Introduction

A lot of us performance nerds talk a lot about metrics and why performance is important.

I want to take a step back. Let's not talk about fast sites.

Let's talk about slow sites.

Why are slow sites annoying?

Fun fact: I got the idea to write this when I saw my mom using a site and going "Argh, why is this so slow?!"

Think of your own experience

Have you ever used a site, app or game that was slow? Slower than expected? So slow you ask yourself if your internet connection is working?

I've had those experiences. Every time they happen, I get annoyed.

When I've such an experience, it makes me wanna use a different site, app or game. I feel frustrated. I feel like I'm wasting my time.

The question is why?

Why would you be annoyed when something is slow? Why is that not okay?

More precisely: Why would you be annoyed when something is slower than you expect?

We get used to the norms

You get used whatever becomes normal. If it's raining every day, and then suddenly you have one sunny day, the sunny day will stand out.

I experience it myself here in Germany. It doesn't snow often during winter. Only a handful of times. However, when it does snow, it's a big deal. I become excited about it. Seeing it. Touching it. I'm hoping that tomorrow snows too.

It's because snow is not normal.

However, in this situation, it's an upside.

The point is, when something is normal, you get used to it. When something abnormal happens, it stands out. That "standing out" can be bad or good.

Slow sites are abnormal

This isn't true for all regions around the world. In some regions, the internet is slow. The people in the region are used to the slowness. So when it's fast, it's a contrast that's good.

Anyways, for a lot of us, the web is fast. If something is abnormally slow, it's annoying. It's annoying because we're used to solving our problems on the web fast.

So the slowness is like a wake up call. It's like the mind going "Wow, what's happening here?"

Even if it's not too slow. I know from personal experience, if one navigation is slightly slow, I sometimes think to myself "Is something wrong with my internet connection? I hope no further navigations are this slow.

Sometimes, I'll even open a different app or site just to check if it's the same slowness. If it is, I usually know it's my internet connection. If it's not, I usually become annoyed because it's something wrong with the site.

Trust

Slowness can affect trust. If a site is really slow, I'm worried that it's not working properly. If I used my credit card, will it charge twice? will charge at all? how many times will it charge? How long before I get the confirmation email?

Like, I just get a bunch of negative thoughts when a site is slow. Especially if I'm not familiar with the site and the UI isn't aesthetic. And yes, aesthetic UI does communicate "we take it seriously" to an extent. But that's for another post.

What if your site is faster than all your competitors?

With this perspective in mind, what if your site is faster than all your competitors?

I mean, there isn't really much to say here. Let that sink in for a moment. You can pick any niche. Imagine the best site in that industry. What if it was 5x faster?

This post is to get both of us to think.

Conclusion

If we can conclude anything, it's that performance is directly linked to user experience and increasing your business' revenue.