We published our own site's metrics
Every agency talks about performance using the client's site. We decided to measure ours and leave the number in plain sight, including when it is not flattering.
We surveyed eleven digital marketing agencies among the most recognised in Brazil and the world. All of them sell performance. None of them publishes the performance of its own site.
That is understandable: it is easier to talk about someone else's results. But we think that, if the conversation is about speed and experience, the first example should be our own house.
If the conversation is about speed, the first example should be our own house.
So we built the Lab. It shows how much each page of this site weighs, how many requests it makes, how many third-party scripts it loads — and it also shows the numbers that do not flatter us.
The first measurement was uncomfortable. The home page weighs more than 1 MB when the browser picks the larger images. The Work page, which gathers everything, reaches 3 MB. It is not a disaster, but it is far from the ideal we argue for.
We also found something along the way: our first measurement was off by a factor of five. We measured the uncompressed files, and what the visitor downloads is the compressed version. The CSS that looked like 219 KB is 37 KB in practice. We fixed it before publishing — and the mistake became part of the method: if a number looks too good or too bad, measure it again before believing it.
The Lab goes public today, with the date of each measurement. When it improves, it shows. When it gets worse, it shows too.