The performance of your online store is the primary factor to be considered for better user experience. And, if you are managing the woocommerce store, then it will have a high impact on your business goals. The performance of the online store stimulates customer experience.

There are numerous factors that can reduce the performance of stores. Slow loading time, fewer page views, improper configuration, inappropriate use of plugins are some of them.

We all have less patience when it comes to online browsing. One study revealed that if the sites take more than 3 seconds to load, then there are chances that visitors can abandon the website.

In addition to it, the delay of 1 second can reduce the page view by 11% and decrease customer satisfaction by 16%.

Therefore, optimizing the speed for WooCommerce online stores is an essential task.  By customizing the themes, this can be done to some extent.  WordPress theme customization is one of the practices that you can execute to optimize the theme and make the website faster.

Having a speedy store can lead to more sales and more profitable results. But if it has a slow loading time, then it can put a negative impact on the performance of the store.

So, do you want to speed up your Woocommerce store?

Indeed!! You want it to work faster and better.

Fast loading pages give better user experience, increase page views, and improve WordPress SEO. Also, it reduces the bounce rate and increases the conversion of the website.

If you’re a WooCommerce user, then there is plenty of scope for improving your store’s performance.

In this article, we are going to review the most useful optimization tips to boost the performance of your WooCommerce store. Let’s get started!!

Tips to Improve Performance of your Woocommerce Store

1. Use a Content Delivery Network

Content delivery network (CDN) becomes the necessity for stores which reduces the latency rate and improves the response time. The main aim of CDN is speed, high availability, and scalability. It improves store load speed by serving faster. So whenever user requests for data from the store, the data provider will help to send the data more quickly.

Firstly, we must know what CDN is?

The content delivery network is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and different data centres.

How does CDN work?

CDN servers have different internet exchange points. These will help internet providers to connect and originate traffic on various networks.

If you have a connection with the highly speedy interconnected locations, then CDN can decrease the cost and deliver data with high speed. It helps to reduce the distance between users and websites.

Using a CDN, you can make WooCommerce perform better. However, there are many CDNs available; choosing the right one is a complicated task. Popular CDN includes CloudwaysCDN, Cloudflare, and MaxCDN. You can select the optimal option among them.

2. WordPress Cache Plugin

Cache makes WooCommerce 2 to 5 times faster. The pages of the woocommerce are dynamic, so we recommend using a cache plugin. The visitor will experience speedier loading time.

Now how does it work?

It reduces the time of page generation. Whenever any visitor visits, the cache plugin makes a copy of the page, and it serves the user with the cached version.

Whenever a user visits your woocommerce store, the server automatically fetches the information from the MYSQL database. Afterwards, everything is assembled into HTML content, so it is a lengthy process. You can use a cache instead of it because the dynamic page takes less time to display.

Numerous cache plugins are available for wordpress such as breeze, W3 Total wordpress Cache plugin, Swift cache plugin, etc.

3. Choose a Lightweight Theme

The cluttered theme takes more time to load and a longer time to access the WooCommerce store.

Always keep in mind, you can convince your visitors just in a few seconds. Slow loading time can divert the visitors from the page and eventually, you will lose the sale.

So, it is a vital factor to keep the theme light as much as possible to attract visitors and make them engaged.

You can find the themes on a website like WordPress theme directory, theme forest, etc. and opt for the faster and lightweight custom theme. The custom theme offers you a comprehensive range of header styles and designs that let you create the desired look for your eCommerce store.

4. Optimize your WordPress Database Regularly

As time passes, your website starts growing and expanding; it keeps adding the data to your WordPress website database. A considerable database can slow down your website loading time which can affect your customer base.

So, it is essential to optimize the database regularly. You can improve the database in three ways:

  • Database design
  • Database administration
  • Database analysis

Fortunately, there are numerous optimization plugins to choose from. A significant choice is WP-Optimize, which is very simple to use.

Once you activate the plugin, a new WP-Optimize tab will appear on your WordPress dashboard. You can see the list of the tables of the plugin which helps to optimize the entries. It will help to clean up the entries within each of the databases.

5. Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate

You might have seen this in your online store when a visitor visits the website and put the things in the cart just before making any purchase. This is the cart abandonment and a loss in your sales.

You can reduce the cart rate by:

  • Offering discounts on shipping.
  • Streamline the checkout processes.
  • Leave an account registration after the purchase.
  • Send a reminder.
  • Offer a discount or coupons.
  • Make your site custom-friendly.

These above-given tricks help to lessen the cart abandonment rate and boost up the sales in your business.

6. Compress Images

No doubt, images are one of the essential components of the Woocommerce store. Images bring life to your online store. They help to attract visitors and increase traffic. But if you optimize them correctly, your page will take less time to load.

Try to avoid the large images and prefer the images that can easily fit in your store display. For that, you can use plugins to automatically optimize images, such as Imagify, ShortPixel, combine images, etc. from WooCommerce stores using CSS sprites. It is a useful technique that requires technical skills. Compressor.io is an image compressor tool that helps you to compress your images without adding a plugin to your WooCommerce store.

Wrapping up

Above, we have discussed the different tips that will help to improve the performance of your WooCommerce store.

Go ahead and try out these techniques!!

Don’t forget to test your website speed before and after implementing the best practices.

You will definitely get a boost to your WooCommerce store performance!!

Let us know about your queries and suggestions in the comment section below.

Thank you for reading!!

Author Bio:

Marie Thomas is an expert WordPress developer with 8+ years of experience in developing WordPress websites. Currently, she is associated with WordSuccor – WordPress development service providers in the USA. She loves to keep abreast of the latest technologies and tools in the corporate market, and believes in sharing knowledge gained through experience. Connect with her on Twitter and Linkedin