Website speed is becoming more and more important in web builds. Users are increasingly impatient. They want everything immediately and the longer a web page loads, the less loyalty the user will give to the site. Not surprisingly, Google uses website speed as a ranking signal in their algorithms and is one of the factors that determine where your website shows up in the search results.

Web designers will know that, when approaching any web build project, the very first step is to fully understand the true requirements of the client. This means getting under the skin of their business, recognising how the website fits into their business model and establishing the priorities of the project. And, in the case of Varooma, who came to Design Inc for a major rebuild of their website, their top priority, above all else, was web speed.

More importantly, with page load speed being one of Google’s ranking factors, it was crucial for Varooma to be one step ahead of the competitors in this niche market sector.

The company
Varooma is the award-winning, industry-leading logbook loan company, providing short-term finance based on the security of one’s vehicle.
The business is ultra efficient with finance being processed and arranged swiftly. And, unlike many competitors in the logbook loan sector, they do not have a physical shop where individuals can visit. Instead 100% of their business operates online.

The website offers an online process where applicants can apply for their loan or request a call back. The website is the first and main point of contact for all their customers and, as such, it is an extremely important part of their business.

The company aims to capture potential customer’s details as quickly as possible through the website so that their sales team can validate the leads and immediately work on those enquiries which are most likely to convert into loans. Urgency is the key to their business model.

Regulated sector
The UK’s finance sector is heavily regulated, and even more so within the lending sector. Loan applications needs to be transparent, thorough and able to gather a huge amount of user data. Regulations means that application forms are required to ask a large number of questions and that the processing of the answers is compliant with governmental standards.

The problem with this, of course, is that the longer the application form, the more chance of the user not completing the application. Either because:
a) they do not have all the information readily to hand.
b) they get bored or frustrated having to answer so many questions.
c) it takes some time to fill in and may have to attend to something else half way through.

Speeding up the process
Whilst the regulations stop us from reducing the number of question fields on an application form, there are many things that can be done to help keep the user focused on completing it:

Making the form clear and easy to read
Explaining in advance what items are required
Showing the user how far along they are
Capturing the data in parts as opposed to a very long form

Moreover, ensuring there is never any waiting time for pages to load!

More often than not, the biggest issue with online loan applications is the page download speed. Large forms on large websites often take too long to download and all research shows that users are not inclined to wait.
So, with so many competitors available within the logbook loan sector, it was crucial that the new Varooma website was built with the fastest speed possible to ensure the consumer remained onsite.

Web Page Speed
Of course, it is not necessarily the website itself which is fast or slow but rather the individual web pages which are viewed. Pages are (down)’loaded’ at different times and, there are so many factors which can affect these times.

When page load speed is the main focus of a website build, web designers need to change their approach to the web build. Speed dictates not just the look and feel of a website, but also how it is coded, how the server is configured, etc.

The Result
In the case of the new Varooma website the Design Inc web team considered all factors across all elements of the build process including (but not limited to): design, content, coding, functionality, server configuration, content management, lazy loading, Varnish, AMP, CSS, etc etc.

The new Varooma website was launched in early October, 2019 and benefits from:

beautifully crafted website
new mobile-first approach
stronger brand identity
live chat functionality
new blog & guides section
CRM API
content-management system
higher search engine rankings
increased conversion rates
and…the highest levels of performance / page load speed achievable!!

Design Inc are proud of our relationship with Varooma and it was a pleasure to support them with their new website. We look forward to their future success.

If you would like to discuss your own website requirements, please contact our Business Development Director, Frank Norman on 01784 683000 or by email.