“The site loads fine for me.”
Your developer says it again. Meanwhile, you’re getting complaints from customers about slow load times. You pull up the site on your phone, wait… and wait… and finally give up.
You mention it to your developer. Again.
“Works fine on my machine. Must be their internet connection.”
But what if it’s not their connection? What if your site is actually slow—and your developer either doesn’t know or doesn’t want to deal with it?
The problem: You’re not technical enough to challenge their assessment. But you’re losing customers because pages load too slowly. How do you know who’s right?
Not sure if your site is actually slow? Test your website speed free – get objective data in 60 seconds
The “Works Fine For Me” Problem
Here’s the reality: your developer experiences your website completely differently than your customers do.
Your developer sees:
- Fast local development machine
- Cached assets (site loads instantly after first visit)
- High-speed internet (office or home fiber)
- No tracking scripts running
- Desktop computer with plenty of memory
- Latest browser with all optimizations
Your customers experience:
- Mobile device on cellular data
- First-time visit (no cache)
- Slower connections (especially international)
- All analytics, tracking pixels, and third-party scripts loading
- Older devices with less memory
- Various browsers, some outdated
A site that loads in 1 second for your developer might take 5+ seconds for your customers. Both experiences are real—but only one matters for your business.
What “Fast Enough” Actually Means
Let’s cut through the vague claims with actual data.
The Hard Numbers
Industry standards:
- Google first-page results average 1.65 seconds load time
- Sites loading in 1 second have a 7% bounce rate
- Sites loading in 5 seconds have a 38% bounce rate
- 53% of mobile visitors leave if a page takes longer than 3 seconds
Business impact:
- Amazon found that every 100ms delay costs them 1% in sales
- A 1-second delay in page load speed results in 7% loss in conversions
- For a site doing €100,000/month, a 2-second slowdown could cost €14,000 monthly
What this means for you:
If your site loads in:
- Under 2 seconds = Competitive, good user experience
- 2-3 seconds = Acceptable but losing some customers
- 3-4 seconds = Significant conversion loss (20%+)
- Over 4 seconds = You’re bleeding customers every day
Google’s Verdict: Core Web Vitals
Google judges your site on three Core Web Vitals:
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) – How fast does the main content load?
- Good: Under 2.5 seconds
- Poor: Over 4 seconds
FID/INP (First Input Delay / Interaction to Next Paint) – How quickly can users click things?
- Good: Under 100ms
- Poor: Over 300ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) – Do things jump around while loading?
- Good: Under 0.1
- Poor: Over 0.25
Why it matters: Google uses these for search rankings. Poor Core Web Vitals = lower search visibility = fewer customers finding you.
Check your Core Web Vitals – see where your site actually stands
Common Developer Excuses (And What They Really Mean)
Let’s decode what your developer might be telling you—and what the real situation is.
Excuse #1: “It loads fast for me”
Translation: “I’m testing on my laptop with cached data and fast internet”
Reality: Your customers aren’t browsing from your developer’s office. They’re on phones, on cellular data, from different countries, with no cache.
What to do: Get objective data from real-world testing tools that simulate actual customer conditions.
Excuse #2: “Speed isn’t that important for our users”
Translation: “I don’t want to spend time optimizing performance”
Reality: 53% of mobile users leave if pages take longer than 3 seconds. Speed is important for EVERY user. Nobody wakes up thinking “I hope websites load slowly today.”
What to do: Share the conversion data above. Ask: “Can we afford to lose 20-30% of potential customers because pages load slowly?”
Excuse #3: “The site is doing a lot of complex things”
Translation: “I built it inefficiently and don’t want to optimize”
Reality: Amazon, Netflix, and Google handle infinitely more complexity and still load in under 2 seconds. Complexity is not an excuse for slowness—it’s a reason to optimize better.
What to do: Ask for specific technical reasons. Challenge whether those “complex things” need to happen on initial page load or can be deferred.
Excuse #4: “We’ll optimize later once we have more traffic”
Translation: “I want to build features, not fix performance”
Reality: Slow sites never GET more traffic. Users leave before converting, Google ranks you lower, and you never reach the traffic levels that would justify optimization. It’s backwards logic.
What to do: Point out that optimization helps you GET traffic, not the other way around. Slow sites lose both conversions and search rankings.
Excuse #5: “The images are fine, people have fast internet now”
Translation: “I don’t want to deal with image optimization”
Reality: 46% of people will leave if a mobile site takes more than 4 seconds. A single 2MB product photo that could be 200KB makes your site load 10x slower. Image optimization is usually the #1 easy win for performance.
What to do: Show them data from a speed test showing image sizes. Ask: “Can we at least optimize images since it’s low-hanging fruit?”
Excuse #6: “PageSpeed Insights scores don’t matter”
Translation: “My score is bad and I’m defensive about it”
Reality: PageSpeed scores correlate directly with user experience and Google search rankings. While a perfect 100 isn’t necessary, scores below 50 indicate real problems affecting real users.
What to do: Shift focus from scores to actual user impact. Ask: “What’s our average page load time for real users on mobile?”
How to Get Objective Data (Without Technical Skills)
You don’t need to be technical to measure website speed. Here’s how to get real data:
Option 1: Free Website Scanner (Easiest)
Run a comprehensive speed test that checks:
- Actual page load time
- Mobile performance
- Server response speed
- Core Web Vitals
- Comparison to industry standards
Takes 60 seconds. No technical knowledge required. Get specific numbers to discuss with your developer.
Option 2: Test On Your Own Phone
Right now:
- Pull out your phone
- Turn off WiFi (use cellular data only)
- Clear your browser cache
- Visit your website
- Time how long until you can actually use it
If it takes more than 3 seconds to interact with the page, your customers are experiencing the same frustration.
Option 3: Google PageSpeed Insights
- Go to PageSpeed Insights
- Enter your website URL
- Check both mobile and desktop scores
- Look at the “Field Data” section (real user measurements)
What the scores mean:
- 90-100: Fast
- 50-89: Needs improvement
- 0-49: Slow (you’re losing customers)
Option 4: Ask Your Customers
Send a simple survey:
- “How would you rate our website’s loading speed?”
- “Have you experienced slow page loads?”
- “Would you use our site more if it loaded faster?”
Customer complaints are data. If multiple people say it’s slow, it’s slow.
The Real Reasons Your Site Might Be Slow
Understanding common performance problems helps you have informed conversations with your developer.
Problem #1: Unoptimized Images
The issue: A single product photo that’s 3MB when it should be 300KB.
Business impact: Every page with that image loads 10x slower.
Easy fix: Image optimization tools can reduce file sizes by 60-80% with no visible quality loss.
Red flag: Your developer says “images are fine” without checking actual file sizes.
Problem #2: Too Many Third-Party Scripts
The issue: Every analytics tool, chat widget, tracking pixel, and integration adds load time.
Business impact: Each script adds 200-500ms. Five scripts = 2+ seconds of delay.
Common culprits:
- Multiple analytics tools (Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.)
- Live chat widgets
- A/B testing tools
- Social media integrations
- Unnecessary plugins
What to ask: “Can we audit which third-party scripts we actually need and remove the rest?”
Problem #3: No Caching or CDN
The issue: Every visitor requests the same files from your server instead of using cached versions.
Business impact: Server has to rebuild every page for every visitor. Slow and expensive.
Red flag: Your developer can’t explain your caching strategy or whether you use a CDN.
Problem #4: Render-Blocking Resources
The issue: Large JavaScript and CSS files that prevent the page from displaying until fully loaded.
Business impact: Users see a blank screen while waiting for files they don’t immediately need.
What to ask: “Can we defer non-critical JavaScript so the page displays faster?”
Problem #5: Slow Server Response Time
The issue: Your server takes 2+ seconds just to START sending data.
Business impact: No amount of frontend optimization helps if the server is slow.
Red flag: Server response time over 600ms (should be under 200ms).
What to ask: “What’s our server response time, and is our hosting plan appropriate for our traffic?”
What To Do When Your Developer Won’t Fix Performance
You’ve brought it up. You’ve shared data. They’re still making excuses or saying it’s “not a priority.”
Step 1: Get Objective Data First
Before any conversation, run objective tests:
- Free website speed scan
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Test on your actual phone
Why this matters: Conversations shift when you say “The load time is 4.8 seconds” instead of “It feels slow to me.”
Step 2: Frame It As Business Impact, Not Technical Issue
Don’t say: “The PageSpeed score is 32”
Do say: “We’re losing 30% of mobile visitors because load time is over 4 seconds. That’s potentially €15,000/month in lost revenue.”
Developers respond better to business impact than abstract performance metrics.
Step 3: Ask for Evidence
If they claim it’s fast enough, ask:
- “What data are you using to measure that?”
- “Have you tested on mobile devices on cellular data?”
- “Can you show me load time data from real users?”
If they can’t provide data, their claim is just an opinion.
Step 4: Propose a Test
Suggest running a simple A/B test:
- Optimize one landing page
- Compare conversion rates to the current slow version
- Measure actual business impact
Why this works: It’s hard to argue with “the faster version converted 18% better.”
Step 5: Get a Second Opinion
If your developer remains defensive or dismissive, consider bringing in outside expertise.
You might need help if:
- Developer gets defensive when you mention performance
- Can’t explain where the slowness comes from
- Says optimization “isn’t worth the time” despite data
- Site speed keeps getting worse over time
What to look for: Infrastructure specialist who can audit performance, identify specific issues, and work alongside your existing developer (not replace them).
I review site performance and infrastructure for non-technical founders regularly. Get a second opinion – I’ll give you honest assessment and specific recommendations.
Quick Action Plan
If you think your site might be slow:
Test objectively (5 minutes)
- Run free speed scan
- Test on your phone with cellular data
- Check Google PageSpeed Insights
Gather evidence (10 minutes)
- Screenshot the test results
- Note the specific load times
- Document customer complaints
Have a focused conversation (30 minutes)
- Share the specific data (not feelings)
- Ask: “Load time is X seconds. Industry standard is Y. What’s causing the difference?”
- Request a plan with timeline for improvement
Set measurable goals (15 minutes)
- Agree on target load time (under 3 seconds)
- Define timeline for improvements
- Schedule follow-up test in 2-4 weeks
Get outside help if needed
- If developer is defensive or can’t explain issues
- If performance keeps degrading
- If you need objective infrastructure assessment
The Reality Check
Your developer isn’t necessarily lying when they say “it loads fine for me.” They’re experiencing a different version of your site than your customers.
But that doesn’t mean you should accept slow performance.
The truth:
- Website speed directly impacts revenue
- Every second of delay costs you customers
- Performance problems are fixable
- You don’t need to be technical to measure and demand improvement
What you need:
- Objective data on actual performance
- Developer who takes performance seriously
- Someone who can translate technical details into business impact
Don’t let “works fine for me” be the end of the conversation. Get data. Share impact. Demand improvement.
Your customers are voting with their browsers—they’re leaving because your site is too slow. The question isn’t whether speed matters. It’s whether you’re willing to lose 30% of potential customers because of it.
Start here: Test your website speed now – get objective data in 60 seconds
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