Research consistently shows that faster websites convert better. A one-second delay in page load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. For an e-commerce site doing $100,000 per day, that's $7,000 in lost revenue — every single day.
But performance isn't just about conversions. Google has made page speed a ranking factor, meaning slower sites are penalised in search results. Core Web Vitals — metrics like Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift — now directly influence where your site appears in search.
Modern frameworks like Next.js give us powerful tools for building fast websites: automatic code splitting, image optimisation, static generation, and edge caching. Combined with a headless CMS like Payload, we can deliver content-rich sites that load in under a second.