Inspired Testing has launched a new web performance audit service designed to help companies identify, troubleshoot and rectify user experience issues before they can affect their business performance.
The new service incorporates the changes to Google’s web ranking factors, including Core Web Vitals, which came into effect in June. Core Web Vitals measures usability factors such as average load times, interactivity and visual stability, and can affect a website’s overall rankings alongside Google’s traditional ranking metrics.
It also offers varying levels of consulting: From a basic actionable audit to intensive workshopping with development teams.
Bruce Zaayman, Director of Specialised Services, says many organisations aren’t even aware that they have a web performance problem.
“The speed of the user experience on your website, or lack thereof, may be reducing your business success,” says Zaayman. “Put another way, if you improve the speed of your online user experience, you’ll get better business results, especially when a large part of your business is dependent on e-commerce, advertising revenue, marketing or any other transactional service.”
Zaayman cites the recent example of international fashion brand Jimmy Choo, which reduced average page load times by over 60%. The home page now loads in just over six seconds following Inspired Testing’s advice.
Other improvements included:
- Largest Contentful Paint (FCP) is the loading of the largest visual piece of content on the website and Inspired Testing helped improve this metric by 78.7%;
- Time to First Byte (TTFB) was improved by 70.7%, which allowed users to interact and engage with the Jimmy Choo website much quicker; and
- First Meaningful Paint (FMP) improved by 60%, ranking Jimmy Choo’s website higher than any of its competitors in this metric.
“A myriad of issues can cause poor web performance, from slow server response times to unoptimised images, delivering large amounts of Javascript to mobile devices, using multiple third-party tags and using optimisation solutions that slow down rather than benefit the speed of user experience,” Zaayman says.
Inspired Testing’s web performance audit service is offered in three tiers:
- Silver (R59 995): Includes an audit of the site highlighting where the issues are located, and which improvements are required.
- Gold (R99 995): Includes all deliverables in Silver plus more details on how to implement the improvements, complete with prioritisation – and important consideration where too many problems often leads to inaction.
- Platinum (R139 995): Includes all deliverables in Gold plus a two-hour workshop with developers to detail how to implement the changes. Platinum also includes a six-month follow-up to assess how they’ve done and highlight any new challenges that have appeared since the audit.
“There’s a saying that goes: ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’ and that’s what this service is all about,” says Zaayman.
“There are various tools out there that offer one-stop solutions to web performance issues, and while some of these work very well in addressing specific issues like graphics optimisation, few address web performance as a whole, and none can claim to offer continual improvements as websites grow with new features and more traffic,” he says.
“Regardless of the engagement level with us, our goal is to give companies the insight they can use to continually improve their web performance over time. This involves an in-depth diagnosis of issues together with the development teams, and a broad range of solution recommendations including back-end response improvements, Content Delivery Network (CDN) implementation, image optimisation and front-end development advice.”
Despite abundant examples of the benefits, improving web performance is often overlooked. Many companies don’t have the experience or expertise to effectively measure the business impact of poor user experience, and while developers may be aware of issues, they are instead tasked with adding new features rather than troubleshoot existing ones.
“Whether you run an ad-driven website or an e-commerce website, we can help boost the bottom line by showing the business how improving the user experience reduces bounce rate and increases session length, conversion rate and basket value.”
Inspired Testing is offering your company a free web optimisation insights report that measures your website’s performance and offers advice on how to better optimise your website to reach your target audience. Click here to view your report.
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