This graph taken from the Gomez report illustrates that most Web users responded that they feel frustrated by slow loading websites. More than a third said they would be less likely to return, and 27 percent would more likely visit a competing site.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) – Reflecting the fickleness of Web users, nearly a third of consumers would start abandoning slow sites within one and five seconds, according to a new study from Gomez (www.gomez.com), the Web performance division of Compuware Corporation (www.compuware.com).
The independent study, “When Seconds Count,” conducted for Gomez by Equation Research, queried 1,004 Web and mobile users on the importance of speed for all Web businesses. The study found, among other things, that speed makes an enormous difference when it comes to accessing a website.
“When web users encounter web or mobile site performance problems, their patience and loyalty run thin,” Gomez performance strategies vice president Matt Poepsel said in a statement. “However, many companies fail to realize that seconds really do count because their customers refer to best-in-class web performers like Facebook, Google and Yahoo! as a measuring stick or standard for determining how fast all sites should be.”
Nearly a third of consumers will start abandoning slow sites between one and five seconds, however, 84 percent are only willing to try a slow performing website a few times before giving up. Also, speed trumps functionality in most cases, with 39 percent of respondents saying speed is more important than functionality, while only one in five rank site functionality as more important.
Perhaps the most alarming statistic for those with slow sites is that 37 percent of those polled said they would not return to a slow site, and that 27 percent would likely jump to a competitor’s site.
Speed is also very important for mobile devices, which a third of all Web users reportedly use to access the Internet. More than half of respondents using mobile devices expect websites to load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone compared to their home computer.
In a recent email interview with the WHIR, Gomez chief technology officer Imad Mouline discussed Gomez’s end-user approach to application monitoring, and the impact of cloud computing technology on application performance and its measurement, as well as the opportunities available for Web hosting providers to partner and distribute Gomez products to their customers.
