Why your store “feels” slow (even with a 98 Lighthouse score)

I used to think speed was a solved problem.

Especially for Shopify Plus or Salesforce Commerce Cloud stores. You drop six figures on development, hire a CRO agency, maybe even get a Lighthouse score in the high 90s. Job done, right?

But here’s the problem no one talks about:

Your store can be objectively fast – and still feel slow.

And when that happens, customers bounce.

The Mirage of Speed

There’s a gap between actual load speed and perceived speed. Most brands optimize for the former, but it’s the latter that shapes customer behavior.

Perceived speed is how fast a site feels. It’s driven less by megabytes and milliseconds, and more by psychological cues:

  • Does the screen react instantly when I click?
  • Do I know something is happening?
  • Does the page feel smooth or janky?

And here’s the brutal truth: your store might pass every speed audit while still frustrating users into leaving.

The Silent Killer: Micro-Delays

We’ve been trained to think in seconds – “get your site under 2s load time” – but the real battle is in the milliseconds.

Tiny friction points, repeated a few times, quietly break trust.

  • A 300ms delay after tapping “Add to Cart”
  • A spinner that lingers too long without feedback
  • A filter that doesn’t visually respond until the page reloads

Individually, they’re barely noticeable. Together, they compound.

And when users sense “this feels off,” they bounce – even if they can’t articulate why.

Here’s What No One Is Telling You

Your store can feel laggy even if it’s blazing fast under the hood.

Why? Because:

  • Themes (like with Shopify) often load components asynchronously with poor visual hierarchy
  • Apps inject code that causes layout shifts, janky animations, and script clashes
  • Most devs optimize for audits, not real-world interactivity
  • The fastest theme still loses if it doesn’t feel responsive

This is where most brands are blind. They’re using Lighthouse as their north star, not realizing it doesn’t measure human frustration.

The Cost of Cognitive Drag

When UX doesn’t flow, users burn more mental energy.

And cognitive drag is a conversion killer. It’s the subtle tension that makes someone say, “Eh, I’ll do this later” – and never come back.

Even if you’ve nailed speed metrics, if your store feels unpredictable, your cart abandonment rates will climb.

Not because of price.
Not because of competition.
Because people hate digital uncertainty.

What To Do Instead

Start optimizing for perceived performance:

  1. Give Immediate Feedback
    Every click should trigger something instantly – a loader, a visual change, anything. Users should never wonder, “Did that work?”
  2. Minimize Layout Shifts
    When elements jump around mid-load, it signals instability. Use skeleton loaders, fixed dimensions, and avoid injecting late-stage content.
  3. Streamline Above-the-Fold
    Ditch unnecessary scripts and animations at first paint. Speed felt in the first 1,000ms matters more than speed recorded at 3,000ms.
  4. Audit Third-Party Apps Ruthlessly
    Every app adds risk. Prioritize performance-focused reviews, and limit anything that runs on every page.
  5. Test With Real Humans
    Not just dev tools. Use Hotjar, screen recordings, and customer feedback. Watch where the friction lives. That’s your goldmine.

The Bottom Line

Speed is not a number. It’s a feeling.

And the brands winning today aren’t just technically fast – they feel effortless.

Your store doesn’t need to be perfect. But if it feels slow, cluttered, or unpredictable, you’re losing customers quietly.

You’ve already done the hard part: built a great product, nailed the offer, and got people in the door.

Don’t let a few micro-delays keep them from checking out.

That’s all for this week.

See you next Saturday.

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