What's your Interaction to Next Pain(t)?

Discover how optimizing the Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metric can enhance your eCommerce website's user experience and boost search rankings

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Stay ahead in the eCommerce game with the latest industry updates. In the seventh edition of the eCom Buzz, we're looking at the decline of affiliate sites in search rankings, the innovative features from Shopify's 2024 Summer Edition, and Lowe's groundbreaking use of Apple Vision for kitchen remodels.

Affiliate Sites Declining in Search Results

Good news for eCommerce websites: affiliate sites are dropping in search rankings. The question often arises: which is more valuable, an eCommerce website or one that merely links to eCommerce sites? The answer is clear: an eCommerce website. Affiliate sites often lack the depth and value consumers seek. By prioritizing quality content, eCommerce websites can enhance their appeal and boost search rankings.

Shopify 2024 Summer Edition Highlights

Shopify continues to set the standard in eCommerce innovation, much like Apple in the tech world. The Shopify 2024 Summer Edition brings a slew of exciting updates and features designed to enhance the merchant and customer experience.

Split Shipping

This new feature allows customers to ship items from a single order to multiple destinations. This is especially useful for gifting stores, enabling customers to send individual packages to different friends, colleagues, or employees all in one go. Split shipping enhances convenience and flexibility, making it easier for businesses to cater to a wider range of customer needs.

AI Integration

Shopify is doubling down on AI to automate various tasks. Merchants can now automatically respond to customer inquiries and even replace background images using AI. This streamlines operations, saving time and resources while maintaining high-quality customer interactions. By incorporating AI, Shopify ensures that merchants can focus more on strategic growth and less on repetitive tasks.

Checkout Blocks

Following their acquisition of a popular app, Shopify has integrated Checkout Blocks into the platform at no additional cost for Plus stores. This feature allows for customizable checkout experiences, enabling merchants to add unique elements that enhance the final stage of the purchase process. By making this powerful tool accessible to all Plus stores, Shopify helps merchants increase conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Markets

Shopify has revamped its localization features, consolidating them into a single, user-friendly space. This update simplifies the process of managing international sales, making it more efficient and less daunting. While few U.S. merchants currently prioritize international expansion, those ready to take the plunge will find this feature invaluable for reaching new markets without the usual hassle.

With these updates, Shopify continues to lead the way in eCommerce, providing tools that help merchants stay competitive and meet the evolving demands of their customers.

Lowe's Utilizes Apple Vision for Kitchen Remodels

Apple Vision has found a practical and impactful application in Lowe's innovative approach to kitchen remodels. By leveraging this advanced technology, Lowe's enhances the customer experience through detailed, 3D renderings of potential new kitchens. This immersive tool allows customers to explore different design options, layouts, and finishes in real time, reducing uncertainty and making the decision-making process smoother. While widespread adoption is still years away, niche uses like this are paving the way for future developments. The improvements in 3D technology have significantly lowered the barrier to entry.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Why It Matters

In the realm of eCommerce, understanding and optimizing the Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metric is crucial for maintaining competitive search engine rankings. This metric, introduced by Google in March 2024, measures the responsiveness of a website by evaluating how quickly it reacts to user interactions, such as clicks. Unlike the older First Input Delay metric, INP provides a more accurate picture of the user experience, focusing on the time it takes for the website to respond to inputs and update the visual display.

Why INP Is Important

Google switched to using INP instead of First Input Delay in March 2024 for its search ranking algorithms. A poor INP can negatively impact your search rankings, making it crucial for website optimization.

How to Measure INP

Visit Google PageSpeed Insights and enter your website URL. This tool will provide an INP score and identify areas for improvement.

Improving INP and Core Web Vitals

Improving INP often leads to better performance in other Core Web Vitals. This can be achieved by auditing the frontend, optimizing Javascript, reducing HTML, and managing third-party scripts. These enhancements not only improve INP but also the overall user experience and search rankings.

Understanding and addressing the INP metric equips eCommerce managers with the knowledge to optimize their websites effectively, ensuring a better user experience and improved search engine performance.

Need help understanding INP better?

With so many acronyms these days, it can be hard to understand what your website needs to be its best. Our eCommerce experts are ready to help you understand and make your website stand out in the crowd.