Equation Research recently came out with a report analyzing user expectations for the mobile Web. Their graphic is a well-illustrated visual of the issues that a mobile Web site owner faces when developing a site. In short, poor performance results in users dropping and less likely to return or recommend a site.
Courtesy of Equation Research and Compuware Corp.
While the conclusion may not be surprising, it’s the survey numbers that are worth noting. Interestingly, nearly three-quarters of mobile phone users expect Web sites to load as quickly on their phones as they have on their desktops. When it doesn’t meet expectations – they drop. And 74 percent will only wait five seconds for the page to load.
How does the problem get resolved? It’s true that network congestion and factors outside a developer’s control can be an issue, but there’s a lot within control to be a major influence on the user experience. It’s time to stop putting the blame on wireless carriers for having poor coverage or an old network. It’s pointless as the carrier in turn puts blame on their governments for not releasing enough spectrum or to YouTube for hogging an amazing 22 percent of the pipe.
From the Equation Research numbers themselves, we know that 77 percent of the top companies’ mobile sites take more than five seconds to load. With everything else being equal (network coverage, etc.), this means that 23 percent of the sites are able to beat the mark and performance. So what are these sites doing right? Optimization and compression. Too many sites rely on the mobile browser to do the work. It’s the lazy approach. Pages are not optimized for the size of the device, often defaulting to the desktop version of the site and relying on the browser to use best fit or zoom technology to provide a decent user experience. Another common issue is the lack of media compression, or even worse, CSS or JavaScript that is not used in the markup. In a wireless environment, bandwidth is critical and needs to be considered carefully when crafting the mobile site. These problems can be solved individually by developers – although it’s a painful process – or with platforms that address device optimization and compression for wireless networks.
Performance is often neglected during development and design, with most of the attention going to UI and feature capabilities in the mobile device. Yet these numbers from Equation Research tell a different story – build a poorly performing site and you may not have many users, regardless of your features. The good news is that it’s not necessarily a trade-off between speed and function. With the right architectural approach, a high-performing, feature-rich mobile site is certainly possible. Even on an older wireless network;even in poor coverage areas. It’s time to stop blaming the network. Seventy-seven percent of the top companies with 5+ second response times need to start redesigning their mobile sites!
