If it's slow, they leave

Websites! How could I forget websites and how could I list both podcasts and blogs ahead of this crucial communication tool? Without websites, a company could not post any of the emerging media that we discussed during Lesson 1.

As classmate Justin Coen said, “web sites can easily be integrated in various forms of marketing/advertising, enticing visitors to the site for myriad purposes. They aren't limited, essentially, except to what the imagination, programming skill, and the wallet can provide for.”

Very true.

But will just any Web site do? No, not for today’s impatient and unforgiving consumers. When consumers visit a Web site, many want to simply reach the site quickly, complete the task and move on. Many organizations’ Web sites are out-of-sync with their customers (McGovern).

The emergence of the impatient, unforgiving customer has been gathering pace for many years. Back in 2006 a study by Akami found that 75 percent of people would not go back to a Web site that took more than four seconds to load. It used to be that people would wait for eight seconds (McGovern).

In 2008, how many seconds will they wait? Not many. In 2009, this number will be even less.

As many as 50 percent of people bail out after a quick glance of a Web page, another 2006 report stated. Back then you had four seconds to convince people that you had something useful to offer. They might read about 15 words before making that decision. In fact, over 40 percent of click on the first search result. Over 60 percent click within the first three results, and people over 90 percent click within the first 10 results (McGovern).

Fast fact: More people have been on top of Mount Everest than have been to the 1,000th search result.

Reference:

McGovern, Gerry. “Web users: Impatient and unforgiving.” Ragan Communications. 18 Sept. 2008. View the entire article here.