Testing Your Web Shop Performance for Peak Profits By Michelle Megna
September 2, 2008
A new Harris Interactive survey indicates that the high price of gasoline will prompt 36 percent of consumers to conduct more of their holiday buying online. And even if that doesn't happen, it's critical to ensure that your Web shop is ready for the busiest shopping season of the year.
According to Ken Godskind, Web Performance Evangelist for AlertSite, now is the time for e-tailers to evaluate their Web site performance and ensure their site can handle the increased holiday traffic. After all, once you've got your inventory set, your marketing campaigns in place and your site design spruced up, you don't want to waste the effort by losing sales during the holiday season because your Web shop isn't capable of processing all your transactions.
Godskind said there are two critical tests you should run on your e-commerce site: Web site performance monitoring and Web load testing. Site performance monitoring allows you to understand what your Web shop performance profile looks like under heavy and light loads, he said, and Web load testing "allows you to find out where the breaking point is; it's basically like a stress-test for your store." We'll outline these in detail, but first we want to call attention to one of AlertSite's cool tools designed to maximize your AdWords budget.
Free AdWords Landing Page Scans
For those who want to maximize their AdWords campaigns, AlertSite offers a free tool — the AdWords Landing Page Integrity Scan. Once you register at the site and type in your URL, you'll see in a matter of seconds precisely how well your Google AdWords landing page is performing. This is important, the company says, because of a recent change to Google's AdWords policy that has largely gone unnoticed — Google is now charging advertisers based on how fast their Web sites' landing pages load. Faster sites pay less, slower sites pay more.
According to Graham Charlton of e-consultancy.com, the AlertSite scan provides landing page load time and also gives details of the time it takes to redirect, as well as DNS lookup time. If your landing page is slow, he offers the following tips for improving load time, and therefore reducing your AdWords costs: compress images, remove unnecessary Flash, avoid third-party content on landing pages and use video with caution.
Performance Monitoring
Regardless of whether or not you use AdWords, every e-tailer can benefit from ongoing site tests, said Godskind. "Performance monitoring is an excellent way to start because it's measuring critical storefront functionality, how the site is performing around the clock, from executing transactions, to product search, checkout, catalog viewing, these metrics are collected and give you an idea of how the store functions under different conditions, said Godskind.
"If you know three Wednesdays ago at 4 p.m., you had more site visitors than any other time in the past, you can look at the metrics and gain an understanding of site performance. Did we have error pages? Where? How did response time compare to when there's low usage? By examining response times to functions during peak user load you can extrapolate how well your store will respond under high demand."
AlertSite Web Site Performance Monitor
The Web Site Performance Monitor tests your Web site URLs as often as every minute from multiple cities around the globe, and generates real-time alerts if page errors or performance problems occur. For instance, if a database error is presenting shoppers with an error page when they try to checkout, you will be notified, rather than having to rely on your customers to tell you, and can fix the problem promptly. The company also provides detailed reporting and global monitoring to ensure that your site consistently performs at the preferred levels.
E-tailers can receive alerts by e-mail, cellular phone, SMS message, telephone call and/or pager. Alerts can also be routed to different personnel during off-duty hours. The Web Site Performance Monitor also captures all performance details for every Web-page object, including images, Flash, Javascript, css and more. For more information on the Web Site Performance Monitor, read the case study of Shopbop.com.
DejaClick: Play It Again, Sam
The company also offers another service, DéjàClick an inside-the-browser Web performance monitoring platform, featuring a transaction recording-and-playback system that automatically creates monitoring scripts based on users' click streams.
DéjàClick responds to Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), said Godskind, and also automatically adjusts for "human think time" and cookie-based form filling. It can also distinguish between first-time and repeat users, and other dynamic Web 2.0 elements, he said.
Here are key benefits and features of DéjàClick Technology:
User activity is recorded and played back automatically, allowing quick detection and resolution of problems.
No need for hand coding or maintenance; scripts are generated automatically.
Script property editing is intuitive and flexible.
Toolbar provides easy access to detailed reports, graphs and alerts.
Simplified page and event keyword validation.
DéjàClick is integrated into AlertSite's suite of Web-based monitoring tools.
DéjàCapture is a special DéjàClick feature that provides a complete snapshot of your Web site when an error or alert occurs, and allows you to drill down within the data to identify root causes. In a single JPEG file, DéjàCapture displays the screen image, header information and screen capture.
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