Recently, Compuware’s web performance division, Gomez, released the results of a consumer survey on web performance and usability.
While the results aren’t surprising, they provide quantifiable data for what had only been supported by anecdotal evidence. As a software engineer, the survey highlights some important things I need to focus on for a site’s overall usability.
Specifically, the Gomez survey reveals 32% of users leave a site within 1 to 5 seconds if the site’s response time is poor. Matt Poepsel, VP of performance strategies at Gomez, suggests this has to do with the everyday exposure of normal users to “best-in-class web performers like Facebook, Google and Yahoo!”, which they use “as a measuring stick or standard for determining how fast all sites should be.”
While recreating lighting-fast features like Google’s Instant Search is not possible given most timeframes and budgets of smaller sites, it is crucial to acknowledge that all sites, large and small, are expected to live up to these speed standards and develop accordingly.
Dovetailing nicely with this point, nearly 40% of responders noted that a site’s speed is more important than the functionality of a website. As a developer, it’s usually more interesting to focus on flashy features that harness the latest and greatest web development techniques. However, almost half of the survey respondents frequently abandon sites that do not perform up to their response time standards, regardless of feature sets.
We live in a fast-paced world, and if this survey is any indication, it’s just getting faster. The Gomez survey shows that while features are very important, we can alienate a significant portion of our user base with an underperforming site. Site speed is so important that we may miss showing off that flashy feature.
Additionally, Gomez notes that a third of all web users are coming from mobile traffic. While it would be interesting to be able to compare this data to the mobile stats from a year ago, it’s clear that web development is going through an important evolution. A whole new market demands compatibility.
All too often in web development, a significant time is spent back-optimizing for “obsolete” browsers like IE6, even though the current usage of that particular browser has shrunk to a measly 4.1% as of Nov. 2010. This trend must change. We must optimize for slower connections and handheld displays if businesses are to harness this growing movement.
To further reinforce the need for mobile optimization, a third of participants in the survey also noted that they expected sites to load either “as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone,” as they did on traditional computers. Given this expectation and the volume of mobile traffic, a shift must be made to provide the ideal user experience for this up-and-coming, large demographic.
What the Gomez survey revealed has long been suspected. People hate long load times, and everyone and their mother are using mobile technology to access the web. But the numbers given by Gomez are staggering. Unless we all begin thinking of access and optimization in a new way, there is a real risk that these everyday frustrations will end in exceptionally negative experiences.
READ MORE.
0 comments
