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On average, nearly 70% of online store carts are abandoned, mostly as a result of slow or complex checkout processes. Having the fastest possible checkout speed for your WooCommerce store will help you to reduce bounce rates, increase sales, and build your e-commerce business.
Why WooCommerce Checkout Speed Matters
Unlike brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce stores don't want shoppers to hang around in the hope they'll make impulse purchases or spend more than they'd planned.
“When it comes to online, people can just check out and conduct transactions as quickly as possible. But in-store, they have to wait in line and see all of those Hershey candies and magazines as you get closer to checkout,” said eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman. The racks near checkout areas in brick-and-mortar stores are sometimes called “temptation alley.”
In the current e-commerce shopping environment, store owners are still figuring out how to handle impulse purchases, and speed – not impulse buying – is the priority.
WooCommerce checkout speeds and page loading times impact the quality of user experience, conversion rates of visitors to paying customers, and search engine rankings for your store. For WooCommerce and any other e-commerce site, the faster the checkout, the better store metrics will be, and a fast checkout experience is a good experience.
Steps to Speed Up WooCommerce Checkout
Fortunately, there are ways to get faster WooCommerce checkout speeds for your online store. Let’s look at the most popular ways to boost checkout performance on a WooCommerce Store.
Optimize Checkout Page Elements
Removing unnecessary elements on your WooCommerce site checkout page through optimization can make checkout faster for your store. Here are some ways it can work:
- Reduce Form Fields – Minimize the number of form fields to only those that are essential to your WooCommerce checkout page, speeding the process.
- Enable AJAX Add to Cart – Improve user experience by enabling AJAX to add products to the cart without reloading the checkout form.
- Simplify the Checkout Process – Use a one-page checkout or reduce steps to minimize loading times.
Use a Fast Hosting Provider
Optimizing your WooCommerce site can be influenced by outside factors, like your hosting provider. You can have the most optimized checkout process ever and with a slow hosting provider, your hard work will be less effective. Some web hosts can have slower speeds and can contribute to lower performance for e-commerce stores.
There are several ways you can do speed testing to determine if there are ways for you to speed up your site and improve web page portions of the site, or if you may have a hosting provider-caused site speed problem. Transform Agency recommends a couple of strategies to speed up your WooCommerce website, including:
- Choose WooCommerce-Optimized Hosting – Ensure your hosting provider is optimized for WooCommerce for better speed and performance.
- Leverage Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) – A content delivery network or CDN is a service like Cloudflare or Amazon CloudFront which serve static assets used on your WooCommerce website as-needed. You can utilize CDNs to decrease server response times, which automatically speeds your site.
- Use a Dedicated or VPS Hosting Plan – Unlike shared hosting, dedicated or Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting offers more resources and better performance, reducing load times.
- Ensure Hosting with SSD Storage – Choose hosting providers that use Solid-State Drives (SSDs) for faster data retrieval compared to traditional hard drives.
Optimize Images and Scripts
Large images and excessive JavaScript can slow down your site, negatively impacting user satisfaction and search engine rankings. To improve your WooCommerce website's loading speed and overall user experience, make sure to:
- Compress Images – Use image compression tools to reduce the size without losing quality. With proper image optimization, some images can be compressed up to 80% without any visible loss in quality.
- Defer JavaScript Loading – Delay non-essential JavaScript to speed up page loading.
- Leverage Lazy Loading – Lazy loading can also help to speed the process, and you can locate several plugins or performance optimization tools that can load images only when they're needed, otherwise called "lazy loading."
Use Caching Techniques
Caching is a development technique that serves static versions of e-commerce store pages to visitors. There are several ways to speed your e-commerce website through caching, including plugins and server-side caching. Here are a couple of ways caching can improve your store's speed:
- Implement Page Caching – WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce platform for WordPress, so page caching that works with WordPress will support WooCommerce stores. You can use a WordPress plugin like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache to store copies of pages for faster delivery.
- Use Object Caching – You can store user queries that represent dynamic data to provide quicker access and reduced server load.
Optimize WooCommerce Plugins and Themes
WooCommerce themes and plugins can make your e-commerce store look unique and provide all the functions you need to serve your customers, but they also need to be optimized for faster checkout experiences. You may also have some plugins you don't need, or you may be using a heavyweight theme that runs too slowly.
Deactivate and delete unused plugins to prevent bloat and choose themes designed for speed and performance. WooCommerce developers can use speed tests to determine which are the optimal lightweight themes for your WooCommerce store.
Optimize Database Performance
Optimizing your WooCommerce store includes optimizing the database that your store uses. Removing unnecessary data and cleaning your database will help to speed up your site and the checkout experience. Here are some ways you can improve your database's performance:
- Regular Database Cleaning – Remove expired transients, old revisions, and unnecessary data, which can include spam comments from people who would probably never really shop in your store.
- Use Database Optimization Plugins – There are several plugins that can clean and optimize databases for WooCommerce stores, including WP-Optimize and WP-Sweep. These plugins can automatically optimize your database.
- Limit Post Revisions – Control the number of post revisions stored in your database by setting a limit. This reduces clutter and database size, which helps to speed up queries and improve performance.
Minimize External Scripts and Resources
Every time your store needs to use an external script or resource, it can slow your checkout process and site speed. Here are some ways to minimize this issue:
- Limit Third-Party Scripts – Did you know that even a special font on your online store could be an external resource? You can reduce the number of external scripts like fonts, trackers, and ads.
- Asynchronous Loading – Implement asynchronous loading for scripts so that they don’t block the rendering of your webpage. This allows your site to load and display content more quickly, even if scripts are still being fetched.
- Host Scripts Locally – If you have essential scripts that your site requires to serve customers, host them on your own server, not an external server.
Monitor and Test Checkout Speed
Monitoring and testing your checkout speed helps to make a smooth shopping experience and minimal cart abandonment rate an expected consistency in your business. Here are some effective strategies to ensure your checkout page always performs at its best:
- Use Speed Testing Tools – Regularly use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix to monitor performance.
- Conduct A/B Testing – Experiment with different checkout configurations to find the most efficient checkout page and process setup.
- Analyze Checkout Analytics – Review analytics data to understand where users may be encountering issues or delays in the checkout process. Use this information to address specific problem areas and enhance overall speed and usability.
Request Professionals’ Assistance
Your e-commerce store can't afford to lose customers due to slow checkout speeds and page loading times. Contact Transform Agency today to learn how they can help speed up your WooCommerce store checkout pages and overall site.
FAQs on WooCommerce Checkout Speed
Why is my WooCommerce checkout slow?
Slow checkout can be due to various factors like large images, too many plugins, or an unoptimized hosting provider.
What are the best plugins for speeding up WooCommerce checkout?
Popularity often indicates good performance. Some popular plugins include WP Rocket for caching and Smush for image optimization.
How does checkout speed affect SEO and conversion rates?
Faster checkouts lead to lower bounce rates and higher conversion rates, positively impacting SEO.
What hosting provider is best for WooCommerce?
Providers like SiteGround, Bluehost, and WP Engine offer optimized hosting for WooCommerce.
Conclusion
Owners can't afford to have a slow checkout speed for their WooCommerce stores. There are several ways to speed up your WooCommerce site, including the all-important checkout process.
Transform Agency has the expertise to help you get the fastest possible checkout experience for your WooCommerce store, including optimizing the elements on your checkout page, providing the fastest access to images and scripts that your store uses, and helping you to choose a fast hosting provider and use smart caching techniques.
They can minimize the amount of external resources your site is using and can monitor and test your store's checkout speed. In addition, your site could be eligible for promotional benefits for SEO and conversions.
With 7 years of experience in the IT industry, Yaroslav T. specializes in e-commerce solutions. He has developed approximately 15 online stores, ranging from medium-sized shops to large marketplaces, gaining extensive experience across various industries including financial services, retail & distribution, and life sciences & healthcare. Skilled in Adobe Commerce, he excels in frontend development solutions for this CMS.
Experienced SEO Specialist with a proven track record of improving website visibility and search engine rankings. Skilled in keyword research, on-page and off-page optimization, link building, and content strategy development. Passionate about staying updated with the latest SEO trends and algorithm changes to ensure optimal online presence.
