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 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
- read this release

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iPhone accounts for two thirds of all mobile web traffic