A survey of 1,048 online shoppers revealed that two seconds is the new threshold in terms of their expectation for a web page to load and that 40% of shoppers will wait no more than three seconds before abandoning a retail or travel site.
In a similar study in 2006 it was found that four seconds was the maximum length of time an average online shopper will wait for a Web page to load before potentially abandoning a retail site. So, in the last three years we have doubled our expectation of ecommerce site performance.
From the 2009 survey*, it was concluded that:
- Consumers became impatient when pages take longer than 2 seconds to load.
- Online shopper loyalty is contingent upon quick page loading, especially for high-spending shoppers. Over half of online shoppers stated that quick page loading is important to their site loyalty.
- Shoppers often become distracted when made to wait for a page to load. Around 14% will begin shopping at another site and 23% will stop shopping or walk away from their computer.
- Retail and travel sites that underperform lead to lost sales. A huge 79% of online shoppers who experience a dissatisfying visit are less likely to buy from that site again – 64% would simply buy from another online store.
Site performance is a major factor for keeping visitors coming back to an online store. With two seconds as the new benchmark, it leaves little room for error to maintain a loyal online customer base.
Next up we look at ways you can ‘tune’ your Zen Cart store to increase performance and customer satisfaction.
Akamai Technologies commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine ecommerce web site performance and its correlation with an online shopper’s behaviour.
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