Founder of Goodspeed
Framer’s design-first approach makes it an excellent choice for visually striking websites, but rich animations and high-resolution images can slow down performance.
Lazy loading for Framer website load times helps tackle this issue by deferring the loading of offscreen content until users scroll to it, significantly improving speed and user experience without compromising quality.
This guide breaks down how to implement lazy loading in Framer using built-in settings, custom scripts, and best practices. You’ll also discover real-world examples of how businesses have optimised their Framer sites for faster load times and improved engagement.
What Is Lazy Loading & Why It Matters for Framer?
Every second counts when it comes to website speed, especially for mobile users. Research shows that 53% of visitors leave if a page takes more than three seconds to load. Lazy loading prevents unnecessary content from being loaded upfront, helping Framer websites perform better while maintaining visual appeal.
Definition of Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is a site optimisation and performance enhancement technique that ensures images, videos, and even full sections load only when they are about to appear in a user’s viewport. Instead of forcing the browser to fetch all assets at once, lazy loading prioritises above-the-fold content, reducing the initial payload.
For example, on an e-commerce site built with Framer, product images below the fold wouldn’t load until the user scrolls down. This improves load times and enhances the browsing experience without sacrificing design.
Specific Advantages for Framer Sites
Lazy loading is particularly beneficial for Framer websites that rely on animation-heavy layouts, image galleries, or video content.
Reduced Initial Load Time: By delaying non-essential elements, lazy loading ensures that users don’t experience long wait times, especially on mobile.
Improved Perceived Performance: Visitors see above-the-fold content immediately, which makes the site feel faster—even before all assets are loaded.
Mobile Optimisation: With mobile pages loading 70.9% slower than desktop on average, lazy loading helps cut down on excessive bandwidth usage, leading to smoother navigation.
A financial services company migrated to Framer and implemented structured lazy loading techniques for high-quality images and dynamic content. As a result, their site achieved rapid load times and an improved SEO ranking, ensuring users experienced near-instant access to critical information.
Setting Up Lazy Loading in Framer
Framer offers multiple ways to enable lazy loading, making it an essential speed optimisation strategy, whether through native settings or custom implementations. The right approach depends on your project’s complexity and performance requirements.
Using Framer’s Built-In Options
Framer regularly updates its features, and some versions include native lazy-loading settings for media-heavy elements. If available, you can:
Check if Framer’s image blocks and components have a "defer loading" or "load on scroll" setting.
Optimise above-the-fold content, ensuring that critical visuals appear immediately while others load progressively.
Use Framer’s auto layout and grouping to structure elements efficiently, preventing layout shifts when images load dynamically.
This method is ideal for non-technical users who want an easy, built-in solution without writing additional code.
Imagine a startup using Framer templates to design a homepage with multiple hero sections. By enabling built-in lazy loading, they ensure that only the first section loads instantly, while subsequent content appears as users scroll.
Custom Code Injection (For Advanced Optimisation)
For websites with complex animations or high interactivity, Framer’s built-in options may not be enough. Developers can inject a short JavaScript snippet using the Intersection Observer API to manually trigger lazy loading.
How it works:
Assign a data-src attribute to images instead of using a direct src tag.
Add a script that replaces data-src with src when the element enters the viewport.
Ensure animations do not conflict with lazy-loaded elements by testing thoroughly.
This approach gives greater flexibility and works well for projects requiring precise control over performance enhancements.
Using PageSpeed Insights, you can analyse how well lazy loading improves your Framer site’s load times and overall performance. A 1-second load time improvement can boost conversions by up to 3x, making this method valuable for businesses that rely on high engagement rates.
Practical Implementation Steps
Now that we’ve covered the techniques, let’s look at how to apply lazy loading effectively in Framer projects.
Preparing Images or Sections
Before implementing lazy loading, it’s important to structure your assets correctly.
Use clear naming conventions for images and sections (e.g., hero-image, gallery-section) to keep track of what loads dynamically.
Leverage placeholder assets—such as low-resolution previews or solid colours—to prevent layout shifts while high-quality images load in the background.
This step ensures a smooth user experience, preventing visible gaps or sudden image pop-ins.
Integrating Lazy Loading Techniques
Depending on the content type, lazy loading methods will differ:
For Images:
Insert an image in Framer and replace the src with data-src.
Use a script to swap data-src with src when the element becomes visible.
For Sections:
Wrap sections inside a container div and set them to display only when triggered by the Intersection Observer API.
Ensure that hidden sections do not interfere with animations.
When Formula Bot migrated to Framer, lazy loading contributed to a 75% increase in page speed. Their new Framer site not only ranked higher on Google but also achieved an A+ rating on Google Lighthouse for performance.
Testing Within Framer Preview & Publish
Once lazy loading is implemented, thorough testing is crucial to avoid broken images or missing content.
Preview the project in Framer’s editor mode to check loading behaviour.
Publish to a Framer subdomain and test real-device performance.
Using PageSpeed Insights, you can validate improvements and detect any issues.
These steps help ensure that your Framer site delivers both speed and high-quality visuals, maintaining a balance between design and performance.
Common Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them
Even though lazy loading for Framer website load times significantly improves performance, improper implementation can lead to layout shifts, flickering animations, and indexing issues. To ensure a smooth experience, it’s essential to identify and prevent common mistakes.
Overlooking Mobile Viewports
Many Framer users test their designs primarily on desktop, overlooking how lazy loading might affect mobile responsiveness. If not optimised correctly, images may load inconsistently, or placeholders might cause layout shifts, negatively impacting the experience.
Solution:
Test lazy loading across all mobile breakpoints using Framer’s built-in preview tools.
Ensure placeholder images have a fixed aspect ratio to prevent content from shifting when full-resolution images load.
Use Google’s mobile-friendly test to confirm that images load as expected.
Using Complex Animations Over Lazy-Loaded Elements
Framer’s powerful animation features make websites visually engaging, but animations that rely on offscreen elements can cause unwanted flickering or broken effects when combined with lazy loading.
Problem Example:
A fade-in animation applied to a lazy-loaded image may trigger before the image actually loads, causing a flash of empty space.
Scrolling-based animations might conflict with Intersection Observer scripts, leading to unpredictable behaviour.
Solution:
Use animation delays so that content appears only after it fully loads.
Implement progressive loading techniques, ensuring that animations trigger in sync with content visibility.
Reduce excessive motion effects on mobile to avoid performance bottlenecks.
When The Nations’ partnered with Goodspeed for a Framer website, our developers ensured that lazy-loaded elements did not disrupt interactive effects. The site achieved significantly improved load times while preserving an engaging user experience, validated through Google Lighthouse performance metrics.
Not Verifying SEO Implications
Lazy loading is great for performance, but if not configured correctly, it can prevent search engines from indexing images and content, affecting SEO rankings.
Common Issues:
Googlebot may fail to detect lazy-loaded images if JavaScript prevents proper rendering.
Missing alt text can reduce accessibility and hurt image search rankings.
Improper implementation may delay content visibility, negatively impacting Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) scores.
Solution:
Ensure critical images are loaded above the fold without lazy loading.
Add alt tags to all images to maintain SEO visibility.
Using PageSpeed Insights, you can evaluate how lazy loading affects Framer websites' performance and identify any site optimisation improvements needed to enhance visibility.
Conclusion
Implementing lazy loading in Framer is one of the most effective ways to optimise site speed without compromising design quality. By selectively loading images, sections, and animations only when needed, you can significantly reduce initial load times, enhance Framer performance, and improve user engagement.
Businesses that focus on speed optimisation see measurable benefits, including lower bounce rates, higher conversions, and better SEO rankings.
If you’re looking to implement lazy loading for Framer website load times but need expert guidance, Goodspeed’s team can help you achieve seamless speed optimisation while maintaining a high-performing, visually stunning Framer website.
Book a free consultation to optimise your Framer website speed or download our Framer migration checklist for further guidance.
Written By
Harish Malhi
Founder of Goodspeed
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