The High Cost of Low Website Performance

With technological progress also come greater expectations from users, and a new survey reveals that today's consumers are frustrated by poor website performance and have even less tolerance for it than ever before.

While almost 90 percent of consumers believe it is important for websites to work well during peak traffic times, websites are not meeting their expectations, according to the Compuware survey. As a result, consumers have less patience and will take negative action faster when they experience poor website performance.

The survey, illustrated in this infographic, found that 37 percent of consumers find website performance issues unacceptable compared to 29 percent in 2009. Other key findings as to the business impact that poor performance plays include the following:

-      75 percent of those who experienced website issues have gone to a competitive site, and almost 30 percent go to a competitor's site immediately.
-      86 percent of online consumers are less likely to return to a company's website after a poor online experience.
-      43 percent of online consumers had a less positive perception of the company, and 33 percent told others about it after a poor online experience.

"Peak web traffic means increased revenue opportunity, and for most businesses peak periods are precisely when they spend the most on promotions and campaigns to drive visitors to their sites and convert the sale," says Steve Tack, CTO of Compuware APM.

"However, peak traffic also means increased risk for degraded Web performance and, consequently, lost business. The overall message from consumers is clear - they want better online experiences and are willing to take action like going to a competitor's site when they experience poor website performance during peak traffic times."