I love speed. In 8 years, I’m probably one of the most speed aware individuals that I’ve ever met. Having said that, it’s definitely NOT about me! What I find interesting is how others perceive speed as well. So, here’s a few points-to-ponder and think about ~ not just for the buyers, but especially for theme author’s as well.
A few thoughts…
First, there’s many great articles that talk about actual speed vs perceived speed of a site. Instead of going into detail, let me just point out a few of the best articles I’ve found:
- http://blog.smartbear.com/web-monitoring/all-im-offering-you-is-the-truth/
- https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/09/why-performance-matters-the-perception-of-time/
- https://www.keycdn.com/blog/perceived-performance/
The best line that I’d love every theme author to read is in that last article where Brian says:
Just by having the spinner there it immediately gives us a feeling that there is a delay. This is not what we want visitors to feel.
Remember that your theme’s load time is NOT just about a green 
(or yellow 
or red 
) number in Pingdom. Perception matters INFINITELY MORE than the little color coded grade that you’re seeing Pingdom give your theme. 
Here’s a few tools that are guaranteed to DRAMATICALLY INCREASE your perceived load times: (hint: both of these could be bundled into anyone’s theme! hint hint hint)
-
FastClick.js: https://ftlabs.github.io/fastclick/ This should take, at least, an additional 300ms off your loadtimes. Here is the raw code for a WordPress Plugin: https://github.com/mohandere/wp-fastclick And here’s the plugin itself: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-fastclick/
-
(My Favorite!!) InstantClick.js is one of the most useful and powerful libraries ever! To see it in action, click here —> http://instantclick.io/click-test So, what’s the big deal? 
Well, that time between $when-you-hover and $when-you-finally-click is actually pretty significant 
You’ll want to use that time to go ahead and start loading the URL which the visitor is wanting (or about to want) to click. Need the raw code? No problem! https://github.com/dieulot/instantclick Need the WordPress version? Ok! Even though the version compatibility hasn’t been updated in a while, here 'ya go: https://wordpress.org/plugins/instantclick
I’d love to see ALL (yes, all) of the theme authors implement these two solutions. However, remember that WordPress core has indeed implemented some great prefetching options.
Lastly, stop focusing on that color grade. Seriously! While that cute little color coded grade you see might be important to y-o-u, the savvy buyers are highly educated and know that it’s the round trips (“REQUESTS”) that actually make an actual & real difference.
Those savvy buyers will become your biggest fan! Not because of some letter or color grade, but because those affiliates, influencers, Facebook Group Owners, multiple license buyers, and Agencies actually KNOW exactly what is making the themes load fast! 
If you’re not using it, REMOVE it:
- JSON API
- Emoji script
- Gravatars
- …and more!
Want a plugin to help with that as well? OK! Here 'ya go: https://wordpress.org/plugins/remove-wp-overhead/
Best of luck to all the entries! Especially my longtime favorites from @WPExplorer and @UX-themes
Feel free to edit the post title if you like.