E-commerce focuses on creating an enjoyable shopping experience for customers which suits their online shopping behaviors. To ensure user delight and pleasant shopping, every online brand molds the way they market to their potential customers. Off late, the drastic change in the adoption of mobile technology has triggered the need to streamline mobile shopping experiences. Realizing the need for mobile-optimized sites, Google introduced “Accelerated Mobile Pages” (AMP) to set web pages which load faster on mobile devices. In short, AMP was initiated to assist publishers and online brands to fasten load speed and avoid waiting time.
Why AMP for E-commerce?
Speed is an integral part of web page designing. Slow and longer loading time may force users to leave a page. As quoted by KISSmetrics, “about 40% of people will abandon a web page that takes more than 3 seconds to load.” It is hypothesized and proved that a site which earns $100,000 per day, may cost $2.5 million lost in sales every year for a 1-second page delay. This means, 1-second delay in mobile browser load time can lower conversion rate by 3.50%, reduce page views by 9.40% and increase bounce rate by up to 8.30%.
In December of 2015, Google stated that Accelerated Mobile Pages acts a catalyst for better ranking. As per Google, the AMP plugin reduce load time for about 15% to 85%, in the initial tests. Webmasters, SEO’s and marketers started to analyze how AMP affect mobile web pages and came up with several facts that states AMP has a positive impact on mobile search engine rankings. To be precise, AMP optimized sites are faster and rank better. These pages bring more conversion rates as they convert more visitors to customers.
In the past one year, more than 650,000 domains became AMP enabled. At present, Google index has 150 million pages and approximately 4 million plus new pages are added to the index every week. Why so?
As rightly quoted by Google, “AMP is a natural fit for e-commerce because AMP makes web pages fast, and help pages with purchase conversions.”
The benefits of AMP are plenty :
- Reduce bounce rates resulting in an improvised user experience
- Improve page load speed increasing conversion rates
- Fasten load times attracting users to engage with your website continuously
- The lightning bolt tag placed next to results lead to an increase in click-through rates because users understand that they connect to faster loading speed
- Improvised site ranking because of faster pages (Google’s algorithm approve faster pages and that brings your site up)
To be precise, through page optimization, speed and usability, AMP brings drastic changes to your eCommerce business beyond your belief. AMP allows retailers to serve the growing needs of mobile customers in a better way.
What Are the Potential Limitations or Drawbacks of AMP for E-commerce?
Since AMP is a newbie, there are a few limitations and drawbacks. These shortcomings can be resolved with proper planning. But, as an eCommerce store owner, it is always better to be aware of the constraints. An understanding about the below points will help you to handle the drawbacks in a better way :
- Limited control over the design and customization of pages
- Though amp-analytics can be utilized on many platforms, many more need to be developed
- Google Analytics recommends website owners to set up a different method for AMP measurement because Google “support for e-commerce analytics” is in the initial phase
How Are Accelerated Mobile Pages Implemented in E-Commerce?
AMP is essential to improve customer experience, but it is not necessary to introduce AMP on every single page. After thoroughly checking the flow of visitors, you can launch AMP at the appropriate sections. This processing is essential because the clear and easier AMP framework permits pages to function smoothly. The three major elements required for this framework are AMP HTML, AMP JS, and AMP CDN. On the contrary, AMP may limit or restrict other CSS and JavaScript, eg, no iframes.
Does AMP Have Analytics?
Yes! AMP has smarter analytics. To stop multiple analytics which can slow down a site, Google has introduced the method of “measure once, report to many.” The Amp-Pixel Element and The Amp-Analytics Extended Component are the two paths that enable analytics functionality with AMP for your website.
What Should You Do Now?
If your concerns are about the page speed and managing complex functionalities in lesser time, then AMP is essential for your store. AMP creates better opportunity to provide excellent mobile experience and in fact doubles the conversion rate. If you think moving according to the changing trends and innovations in technology is something great, then it is better to enable your store with AMP.
Want To Get Started?
Starting AMP is simple and more accessible because Google has come up with several resources like the AMP Project Website, Google Search Guidelines for AMP pages, AMP Webmaster Help Forum, and Google Search console to help store owners to create AMP supported pages.
If you wish to be a successful store owner, it is imperative for you to have a track and understanding about the latest trends as well as the demands of the audience. This understanding is inevitable to run an online business successfully.
Nowadays, the public is more inclined to use mobile pages which undoubtedly makes AMP the future of e-commerce. We, as an expert e-commerce service provider, recommends you to enable your page with AMP because in the last few decades business scenes have witnessed a breakthrough in online platforms and technological advancement has brought unimaginable changes in the field of e-commerce.
Be quick to boost your marketing and sales with AMP enabled eCommerce websites!