Mobile Web Stress Understanding the neurological impact of poor performance

Tammy Everts

Velocity Europe – November 2013

Why neuroscientific mobile testing?

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• 2010 EEG study of desktop

users

• Throttled connection from 5MB

to 2MB

• Found that participants had to

concentrate up to 50% harder

• Afterward, participants reported

negative brand associations

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It’s a mobile-first world.

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55% of all time spent on retail sites takes place on a mobile device.

Shop.org / comScore, October 2013

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Stuart McMillan, Schuh’s Journey to RWD (Conversion Conference 2013)

Three all-too-common

mobile assumptions

Assumption #1

Mobile users expect pages to be slow.

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Keynote, 2012 Mobile User Survey

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Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance

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Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance

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Assumption #2

Mobile users want to browse, not buy.

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By 2017, retail mcommerce is expected to hit $113 billion – 26% of total ecommerce sales.

eMarketer, September 2013

Mobile shopping cart abandonment rate is 39% greater than desktop rate.

2013 Google I/O

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Assumption #3

Users will stick around, even if pages

are slow, if they really want to buy.

Skava/Harris Interactive, 2013

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What is emotional

engagement research?

“95% of the consumer’s

decisions are made at the

subconscious level.”

Dr. Gerald Zaltman, Harvard UniversityExecutive Committee of Harvard University’s

Mind, Brain and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative

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Patients with damage to emotional parts of the brain cannot make decisions, despite having no change in IQ.

Antonio Damasio, Descartes’ Error

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The problem with surveys…

Traditional research relies on eliciting post-cognitive responses.

But thinking and talking about emotions changes and distorts

them.

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Five benefits of neuro-scientific testing

1 Evaluates think/feel (not say)

2 Quantified data, at deeper-than-Qual levels

3 Moment-by-moment interaction

4 Cause-and-effect triggers

5 Fresh, deeper insights

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Simplified cognitive timeline

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EEG Emotional Engagement Study

Our research team

• Seren – leaders in customer experience & service design

• Neurosense – global leader in implicit methodologies

• NeuroStrata – expert consultants in blending neuromarketing

applications

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The brands we tested

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Our testers

• 20 testers (male and female)

• Pre-screened to ensure normal cognitive functioning

• Mobile device users

• Did not know they were part of a performance study

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Jakob Nielsen, Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users, 2000

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Methodology

• Standardized set of shopping tasks (browsing and checkout)

• Testers served sites over one of two speeds:

– normal Wifi

– artificial 500ms delay

• Using EEG headset and eyetracker, measured moment-by-

moment responses

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Why test a 500ms delay?

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics

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We focused on the metrics most affected by the 500ms delay.

Frustration

Emotional engagement

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Normal speed

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2.66s 2.92s 2.83s 4.24s

Frustration levels across sites (normal speed)

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Engagement levels across sites (normal speed)

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500ms delay: Peak frustration results

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500ms delay: Average engagement results

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Impact of site speed on post-test brand association

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EEG summary

• A mere 500ms delay results in significant increase in

frustration levels.

• Faster pages result in higher levels of engagement.

• Different sites trigger emotional shifts at different phases of

the experience (browsing vs. checkout).

• Important: These tests happened under ideal browsing

conditions.

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Erin Kissane, November 2013

Bonus Study: Implicit Response Test The effect of loading speed

on brand perception

We react faster to congruent stimuli

than incongruent stimuli.

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https://www.projectimplicit.net/index.html

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Methodology: Pre-test

Two brands – Easyjet and

Ryanair – were measured

against 24 attributes.

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Implicit pre-test: Brand mapping

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Implicit pre-test: Purchase intent

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Methodology: Test

1 Participants then viewed one of two videos depicting a flight

selection/booking process:

• Normal

• Slow (500ms delay per page)

2 Each brand is measured again against the same 24

attributes.

3 Difference between normal and slow indicates effect of speed

on brand perception.

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EasyJet: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each dimension

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EasyJet: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each attribute

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Ryanair: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each dimension

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Ryanair: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each attribute

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Brand perception summary

• Overall, EasyJet enjoys a more positive brand perception.

• 500ms delay triggers downward shift in perception for both companies.

• Impact on EasyJet was greater than on Ryanair.

• Impact varies across attributes for each brand:

– Slow EasyJet site suffers more in Purchase Intent and Functional attributes.

– Ryanair suffers more in Warmth/Friendliness dimensions.

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Takeaways

1 Mobile users are significantly affected by slow performance: up to 26% increase in peak frustration and up to 8% decrease in engagement.

2 Slow sites can seriously undermine overall brand health – across both desktop and mobile platforms.

3 The nature and scale of impact varies, depending on a number of factors (e.g. inherent strength/weakness of brand).

4 Brands with already-fragile consumer affinity are at higher risk.

5 Greatest risk is to purchase intent.

6 Great opportunities exist to strengthen overall brand by investing in performance optimization.

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Sources

Web Stress: A Wake-Up Call for European Business (Foviance, 2010)

http://www.ca.com/us/~/media/files/supportingpieces/final_webstress_survey_report_229296.aspx

2013 Social & Mobile Commerce Consumer Report (Shop.org / comScore)

http://shop.org/research/original/2013-social-mobile-commerce-consumer-report

2012 Mobile User Survey (Keynote)

http://www.keynote.com/docs/reports/Keynote-2012-Mobile-User-Survey.pdf

2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance (Radware)

http://www.radware.com/mobile-sotu2013/

The Danger of a Poor Mobile Shopping Experience [INFOGRAPHIC]

http://www.getelastic.com/the-danger-of-a-poor-mobile-shopping-experience-infographic/

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics (Web Performance Today, November 2011)

http://www.webperformancetoday.com/2011/11/23/case-study-slow-page-load-mobile-business-metrics/

I was a mobile-only user for six weeks (Erin Kissane)

http://the-pastry-box-project.net/erin-kissane/2013-november-12/

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Velocity Office Hour – Today @ 16:15

webperformancetoday.com

twitter.com/tameverts

linkedin.com/in/tammyeverts

plus.google.com/+TammyEverts/

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Questions?