As Internet connectivity continues to become more readily available, lower priced, and more accessible, think wireless and mobile device, Internet users expectations have grown. Pingdom provides their insight based from results in a 2009 survey sponsored by Akamai, compared to a similar study that they did in 2006:
Internet users expect web pages to load twice as fast in 2009 as they did in 2006. User expectations have changed significantly in just three years.
Here are some of the findings from the study:
- 47% expect a web page to load in two seconds or less.
- 40% will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load.
- 52% of online shoppers claim that quick page loads are important for their loyalty to a site.
- 14% will start shopping at a different site if page loads are slow, 23% will stop shopping or even walk away from their computer.
- 64% of shoppers who are dissatisfied with their site visit will go somewhere else to shop next time.
Although this study focused on ecommerce sites, the findings should be relevant to any site owner regardless of the type of site since the results clearly show how big an effect slow load times can have on user behavior.
In the old study from 2006, people got restless if an ecommerce site took more than four seconds to load. In the 2009 study, people got restless if an ecommerce site took more than two seconds to load
More Insight
This is useful information and leaves room to ponder best practice ways and even innovative ways to architect higher performing web sites and apps. Sometimes it can be as simple as tweaking the performance of a server, leveraging the power and scalability of cloud computing, or even as complex as modifying the back-end code of a web application to respond better. Either way, the benefit of meeting the demands, which can often equate to needs, is an important part of an organization’s perception by customer, client, and competitors.