Lack of speed, kills the mobile user experience, dead. Research has found that the biggest turn off for mobile users is waiting for mobile pages to load.
A client once said to us “the mobile web? Isn’t that just the normal web on a small screen?” It’s a scary thought and it’s not an uncommon thought. But if you think that’s scary then just listen to this “the mobile web should perform as fast as the normal web or we’re off.” That’s the findings from a Gomez survey that we’ve precised into one short soundbyte.
Gomez’s, survey shows a significant portion of US consumers will quickly abandon websites that perform slowly. With nearly a third of consumers stating they would start abandoning slow sites between one and five seconds.
Survey findings include:
Speed makes a difference when it comes to accessing a website:
• Nearly one-third (32%) of consumers will start abandoning slow sites between one and five seconds.
• 84% are only willing to try a slow performing website a few times before giving up.
• 39% say speed is more important than functionality for most websites, while only one in five rank greater site functionality as more important.
When viewing a website on your mobile phone, how long are you willing to wait for the website to load before giving up and exiting the page?
Speed also makes a difference when it comes to accessing a mobile site:
• A third of all web users are also using a mobile device to access the Internet.
• More than half of mobile users expect websites to load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone, compared to the computer they use at home.
Slow load times are common and users feel frustrated with poor performance:
• Two thirds (67%) of users encounter a slow performing website a few times a week or more.
• More than a third (37%) said they would not return to a slow site, and 27% would likely jump to a competitor’s site.
• For mobile web users, slow website load times and poor formatting are the top two issues encountered on the mobile web.
“When web users encounter web or mobile site performance problems, their patience and loyalty run thin,” said Matt Poepsel, vice president of performance strategies at Gomez. “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.”
To download and read the full survey in a PDF click here Gomez also has a handy PDF that covers research that they’ve done into mobile web usage that’s also worth a read you can download it here here.
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Oh most definitely.
People want quick, on demand access to anything on the mobile. That’s what it’s there for.
You want to quickly check something whilst on the move. Patience wears thin because people perceive the lack of time they have to get it.