Mobile Web Stress: Understanding the Neurological Impact of Poor Performance

Mobile Web Stress
Understanding the neurological
impact of poor performance

Tammy Everts
Velocity Europe – November 2013

Why neuroscientific mobile testing?
Slide 2

• 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

Slide 3

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

Shop.org / comScore, October 2013

Slide 7

Stuart McMillan, Schuh’s Journey to RWD (Conversion Conference 2013)
Slide 9

Three all-too-common
mobile assumptions

Assumption #1

Mobile users expect pages to be slow.

Slide 11

Keynote, 2012 Mobile User Survey
Slide 12

Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance
Slide 13

Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance
Slide 14

Assumption #2

Mobile users want to browse, not buy.

Slide 15

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

eMarketer, September 2013
Slide 16

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

2013 Google I/O

Slide 17

Assumption #3

Users will stick around, even if pages
are slow, if they really want to buy.

Slide 18

Skava/Harris Interactive, 2013

Slide 19

What is emotional
engagement research?

“95% of the consumer’s
decisions are made at the
subconscious level.”
Dr. Gerald Zaltman, Harvard University Executive Committee of Harvard University’s
Mind, Brain and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative

Slide 21

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

Slide 25

The problem with surveys…
Traditional research relies on eliciting post-cognitive responses.
But thinking and talking about emotions changes and distorts
them.

Slide 26

Five benefits of neuro-scientific testing
1
2
3
4
5

Evaluates think/feel (not say)
Quantified data, at deeper-than-Qual levels
Moment-by-moment interaction
Cause-and-effect triggers
Fresh, deeper insights

Slide 27

Simplified cognitive timeline

Slide 28

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

Slide 30

The brands we tested

Slide 31

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

Slide 32

Jakob Nielsen, Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users, 2000
Slide 33

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-bymoment responses

Slide 34

Why test a 500ms delay?

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics
Slide 36

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

Frustration
Emotional engagement

Slide 37

Normal speed

2.66s

2.92s

2.83s

4.24s
Slide 39

Frustration levels across sites (normal speed)

Slide 40

Engagement levels across sites (normal speed)

Slide 41

500ms delay: Peak frustration results

Slide 42

500ms delay: Average engagement results

Slide 43

Impact of site speed on post-test brand association

Slide 44

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.
Slide 45

Erin Kissane, November 2013
Slide 47

Bonus Study: Implicit Response Test
The effect of loading speed
on brand perception

We react faster to congruent stimuli
than incongruent stimuli.

Slide 49

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

Slide 50

Methodology: Pre-test
Two brands – Easyjet and
Ryanair – were measured
against 24 attributes.

Slide 51

Implicit pre-test: Brand mapping

Slide 55

Implicit pre-test: Purchase intent

Slide 56

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.

Slide 57

EasyJet: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each dimension

Slide 58

EasyJet: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each attribute

Slide 59

Ryanair: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each dimension

Slide 60

Ryanair: Impact of 500ms slowdown on each attribute

Slide 61

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.

Slide 62

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.

Slide 65

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/

Slide 67

Questions?
Velocity Office Hour – Today @ 16:15
webperformancetoday.com
twitter.com/tameverts
linkedin.com/in/tammyeverts
plus.google.com/+TammyEverts/
Slide 68

Mobile Web Stress: Understanding the Neurological Impact of Poor Performance

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked (7)

More from Radware (17)

Recently uploaded (20)

Mobile Web Stress: Understanding the Neurological Impact of Poor Performance