SOASTA Survey: Website Performance Will Influence How Americans Do Their Online Holiday Shopping

Seventy percent of Americans’ online behaviors would be influenced by
website performance “grades” – including how and where
they will do online holiday shopping

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–With the holidays on the horizon, SOASTA, the leader in performance
analytics, has released the results of a survey gauging the extent to
which consumers’ online behavior would be affected if websites had
performance “grades.” The survey found that 70 percent of Americans’
browsing and online shopping behavior would be affected by such a
rating, with Millennials being the most reactive. Fifty-three percent of
Millennial women said they would skip online shopping sites with poor
grades, and 56 percent said they would do more shopping from sites with
good grades. In addition, especially significant as the holiday shopping
season approaches, 46 percent of American women say they most rely on
website performance to do online holiday shopping.

The survey also discovered that Millennial women are twice as likely to
use the Internet to entertain their children as the average American;
that Millennial men are twice as likely as the average American to seek
distraction from a boring date on the Internet; and that Americans
believe that optimizing website performance on personal computers should
still take priority over smartphones and other devices.

SOASTA commissioned the research to support the launch of its new Consumer
Performance Index (CPI), a unique way to benchmark how well a
website engages consumers.

Millennials are built for speed

Seventy-five percent of Millennial men and 81 percent of Millennial
women said their browsing behaviors would be affected if websites had
performance grades (compared to 70 percent of the general American
population). Fifty-three percent of Millennial women said they would
skip online shopping sites with poor grades, and 56 percent said they
would do more shopping from sites with good grades.

“Statistics like this are significant to online businesses, because they
affect business performance,” said Tom Lounibos, CEO of SOASTA. “For
example, users are impatient and won’t wait around if a site is slow.
And if they leave, they won’t transact and, more importantly, won’t
return. Website performance grades are clearly important to consumers;
as a result, they are essential tools for businesses.”

Forty-two percent of Millennial women said they would think less of tech
companies whose sites had poor performance grades, and 41 percent would
not click on news stories from sites with low grades. Millennial men (24
percent), meanwhile, shared the opinion of 35-44-year-old men (28
percent) that the performance grade of an erotic website would weigh
into their decision of whether or not to browse a site.

Curiously, only 20 percent of Americans said they would stop using
poorly performing social networking sites.

American women more reliant on the Internet for holiday shopping

When asked in which situations Americans most rely on websites, 46
percent of American women said “online holiday shopping,” as did 32
percent of American men.

Thirty-two percent of the general population said they most relied on
the Internet for “finding a recipe for dinner,” as did 41 percent of
Millennials.

Americans also turn to websites to “see what their friends are up to”
(26 percent), watch their favorite TV shows (25 percent), and to stay
informed about presidential hopefuls (20 percent).

In most categories, however, none turn to the Internet as often as
Millennial women:

During which of the following situations is using a website most
important to you?

Millennial men, meanwhile, were twice as likely as the average American
to turn to the Internet for distraction from a boring date (13 percent
vs. 5 percent).

Computers are still king

While nearly 1 in 3 Americans agreed that companies should be focusing
on performance across devices, nearly half said the priority should
still be on personal computers. Smartphones were a close runner-up.

One in 4 Americans thought companies should be optimizing their websites
for smart cars. Smart watches, however, were almost nobody’s concern:

On which of the following devices should companies be most concerned
about website performance?

Unsurprisingly, 65 percent of students said website performance on their
computer was a top priority, and 62 percent said companies should focus
on smartphone performance.

Room for improvement

When asked which websites are generally best performing, Americans
seemed to be at a loss. Twenty-eight percent said social media sites; 26
percent said news/entertainment sites; and 20 percent said sites for
streaming TV and movies. The numbers get worse from there: only 19
percent voted for consumer product sites, 17 percent for big box store
sites and 14 percent for gaming sites. Only 4 percent said the
presidential candidates have top performing sites.

When asked what aspects of website performance are most crucial,
Americans agreed that ease of navigation (79 percent) was the top
consideration, especially senior men (89 percent) and women (91
percent). The other top consideration – across age and income brackets –
was speed (73 percent). Sixty-eight percent of Americans said
reliability was a priority, and 62 percent said it was important that
sites don’t crash. Only 13 percent said personalized content was a top
consideration.

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll
on behalf of SOASTA from September 23-25, 2015, among 2,044 adults ages
18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample,
and, therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be
calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting
variables, please contact Gaby Perez-Silva: gaby@soasta.com.

About SOASTA

SOASTA is the leader in performance analytics. The SOASTA platform
enables digital business owners to gain unprecedented and continuous
performance insights into their real user experience on mobile and web
devices in real time and at scale. With more than 3 billion user
experiences monitored, measured, tested and optimized every week, SOASTA
is the digital performance expert trusted by industry-leading brands,
including 41 of the Top 100 Internet retailers, such as Target,
Nordstrom, Staples, Sears, Walmart, Etsy, Nike, Best Buy, Adobe, Intuit,
Microsoft, DirectTV, Netflix and BBC. SOASTA is privately held and
headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. For more information about
SOASTA, visit http://www.soasta.com.

About The Harris Poll

Over the last 5 decades, Harris Polls have become media staples. With
comprehensive experience and precise technique in public opinion
polling, along with a proven track record of uncovering consumers’
motivations and behaviors, The Harris Poll has gained strong brand
recognition around the world. The Harris Poll offers a diverse portfolio
of proprietary client solutions to transform relevant insights into
actionable foresight for a wide range of industries including health
care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial
services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer packaged
goods. Contact us for more information.

Contacts

SOASTA, Inc.
Gaby Perez-Silva, 650-390-6700
gaby@soasta.com