and these tools will give you detailed information about the loading time and performance of your website. You'll also get recommendations on how to improve the speed.
It's important to note that the loading time of a web store can vary on different devices and in different browsers. Make sure to test the loading time on desktop computers, tablets and smartphones, as well as in different browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Safari. This way, you'll get a comprehensive picture of how fast your web store is for your entire target audience.
After you have measured the loading time of your web store, it is important to analyze the results carefully. Pay particular attention to the following key figures:
Loading time:
The total time it takes to fully load your website.
First Contentful Paint (FCP):
The time it takes for the first content to appear on the screen.
First Input Delay (FID):
The time it takes for the website to respond to user input.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint):
The time it takes to load the largest visible element on the page.
These metrics give you insight into the user experience on your website. The faster these values are, the better your website is performing.
Always available, always reliable
Another critical aspect is the availability of your website. If your hosting provider does not ensure high availability, this can lead to downtime.
Downtime means that potential customers can't access your products, which leads to lost sales.
Repeated downtime can undermine customers' trust in your brand, as they get the impression that your company is not reliable.
Rise or fall: how webshop hosting affects your SEO rankings
It may come as a surprise that your web store hosting plays a significant role in how well your site performs in search results.
Search engines like Google take into account a variety of factors to evaluate the relevance of a website. A central SEO factor here is PageSpeed.
Search engines prefer pages that load quickly, as this improves the user experience. Inferior hosting can lead to slow loading times, which in turn leads to lower rankings in search results.
This means that even if you have great content and products, your web store might take a back seat if your web host's performance is not right.
Scalability for peak times
E-commerce web stores are often subject to seasonal fluctuations and peak times such as holidays or sales promotions.
Poor hosting is more likely to have problems handling visitor peaks in your own web store.
This can cause the website to crash, which not only leads to lost sales, but can also affect your company's image.
Gain trust, strengthen brand
Hosting influences not only technical aspects, but also customer trust in your brand.
A website that loads quickly and is reliably available leaves a positive impression on visitors.
In contrast, a slow or frequently down page can give the impression that your company is not professional.
Customers are hesitant to buy from such a company, this has a direct impact on sales figures.
Conclusion
Professional webshop hosting is the foundation for successful e-commerce. Faster loading times lead to more customers and more sales.
Loading times also have a significant effect on SEO.
Poor hosting that causes longer loading times, on the other hand, brings some disadvantages that cost pure money.
These factors are directly responsible for the impact on sales and revenue. Investing in high-quality hosting is not merely an expense, but a strategic move to ensure the smooth functioning of your website - it should load quickly and always be available.
Better to spend a few euros more on high-quality hosting, it will pay off in more ways than one: Your visitor numbers will increase, the conversion rate will increase and the trust of customers will be strengthened, establishing your company as a trustworthy brand in the long run and keeping it on the road to success.