Opinion: Why every (micro)second counts when it comes to brand experience

The cornerstone of any thriving business, today, across sectors, is the increasing need to deliver a great consumer experience. From websites to household products, brands across the board are pushing for a more enriching, fulfilling experience.

Since the 1990s, few measurements of user experience have stood the test of time as has the ubiquitous page-load time, the universal metric used to measure website performance. The concept behind page load remains as relevant as ever. However, in 2012 additional metrics are used to quantify best-in-class end-user experiences on the Web.

Response Time, the closest metric to page-load time, measures the lapsed time between the request for an asset and the delivery of the first byte on a page. This might include the base HTML page and referenced objects, third-party content contained within the page, or other content required for the interaction, such as Javascript or cookies.

Availability measures the percentage of successfully completed tests out of a given number of attempts over a fixed period. For example, a site's up-time may be tested every minute for a month.

Consistency records the variation of response during a fixed period. Literally, this measures how consistent a website is performing over time, between geographies or potentially, between different devices.

Tolerance looks at the user's expectations for performance, which vary depending on where they are, what they are downloading and how quickly they need it. Any genuine measure of performance would make little sense without this context. For example, certain mobile applications, such as navigational aids, are absolutely dependent on a so-called Minimal Attention User Interface, which enables the user to focus on his/her environment rather than the device itself.

Online retailers are particularly impacted by unreliable performance. According to Kiss Metrics, 40 per cent of online shoppers will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, and a 1-second delay decreases customer satisfaction levels by around 16 per cent.

Another prevalent complaint of internet users is videos or live streams that buffer. A study by TubeMogul found that about 7 per cent of all videos rebuffer at least once during playback, and 2.5 per cent rebuffer twice. This is bad news for video content providers, because recent statistics by Conviva revealed that viewers who experience a single video start-up failure are 54 per cent less likely to return. Apart from this, just a 1 per cent increase in buffering leads to an average decrease of 3 minutes in viewing time. Clearly, pausing a video to let it buffer may serve as a turning point for viewers as to whether to continue with the experience or just move on to something else.  

Mobile expectations

Directions for an upcoming trip sought from the comfort of your home PC can suddenly assume "mission-critical" status when attempted via your mobile device. Mobile Web performance is particularly difficult to calibrate and compare to the relatively homogenised PC and laptop environment. There are many variables at play, ranging from mobile networks and bandwidth to devices and content (whether it is optimised for mobile or not).

Users, of course, care little for these intricacies. According to research from Kiss Metrics, 21 per cent of respondents expected a similar level of Web performance from their mobile device as their desktop, while 21 per cent actually expected faster download times from their mobiles. According to the research, iPad users are more like desktop users than smartphone users. In fact, while the tablet’s performance lags behind that of a PC, iPad users are prepared to wait for longer to enjoy a desktop-like experience.

From performance to the bottom line

So delivering consistent performance is increasingly complex and costly if you don’t get it right. The implications for brands, in terms of perception and customer satisfaction levels are evident. According to Harry Shum, a computer scientist at Microsoft, 250 milliseconds can literally mean the difference between a sale and that of a competitor. The Kiss Metrics research states that a 1-second delay in page response can result in a 7 per cent reduction in conversions. For an e-commerce site generating US$100,000 per day, that translates into lost sales of US$2.5 million annually.

Some answers to these issues lie in delivering content through a content delivery network (CDN). Finding a CDN a provider with global infrastructure for delivering rich media to a wide range of devices is becoming an imperative in an age when consumers have exacting standards.