February 22, 2023
Site performance can make or break the user experience (UX) for your shoppers. Page speed, responsiveness, visual stability, and smoothness — it all matters, a lot.
At Bazaarvoice, we know site performance matters because over 12,000 of the biggest brands and retailers (our clients) tell us it does, and these e-commerce powerhouses count on us every day to deliver the user-generated content (UGC) consumers need — right when they need it.
And don’t just take our word for it:
- Nearly 70% of consumers say page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer
- E-commerce Speed Hub says a one-second delay in page load speed reduces conversions by nearly 6%
- 73% of web designers claim non-responsive design as a top reason visitors leave a website
But site performance is only one side of the UX coin. Design matters too, which is why we optimized both the performance and design of our Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology.
Here’s how our technology helps you give consumers the visual shopping experiences they crave, at the speed they expect.
Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology
Our photo-first reviews display (released May 2022) puts visual content front and center, pulling all photos from customer reviews into a single carousel that’s higher up on page. This UX makes reviews photos much easier for consumers to discover (no more scrolling through pages of reviews to find relevant photos).
In addition to providing a more modern UX design, we’ve optimized the technical performance of our reviews display so it loads faster on your product detail page.
It’s the ultimate win-win. Better, more visual shopping experiences on the frontend and faster, lighter code on the backend.
How we optimized Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display for best-in-class performance
Previously, the various components that made up the reviews display were lumped into a single bundle which would download each time a shopper landed on the respective page.
With the new Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology, each component is broken out individually so they can be loaded independently, leading to more control over when and how reviews load onto respective pages.
The result?
Shoppers interact with your product pages faster — including the UGC that’s so important to their purchasing decision.
Let’s take a closer look at the three core tactics we used to optimize the performance of our reviews display.
1. JavaScript file size
We load two JavaScript files during the initial load (231 KB and 80 KB) and for all future loads only one 80 KB JavaScript file is loaded.
2. Caching
As web applications grow in size, capability, and complexity, caching becomes more important for the user experience.
We’re very intentional with how and when we cache JavaScript to optimize important aspects of the site performance, such as page load speed. First, we download a 231 KB file, then we cache it. Next, we load an 80 KB file, which is the single JavaScript file used for loading the reviews display moving forward.
Our caching strategy allows shoppers to interact much faster on subsequent visits to the same page.
3. Lazy loading
We only load content when it comes into view and is ready to be used by the shopper, reducing overall impact to your site.
Our lazy-load approach has been implemented using the IntersectionObserver API, which is one of the three recommended approaches by Google. This helps provide better lighthouse performance scores for desktop and mobile. (Google lighthouse is an open source tool, which can be used to test performance.)
In summary, we’ve:
- Improved overall performance scores and memory usage
- Optimized cumulative layout shift scores in Google Lighthouse
- Improved management of dependent (third-party) libraries and shared code
- Ensured libraries are reused by all display components of display (once downloaded and cached)
The bottom line
As an industry-leading UGC platform for enterprise businesses — serving over 12,000 global brands and retailers and displaying over 55 million reviews — we’ve always prioritized the performance of our technology, and will continue to do so, while adapting to shifts in consumer behavior.
Whether you’re a multinational retailer with millions of product reviews or a small brand that’s just getting started with UGC, our content solutions can align with your site’s performance needs and help you accomplish your business goals.
Want to learn more about how Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology enables best-in-class performance? Talk with one of our experts. Or request a free demo below.
Get started
