Research Findings July 2011: Ecommerce Page Load Speed

Find out more or get in touch at www.TagMan.com

Global leader in tag management

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Study Reveals Major Concern Among Marketers About the Slowness of Their Sites
This report reveals the main findings of the TagMan Ecommerce Page Load Speed survey conducted in June 2011 among 60 digital marketers. TagMan conducted this study because slow loading pages is costing marketers millions in lost sales.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Page load speed is a big issue that few online marketers have fully addressed. Over 80% of those surveyed are concerned or very concerned about page load times, yet only 14% feel they have optimized their site speed. Also over 70% are aware tags can slow down pages, but only a third have actually taken any steps in this regard. 25% of respondents have not taken any steps to improve site speed, the majority have taken some steps but feel they could do more. Slow performing sites cost marketers in multiple ways. The top 3 areas impacted by slow performing sites are: reduced conversions, visitor abandonment and negative brand experience Some marketers realize that speed also has an impact on search engine optimization Marketers are trying to address site load performance in a number of ways Optimize page code (63% say they have done this) Performance monitoring (56% say they have done this) Reduce page weight (55% say they have done this) Tags are recognized as a culprit in underperforming sites, which helps explain a growing interest in tag management systems 72% of respondents claim to be aware tags can slow down pages

ABOUT TAGMAN
TagMan, the global leader in tag management, allows advertisers and their agencies to manage tags more efficiently. The survey coincides with the launch of the third generation of TagMans tag management platform. This launch features Smart Tag Loading--advanced tag loading techniques that speed up third party tags and overall page loading times. For more information on how TagMan can help speed up your website, please contact us at contact@tagman.com.

Research Findings July 2011: Ecommerce Page Load Speed

Find out more or get in touch at www.TagMan.com

Global leader in tag management

QUESTION ANALYSIS
1. How concerned are you with your sites page loading times? Responses show this is an important topic, with over 80% of respondents being concerned or very concerned about page load times. 50% are very concerned and 31% somewhat concerned. Only 2% say they are not concerned at all.
How concerned are you with your sites page loading times?
Very concerned Somewhat concerned Neutral Not concerned

10

20

30

40

2. Please rank the following on how slow loading sites impact your organization (1 most impact, 5 least impact) The top 3 areas impacted by slow performing sites are reduced conversions (51% had this as #1 reason), visitor abandonment (46% ranked this #2) and perceived negative brand experience (47% ranked this #3). Reduced repeat visits and switching to competitive sites appear as 4 and 5 ranking. It was also mentioned page load speed has an impact on search engine optimization from two perspectives: search engine spider crawl depth and Googles landing page quality score. This demonstrates the importance of conversions but also less quantitative measurable elements like brand perception and SEO.

Please rank the following on how slow loading sites impact your organization (1 most impact, 5 least impact)

Reduced conversion/revenue

Visitor abandonment

1 2 3

Perceived negative brand experience

4 5

Reduced repeat visits

Switching to competitor site

10

15

20

25

30

Research Findings July 2011: Ecommerce Page Load Speed

Find out more or get in touch at www.TagMan.com

Global leader in tag management

3. Are you actively addressing performance challenges on your site? The majority of respondents have taken some steps to improve site speed but feel they could do more. A quarter of respondents have not taken any steps to improve site speed, but half of these are investigating what steps to take. Only 14% have fully optimized their site. This demonstrates there are areas of improvements and most sites can be optimized further.

Are you actively addressing performance challenges on your site?

59.4%

No Not currently but we are investigating this

14.1%

We have taken some steps but think we need to do more We believe we are optimizing our site to full extent

12.5% 14.1%

4. What measures have you taken to improve the speed of your site? The most important 3 steps taken to optimize site speed are, in order of importance: 1. Optimize page code (63% say they have done this) 2. Performance monitoring (56% say they have done this). For client advertisers performance monitoring was more important as 65% say they have done this 3. Reduce page weight (55% say they have done this) Reducing or removing 3rd party tags is actually claimed to be done by 35% of respondents. The problems with removing or reducing the amount of marketing pixels is you lose the benefits of having these tags for web analytics, marketing or technical services.

Research Findings July 2011: Ecommerce Page Load Speed

Find out more or get in touch at www.TagMan.com

What measures have you taken to improve the speed of your site?

Optimize page code (css. JavaScript etc) Performance monitoring (Gomez, Keynote etc) Reduce page weight (e.g. number and size of images) Reduce/move 3rd party marketing pixel/tags More web servers/locations Site acceleration (Akamai DSA, Limelight Site etc) Unsure

Other (please specify)

10

20

30

40

50

5. Are you aware that it is possible to optimize loading of marketing pixels/ tags to reduce overall page load times? Almost three quarters of the respondents claim to be aware it is possible to optimize loading of tags to reduce page load times. Yet only 35% have actually looked into optimizing 3rd party tags to incease page speed. This demonstrates there is an opportunity for more companies to work on their 3rd party tags and optimize these to increase page performance. Further education will be required for marketers to understand how tag management can speed up page load times without losing the benefits of having tags in the first place.

Are you aware that it is possible to optimize loading of marketing pixels/tags to reduce overall page load times?

28.1% 71.9%

Yes No

Research Findings July 2011: Ecommerce Page Load Speed

Find out more or get in touch at www.TagMan.com

ABOUT TAGMAN
TagMan, the global leader in tag management, offers innovative solutions that empower digital marketers to optimize their online campaigns, resulting in more sales leads and conversions. An independent system, TagMan supports tags from more than 180 third party vendors and puts data control in the hands of users. The system makes it easy to add, edit or remove any online marketing tag instantly without changing code on the site, and delivers faster page load times, real-time attribution and more efficient data management. Founded in 2007, TagMan has seen rapid growth in its offices in New York and London. The company powers more than 100 e-commerce sites, and tracks more than 50 million conversions and $1 billion in sales every month for global brands like Ancestry.com, Virgin Atlantic and Subaru, as well as retailers like Boden, B&Q, Laura Ashley and Debenhams. TagMan recently won the DPAC Award as the Best Advertising Analytics company as determined by peers in digital media and marketing.

ABOUT SMART TAG LOADING BY TAGMAN

From the global leaders in tag management comes TagMan v3, a product with features and enhancements that is far ahead of the competition. Smart Loading (or tag acceleration) is the next step forward in tag management, significantly enhancing TagMans already strong product offering. TagMans proprietary smart loading of tags takes advantage of advanced loading techniques to reduce the overall page loading time including: Asynchronous tag loading: tags load independently of each other, not sequentially Conditional tag loading: only tags that need to be loaded will be Tag time-out: choose not to fire tags when they take too long For more information on Smart Tag Loading, watch our video on http://www.tagman.com/index.php/ smart-tag-loading.html or contact us at contact@tagman.com for a product demo.

ABOUT THIS REPORT

This report reveals the main findings of the TagMan Ecommerce Page Load Speed survey conducted in June 2011. The study examined the challenges digital marketers face with site performance and how marketing tags play a role in this. Along with results from key questions posed in the study, the report offers careful analysis of the results along with significant insights. For more information on how TagMan can help speed up your website, please contact us at contact@tagman.com.

METHODOLOGY
This online survey was conducted June 2011 and was completed by more than 60 digital marketers, across client advertisers, marketing agencies and technology providers, chiefly in the US and Europe.

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