What is page speed worth for e-commerce checkout? A worked example.
Shoppers who reach checkout have already decided to buy. A slow, janky cart is where that intent leaks out, one abandoned order at a time. On this profile, going from 3.4s to 1.8s models about $57.1K a month in extra revenue.
assumptions
A planning profile for this kind of site. Every figure is yours to change in the calculator.
- Current load time (p75): 3.4s
- Target load time: 1.8s
- Monthly visits in scope: 200K
- Current conversion rate: 2.4%
- Value of a completed order: $62.00
- Conversion lift per 100ms faster: 1.2%
revenue_uplift
+$57.1K/ month
$685.7K / year · +922 completed orders / month
- Time shaved off
- 1.6s
- Relative conversion lift
- +19%
- Conversion rate
- 2.4% → 2.86%
- Each 100ms is worth
- $3,571/mo
- Revenue now → at target
- $297.6K → $354.7K
Computed by the Page Speed → Revenue model · planning estimate, not a guarantee
why_speed_pays_here
Why speed maps to money for e-commerce checkout
Checkout is the most speed-sensitive screen on a store. The visitor has high intent and a full cart, so every extra second of spinner is a direct invitation to abandon. Retail studies have put the conversion cost of a one-second delay in the double digits of percent, which is why the speed-to-revenue link is clearest here.
Where the load time goes. On most stores the cart and checkout routes are the heaviest pages on the site: third-party scripts (analytics, chat, A/B tools), an oversized JavaScript bundle, and uncached calls to tax, shipping, and inventory services all stack up on the critical path. The fastest win is usually trimming third-party tags on the checkout route and deferring everything not needed to take payment.
faq
Questions & answers
- How much revenue can faster page speed add for e-commerce checkout?
- On this profile (3.4s to 1.8s at 200K visits a month), the model puts the gain at about $57.1K a month, or $685.7K a year, from a roughly 19% relative lift in conversion. Your real numbers will differ; tune them in the calculator.
- Is the 19% conversion lift realistic?
- It comes from one assumption you can change: a 1.2% relative conversion change per 100ms faster, applied to the 1.6s this profile shaves off. That sensitivity is in the range of widely cited retail studies; for lower-intent traffic use a smaller figure, for high-intent checkout flows a larger one. The model also caps the modeled lift so an extreme speedup can't imply a fantasy multiplier.
- What's the fastest way to speed up e-commerce checkout?
- On most stores the cart and checkout routes are the heaviest pages on the site: third-party scripts (analytics, chat, A/B tools), an oversized JavaScript bundle, and uncached calls to tax, shipping, and inventory services all stack up on the critical path. The fastest win is usually trimming third-party tags on the checkout route and deferring everything not needed to take payment.
That uplift is the business case. Hitting the target is the work.
I'll find where your real load time goes and what it takes to actually reach the target. Book a call, or leave your email and I'll reach out.
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