7 tips for improving load speed

Plan for performance

Are you building a new website? Be sure to discuss the importance of performance early on and set targets. That way, you have a faster load speed from the beginning and don’t have to implement fixes later.

Step 1: test, step 2: test…

Are you seeing a pattern here? 😉 Testing is crucial! Before you launch, load and test your website multiple times to make sure you can handle the traffic of real site visitors. This is especially important for sites with complex hosting, such as load-balanced configuration.

Implement some “quick wins”

To be clear, there’s no “get fast quick” scheme for site load speeds. But there is a tried-and-true template that will put you ahead of the curve. That includes making use of modern image formats, enabling compression on the server via Gzip, and leveraging browser cache. Find some more low-hanging fruit here.

Careful of your images!

Good websites have great graphic content – but they also take into account how images impact load speed. You can improve image performance by considering file formats, image compression, and lazy loading.

Think of the mobile visitors

More and more people surf the web on their phone these days, which makes mobile-optimized sites a huge priority! Since mobile users tend to use slower, less stable Internet connections, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) are a great way to get them content faster.

Prioritize above-the-fold

First impressions matter – and your above-the-fold content can make or break them! Consider inline styling for above-the-fold, then loading your code in chunks. This type of asynchronous loading can create a faster perceived load time for the user.

Assess your external scripts

Third-party scripts are a great tool – but can make your website feel a little crowded. Assess the performance of external scripts on your site load speed, and replace or remove those that are negatively impacting user experience.

Conversational AI is a journey,
not a destination

Whether you are creating a virtual product expert, automating a complex financial form or introducing a virtual life health coach, it’s vital to the project’s success that you take into consideration each of the pillars we’ve outlined in this blog.

“Be very clear in what you want to achieve from this digital human – because the potential is limitless.”
Shashank Shekhar, CEO of Arcus Lending

We suggest that as you go through this blog, take some notes, jot down some questions and let us assist you in your journey. Our conversational AI specialists are eager to connect and help you implement best practices at each step.

So in line with that, let’s jump in a get started. The four pillars of an amazing digital human experience include both digital and tech imperatives, as well as highlighting the need for conversation, interaction and fun.

Digital humans | Introduction

Often referred to as avatars, artificial humans, or even virtual assistants, digital humans are AI-powered lifelike beings that look, sound and interact like real people.

Accessible 24-7-365 and fluent in over 70 languages, digital humans add empathy, compassion, engagement and a personality to any experience. Powered by conversational AI from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and other global tech leaders, digital humans are revolutionizing how we interface with brands, educators, healthcare workers, financial experts and other professions on a daily basis.

We’ve created new posts as a best practice guide to build amazing and engaging digital human experiences. Of course, best practices are always evolving, so we’d love to hear from you and what you’ve learned in your own journey. As always, visit us more often for information and connect with us on social media.