Nine out of ten people would switch to a competitor if a business'
website failed to load, according to research released today by 1&1
Internet Ltd, the world's largest web hosting provider by known
servers. In fact, nearly 53 per cent of people surveyed said they would
wait only up to 30 seconds for a website to load before giving up and
trying elsewhere. The study also found British consumers waste on
average 2.5 days per year waiting for slow websites to load, with some
52 per cent experiencing 'web rage' as a result.
The survey of some 1,600 UK consumers(1) concluded that nearly 80 per cent of people said that slow website loading was a major irritation when using the Internet, 71 per cent disliked websites that required specific software to run, 61 per cent were annoyed when images failed to load, and 24 per cent were turned off by domain names which are hard-to-remember.
Worryingly for UK companies, upon finding an error message on a business's website, some 63 per cent of consumers would automatically source another website, with only 4 per cent willing to report the error to the business in question. This lends further weight to the theory that UK consumers are becoming increasingly impatient and unforgiving when dealing with businesses online.
The British consumer is also becoming wiser about IT issues. Some 69 per cent of those surveyed said that when a website is slow or fails to load they conclude that poor web hosting is the cause rather than their own bandwidth, Internet connection or computer. This should act as a warning to Britain's 4.3 million SMEs(2), as customers will clearly no longer tolerate those that have poor hosting or web design in place.
Andreas Gauger, CEO 1&1 Internet, said: "It is no surprise how strongly consumers feel about poorly performing websites when they suffer significant stress from using them. As users become more dismissive of slower sites, SMEs must ensure that their market has instant access to their products and services."
So do all consumers react alike? Men are more likely to form a negative impression of a business based on a slow website (88 per cent compared to 84 per cent of women), and are more inclined to switch to a competitor if they are experiencing problems with a business' website (67 per cent compared to 60 per cent of women).
More women than men will return to a slow or frozen website later on in the day (33 per cent of women compared to 25 per cent of men). However, women are more likely to experience instantaneous 'web rage' and complain about the website to a colleague or friend.
The Scots are the most impatient Internet consumers, with only 10.9 per cent prepared to wait between 1 and 5 minutes for a website to load before switching to a competitor, compared to nearly 28 per cent of people from Northern Ireland. However, the Northern Irish are most affected by 'web rage' caused by slow websites, with 22 per cent surveyed claiming to become physically aggressive. The Welsh were most likely to report a problem to the owner of a website, 7 per cent compared to none of the Northern Irish consumers surveyed.
Surprisingly, more than 72 per cent of silver-surfers (over 55s), the highest of all age brackets surveyed, generally blamed slow-loading websites on poor web hosting, disproving the generalisation that the older generation are not so clued up on the web and IT issues.
Gauger added, "Our research shows that consumers do blame the website owners for a poor user-experience. That's why 1&1 maintains industry-leading connectivity to ensure that the millions of SME websites hosted will not disappoint their visitors."
The survey of some 1,600 UK consumers(1) concluded that nearly 80 per cent of people said that slow website loading was a major irritation when using the Internet, 71 per cent disliked websites that required specific software to run, 61 per cent were annoyed when images failed to load, and 24 per cent were turned off by domain names which are hard-to-remember.
Worryingly for UK companies, upon finding an error message on a business's website, some 63 per cent of consumers would automatically source another website, with only 4 per cent willing to report the error to the business in question. This lends further weight to the theory that UK consumers are becoming increasingly impatient and unforgiving when dealing with businesses online.
The British consumer is also becoming wiser about IT issues. Some 69 per cent of those surveyed said that when a website is slow or fails to load they conclude that poor web hosting is the cause rather than their own bandwidth, Internet connection or computer. This should act as a warning to Britain's 4.3 million SMEs(2), as customers will clearly no longer tolerate those that have poor hosting or web design in place.
Andreas Gauger, CEO 1&1 Internet, said: "It is no surprise how strongly consumers feel about poorly performing websites when they suffer significant stress from using them. As users become more dismissive of slower sites, SMEs must ensure that their market has instant access to their products and services."
So do all consumers react alike? Men are more likely to form a negative impression of a business based on a slow website (88 per cent compared to 84 per cent of women), and are more inclined to switch to a competitor if they are experiencing problems with a business' website (67 per cent compared to 60 per cent of women).
More women than men will return to a slow or frozen website later on in the day (33 per cent of women compared to 25 per cent of men). However, women are more likely to experience instantaneous 'web rage' and complain about the website to a colleague or friend.
The Scots are the most impatient Internet consumers, with only 10.9 per cent prepared to wait between 1 and 5 minutes for a website to load before switching to a competitor, compared to nearly 28 per cent of people from Northern Ireland. However, the Northern Irish are most affected by 'web rage' caused by slow websites, with 22 per cent surveyed claiming to become physically aggressive. The Welsh were most likely to report a problem to the owner of a website, 7 per cent compared to none of the Northern Irish consumers surveyed.
Surprisingly, more than 72 per cent of silver-surfers (over 55s), the highest of all age brackets surveyed, generally blamed slow-loading websites on poor web hosting, disproving the generalisation that the older generation are not so clued up on the web and IT issues.
Gauger added, "Our research shows that consumers do blame the website owners for a poor user-experience. That's why 1&1 maintains industry-leading connectivity to ensure that the millions of SME websites hosted will not disappoint their visitors."
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