Slow websites especially slow loading websites have been a long standing concern of many a webmaster or site owner. A major concern of website revamps or redesigns including new features and new strategy is that it could also result in longer loading times.

All said and done the only way to know what works best for your audience is to test out the elements you are thinking of incorporating and ask for feedback from those who visit the website most frequently. A Slow website should not be a major focus but should be of some concern. Lets try and put this in some context.

Research shows that most people expect a website to load in about 3 seconds. Any longer than 3 seconds then you are losing your potential audience. To put this in some sort of context – a one second delay in load time would cost Amazon an estimated $1.6 billion annually.

A one second delay in load time according to research causes 11% fewer page views, 16% decrease in customer satisfaction and a 7% loss in conversions. The top 50 e-tailers have an average load time of 4.83 seconds. Check out the infographic below for more on the cost of a slow website.