A slow-loading website is the worst nightmare of every eCommerce business owner. Our client, a leading boat kit company based in Maryland, was particularly concerned when they discovered they had a slow website.
The client came to us seeking help to speed up their WooCommerce website. Our expert team significantly enhanced the client's website speed by resolving a complex query issue. Here is how we optimized the WooCommerce store's load speed and enhanced user experience.Custom Coding for Price Calculation for Minimum Query Time
Our client is a leading boat kit company based in Maryland, and their primary problem was the slow loading of their website. With a simple analysis, our experts found that the slow load time was caused by high query time.
The delay due to the high query time was significant. It took 15 to 30 seconds for the site to load. An average consumer only waits a few seconds for a website to load before abandoning their effort and going to a different website.
Hence, the client lost valuable leads, sales, and conversions due to high query time. Moreover, the prolonged query time led to a poor buying experience and dissatisfied customers on the client's eCommerce website.
The team of experts at Virtina found and fixed the problem by assessing the existing codebase and writing a custom code. We optimized the rate calculation process with the customized code. Our expert team identified code sections causing the delay and eliminated unnecessary calls to optimize the query time.
Optimization for Pickup-only Orders
Our client's WooCommerce store offers some pick-up-only items. The delivery option is unavailable for pickup-only items on the client's eCommerce store. WooCommerce does not have an in-built capability to apply a pickup-only option for selected items instead of all products.
As a result, instead of only showing the pickup option for the pickup-only items, the client's WooCommerce store would also offer other delivery options. Several customers would need clarification and try to get pickup-only items delivered to their home addresses.
The expert team at Virtina successfully hid the additional delivery options that appear for pickup-only items. We ensured a seamless buying experience for the users and minimized confusion in the purchase journey.
Tailor-made International Shipping Quote Request Feature
The experts at Virtina successfully replaced the Buy Now button on the client's WooCommerce store with a Request for Quote button. We implemented this change, especially for the client's international customers.
The simple change we implemented on the client's WooCommerce store lets international customers access special discounted prices quoted by the client. As a result of the customization we made, the client streamlined the purchase journey and minimized confusion for international orders.
Shipping Priority for Displaying the Most Affordable Shipping Cost
The expert team at Virtina ensured a more streamlined user experience on the client's WooCommerce store with the shopping priority display. We confirmed that the WooCommerce store displays the product's ground shipping price as default.
By doing so, the website displays the minimum price for delivering a product, significantly impacting the customer's purchase decision. The customer sees the most affordable shipping option by default, and enhances the chance of conversion due to the lower price.
However, we ensured customers could access other priority shipping methods, including expedited shipping from the client's WooCommerce site. As a result, the WooCommerce website can serve the needs of all customers and meet their unique shipping requirements.
Quick and Advanced Product Sorting
Another significant change we made to the client's WooCommerce store was implementing a faster and more efficient product sorting capability. Our expert team found that the client's WooCommerce website took too long to sort products.
It led to a poor shopping experience and high site abandonment rates. Our expert team analyzed the problem and found the root cause of the problem. The delay in product sorting was caused due to a compatibility issue between the WooCommerce platform and a filter plugin.
We also found that the delay is because the client uses multiple plugins and a complex query. These factors together led to a significant delay in the sorting process. The expert team at Virtina fixed the issue by identifying the problem-causing code snippet and replacing it with an optimized custom code.
Checkout Page Optimization by Hiding the Loader Screen
The client's WooCommerce store had a subpar checkout process because it consisted of a loader screen. The loader screen would change in real time whenever the customer changes the order. While the screen itself did not cause any harm to the site's performance, it was impacting the user experience.
Hence, our experts hid the loader screen from the checkout page and made it less distracting for users. We implemented a single-page checkout showing only the essential order details, making it more comprehensive for users.
The loader still works in the background and changes with real-time changes to the order details. However, the screen is hidden and causes no distractions to the customer. As a result, we streamlined the checkout experience on the client's WooCommerce store.
Advanced Plugin Compatibility Optimization
Our expert team found that plugin incompatibility is the primary cause of the slow loading of the client's WooCommerce website. The client was using multiple plugins on their WooCommerce store, and they did not work seamlessly with each other.
The plugin compatibility issue slowed down various operations and compromised user experience during different stages in the purchase journey. We found that the code clashed in multiple places, impacting the user experience.
Besides, the multiple plugins working simultaneously also caused a prolonged query time, significantly slowing down the website. We identified these issues and addressed them to improve the site's performance.
