smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Nine out of ten people would switch to a competitor if a business's website failed to load, according to research by web hosting provider 1&1 Internet.

Nearly 53 per cent of the 1,600 consumers surveyed said they would wait only up to 30 seconds for a website to load before trying elsewhere. The study also found consumers waste on average 2.5 days per year waiting for slow websites to load, with some 52 per cent experiencing "web rage" as a result.

According to the survey, 71 per cent disliked websites that required specific software to run and 61 per cent were annoyed when images failed to load.

Worryingly for UK companies, the study showed that upon finding an online error message, some 63 per cent of consumers would automatically source another site, with only 4 per cent willing to report the error to the business in question. This lends further weight to the notion that UK consumers are becoming increasingly impatient and unforgiving when dealing with businesses online.

Andreas Gauger, CEO of 1&1 Internet, says: ‘It is no surprise how strongly consumers feel about poorly performing websites when they suffer significant stress from using them. As users become more dismissive of slower sites, SMEs must ensure that their market has instant access to their products and services.’

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