In this presentation, Josh Fraser (CEO at Torbit) will share some of the interesting data gleaned from measuring billions of pageviews from across hundreds of sites that are using Torbit Insight. Ever wondered how fast websites load in Africa? Or whether the end user experience on an iPhone or Android is faster? Learn how speed affects key business metrics like bounce rate and conversions. We'll look at the benefits of using Real User Measurement (RUM) and why so many top sites are starting to rely on RUM as their primary source of performance data. We'll look at interesting trends in the data and discuss how you can use RUM to find problems, evaluate your vendors and make your site faster and better.

1. Yo ho ho and a few
billion pageviews of RUM
Josh Fraser
josh@torbit.com
© 2012 Torbit 1

2. Introductions
Josh Fraser
Co-founder & CEO of Torbit. Born in Scotland.
Computer geek. Addicted to speed.
@joshfraser josh@torbit.com
Torbit
Next generation measurement, analytics and
optimization. We’re here to make the web faster.
@torbit torbit.com
© 2012 Torbit 2

3. Performance in 2012
Performance bottlenecks have moved
from the backend to the frontend
© 2012 Torbit 3

4. Problem
Limitations of synthetic testing (active monitoring)
Limited visibility
Expensive
Strains the systems you are testing
Limited test locations and browsers
Backbone connections paint an overly optimistic picture
Can be easily gamed by CDNs or other providers
© 2012 Torbit 4

5. Problem
Website performance is viewed as a
technical metric instead of a business metric
© 2012 Torbit 5

6. A better idea
Real User Measurement
Use JavaScript to measure every visitor on every page
and correlate how site performance impacts
the business metrics you care about most
© 2012 Torbit 6

7. A better idea
What we’ve learned
since launching Torbit Insight
© 2012 Torbit 7

8. The golden rule of performance
Backend
7%
Frontend
93%
Using TTFB as the marker between frontend/backend
© 2012 Torbit 8

9. About our data
Collected from a sample of 1,000 websites
that have installed Torbit Insight
Here are a handful of them...
© 2012 Torbit 9

10. About our data
1,000-site sample of 6.7 billion pageviews
Collection via the Episodes library from Steve Souders
http://stevesouders.com/episodes2
Global audience
© 2012 Torbit 10

11. More accurate measurement
Navigation Timing
Start the clock before the page arrives
© 2012 Torbit 11

12. Timing data sources
Navigation Timing (window.performance)
Cookie
5%
Inline JS
44%
Nav Timing
50%
Google Toolbar
1%
Supported in Firefox 7, Chrome 6, Internet Explorer 9 and Android 4
© 2012 Torbit 12

13. Variables that impact speed
Your visitors Your website
Browser CDN
Geography # of resources on the page
Connection type Size of resources on the page
Hardware performance Third party JavaScript
Virus protection software
© 2012 Torbit 13

14. Overall stats
Geometric mean 2.27s 90th percentile 10.52s
Median 2.67s 95th percentile 16.87s
Average 5.07s 99th percentile 43.55s
© 2012 Torbit 14

15. Overall stats (mobile)
Geometric mean 3.12s 90th percentile 12.07s
Median 3.87s 95th percentile 18.11s
Average 6.23s 99th percentile 44.42s
© 2012 Torbit 15

16. Which states in the USA have the fastest load times?
The slowest?
© 2012 Torbit 16

17. US speed by state
Onload
© 2012 Torbit 17

18. US speed by state
Fastest Slowest
Massachusetts 3.98s Alaska 6.14s
Rhode Island 4.24s Mississippi 6.03s
Delaware 4.40s West Virginia 5.68s
Oregon 4.52s Idaho 5.60s
New Hampshire 4.52s Arkansas 5.50s
Washington 4.59s Wyoming 5.47s
Virginia 4.61s Montana 5.44s
New York 4.63s Kentucky 5.35s
Connecticut 4.64s New Mexico 5.30s
Minnesota 4.68s Alabama 5.29s
© 2012 Torbit 18

19. Which countries have the fastest load times?
The slowest?
© 2012 Torbit 19

20. Global speeds by country
Fastest Slowest
Slovenia 3.41s Tonga 31.49s
Sweden 4.02s Cuba 30.59s
Denmark 4.27s Vanuatu 28.65s
Canada 4.27s Niger 27.05s
Switzerland 4.32s Burkina Faso 26.83s
Netherlands 4.34s Burma 24.87s
Belgium 4.39s Liberia 23.78s
Norway 4.45s Sierra Leone 23.30s
Aaland Islands 4.48s Gambia 22.13s
Iceland 4.58s Micronesia 22.12s
© 2012 Torbit 20

21. The United States?
#22
© 2012 Torbit 21

22. Antarctica?
© 2012 Torbit 22

23. Global speeds by continent
North America 5.08s
Europe 5.22s
Oceania 7.22s
Asia 8.11s
Africa 10.57s
South America 10.90s
Antarctica * 22.42s
* Not a statistically significant sample
** Data could be skewed by the geography of our customer base (mostly US)
© 2012 Torbit 23

24. Fastest desktop browser?
© 2012 Torbit 24

25. Fastest desktop browser
Fastest onload time
Safari 4.47
Firefox 4.79
Chrome 5.53
IE 8 6.1
Opera 6.44
IE 9 6.89
IE 7 7.39
IE 6 9.63
0 3 5 8 10
© 2012 Torbit 25

26. Fastest mobile browser?
© 2012 Torbit 26

27. Fastest mobile browser
© 2012 Torbit 27

28. Fastest mobile browser
Opera Mini 4.68
Chrome iOS 5.82
Safari on iPhone 6.6
Android browser 7.16
Chrome on Android 8.7
0 2 5 7 9
© 2012 Torbit 28

29. What really matters...
How does speed affect your business metrics?
© 2012 Torbit 29

30. How speed affects bounce rate
© 2012 Torbit 30

31. How speed affects bounce rate
Error pages
© 2012 Torbit 30

32. How speed affects bounce rate
y = 0.6517x + 33.682
R² = 0.91103
Error pages
© 2012 Torbit 30

33. Every second = 0.65 increase in bounce rate
© 2012 Torbit 31

34. Where to focus
© 2012 Torbit 32

35. Where to focus
y = 2.4x + 27.4
R² = 0.97297
© 2012 Torbit 32

36. Want to reduce your bounce rate by 10%?
Make your site load in 2 seconds instead of 6
© 2012 Torbit 33

37. How speed affects bounce rate (mobile)
© 2012 Torbit 34

38. How speed affects bounce rate (mobile)
The only pages that load in 1 second
on a mobile device are error pages
© 2012 Torbit 34

39. How speed affects user engagement
© 2012 Torbit 35

40. Want to double your user engagement?
Make your site load in 2 seconds instead of 6
© 2012 Torbit 36

41. How speed affects user engagement (mobile)
© 2012 Torbit 37

42. How speed affects user engagement (mobile)
Again, a 1 second load time on a
mobile device is rarely a good thing
© 2012 Torbit 37

43. What’s next?
Resource timing
Detect which resource is taking too long
Coming soon to a browser near you
© 2012 Torbit 38

44. Takeaways
Every second counts
If you want accurate data, use Real User Measurement
It’s important to really dig into your data
One second load times aren’t always a good thing
You need measurement first before you can improve
Nothing beats looking at your own data
© 2012 Torbit 39

45. Measure your own speed
Get your free RUM at
torbit.com
© 2012 Torbit 40

46. Thank you!
Josh Fraser
josh@torbit.com
© 2012 Torbit 41