In its simplest terms, page load time is the average amount of time it takes for a page to show up on your screen. It’s calculated from initiation (when you click on a page link or type in a Web address) to completion (when the page is fully loaded in the browser). Usually it’s measured in seconds.
A 1 second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. This chart also shows how a user remains impatient once we click through that top result Google gave us: half of us will abandon a Web page that takes more than four seconds to load. The stakes are getting even higher as more traffic moves to mobile devices: 40% of shoppers accessing an e-commerce site with their smartphone give up after just three seconds of waiting for a page to load. If you are in the Financial Services industry, that visitor giving up while the page continues to load will lead into a lost client acquisition.
Put yourself in the shoes of your customer or possible new client, and you will realize people hate waiting for a website to load! Web page load time not only impacts user engagement with content but also impacts the wesbite funnel strategy, and thus your site conversion rate.
.