Optimize WooCommerce Performance with WordPress Transients

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Discover how WordPress transients can boost WooCommerce speed! We’ll explain what transients are, their pros and cons, and when and how to use them. Plus, watch me analyze my own website’s code, identify slow queries, and optimize them live.

Hosted by Rodolfo Melogli

Session overview

In this webinar, we’ll dive deep into the power of WordPress transients and how they can dramatically improve the performance of your WooCommerce store. Transients are a powerful caching mechanism within WordPress that allows you to temporarily store data and retrieve it quickly, without making repeated database calls. This can be a game-changer for WooCommerce sites with heavy traffic or complex queries.

Did you know that slow queries can significantly impact your site’s performance? WooCommerce stores, especially those with large product catalogs or custom functionalities, often face performance issues due to inefficient queries. By caching the results of these queries using transients, you can drastically reduce load times and improve user experience.

In this session, I’ll explain what WordPress transients are and how they work. We’ll start with the basics: what are transients, how they are stored, and when they should be used. I’ll also cover the benefits of using transients, such as faster page loads, reduced database load, and improved performance for users. But, it’s important to understand the drawbacks too. For example, if not used correctly, transients can lead to stale data or unnecessary complexity. That’s why it’s essential to use them thoughtfully.

We’ll also cover real-world examples and case studies. I’ll be analyzing my own website’s code, identifying slow queries, and showing you exactly how to optimize them using transients. You’ll get to see firsthand how caching data can speed up WooCommerce queries, reduce server load, and improve overall site performance. By the end of this webinar, you’ll have the knowledge to identify bottlenecks in your own store, understand when caching is necessary, and implement transients effectively.

By the end of this session, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to leverage WordPress transients to optimize WooCommerce queries and improve performance. Whether you’re a developer looking to optimize your site’s speed or a store owner wanting to enhance user experience, this webinar will provide practical insights that you can immediately apply to your site.

So, join me for this hands-on, live session where we’ll unlock the full potential of WordPress transients, optimize slow queries, and transform your WooCommerce store’s performance. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from my real-world examples and take your site’s speed to the next level – as well as the chance to learn and connect with the Business Bloomer Club WooCommerce community in real time!

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis and soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.

Rodolfo Melogli@rmelogli

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Class Materials

Official documentation: https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/transients
WooCommerce set_transient usage: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Awoocommerce%2Fwoocommerce+set_transient&type=code
Difference between Transients and wp_cache_* functions: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_object_cache/

Useful Snippet

This snippet will show you on screen how long it takes to load 1,000 WooCommerce orders with and without a transient.

Simply add the [transient] shortcode to a page/post on your dev website with at least 1,000 orders and load the page for the first time:

The query should take more than 1 second
The transient, on the other hand, doesn’t exist yet, so the time will be like 0.02 seconds as we need to set_transient

Now load the page for the second time:

The query will take more or less the same time
This time, the transient exists, and will take way LESS than the query

You’ve just demonstrated how cool transients are 🙂

/**
 * @snippet       Calculate Transient Speed
 * @tutorial      https://businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 9
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_shortcode( 'transient', function() {
	
	if ( is_admin() ) return;
	
	$html = '<h2>Transient results</h2>';

	// Start timer for database query
	$start_time_query = microtime(true);

	// Simulate a WC query
	$orders = wc_get_orders( [ 'limit' => 1000 ] );

	// End timer for database query
	$end_time_query = microtime(true);
	$query_duration = $end_time_query - $start_time_query;

	// Output time taken by the query
	$html .= '<p>Orders query time: ' . $query_duration . ' seconds</p>';

	// Start timer for transient retrieval
	$start_time_transient = microtime(true);

	// Store results in a transient for future use (set expiration to 1 hour)
	$transient_key = 'sample_transient_key';
	$transient_data = get_transient( $transient_key );
	if ( $transient_data === false ) {
		// If no transient data, set it
		set_transient( $transient_key, $orders, HOUR_IN_SECONDS );
	}

	// End timer for transient retrieval
	$end_time_transient = microtime(true);
	$transient_duration = $end_time_transient - $start_time_transient;

	// Output time taken by transient retrieval
	$html .= '<p>Transient retrieval time: ' . $transient_duration . ' seconds</p>';

	// Compare the two
	$difference = $query_duration - $transient_duration;
	$html .= '<p>Time saved using transient: ' . $difference . ' seconds</p>';
	
	return $html;

});

Upcoming masterclasses

As a Business Bloomer / WooWeekly subscriber you can attend as many live classes you wish – for free. Here’s a list of upcoming events (we usually take a break for June-August, otherwise you should expect about 2 classes per month). Make sure to attend live so you can interact with the teacher and the other attendees!

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Available webinar recordings

As a Business Bloomer Club member you have full lifetime access to previous class recordings (as well as online courses, private community and more). Here’s the list of all past classes:

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