Mobile web performance still frustrating users

Two out of three users have encountered problems accessing the mobile web over the last 12 months, with close to 75 percent [1]citing slow load times and more than half complaining of site content incorrectly sized for the device screen, according to a new subscriber survey commissioned by web application experience management services provider Gomez. Despite recurring access issues, Gomez reports that users maintain high expectations for mobile web performances--more than 80 percent of respondents said they would turn to the mobile Internet more often if the experience was as fast and reliable as on a PC. Almost three quarters of respondents said they expect to complete transactions like checking bank balances within a minute, or else they will abandon the mobile site.

Patience with mobile web hiccups is limited--85 percent of consumers said they are only willing to retry a mobile website two times or less if it does not work initially, and more than half are unlikely to return to a website after having trouble accessing it the first time. Moreover, 40 percent said they'd likely visit a competitor's mobile website instead.

 Other findings from the Gomez report:

• Half of mobile web users are willing to wait only 6 to 10 seconds or less for a web page to load on their phone before giving up, and just one in five is willing to wait more than 20 seconds.
• Users over 45 years old are significantly more likely than younger subscribers to give up and exit a site upon failing to complete a transaction in 30 seconds or less.
• More than two thirds of respondents said they would be unlikely to recommend a mobile website they had trouble accessing.

For more on the Gomez mobile web survey:
- see this slideshow [1]
- read this release [2]

Related articles:
Mobile web [3] usage grows 34 percent year-over-year
One-fifth of Americans accessing mobile web [4] each day
iPhone accounts for two thirds of all mobile web [5] traffic