Survey: Website Speed May Impact Marketers’ Ability to Influence Customers

Page speed may not seem like it needs to be a top marketing priority, but according to results from a new survey, it may be the difference between a customer sticking around or moving on to a competitor.

Unbounce recently surveyed 750 customers and 395 marketers to determine how page speed affects customer behavior. According to the statistics, three-quarters of customers claim they will wait four or more seconds before abandoning a site. However, Google statistics show that the bounce rate is actually closer to three seconds.

In terms of mobile, 64 percent of iOS users will wait 1-3 seconds for a page to load, while 36 percent of Android users said the same.

When it comes to the buyer journey, approximately 70 percent of customers admitted that page speed influences their likeliness to make a purchase. When a site loads slower than expected, the majority of respondents (45.4 percent) claimed that they are less likely to make a purchase.

Reaching Out to Customers During the Buyer’s Journey

Marketers who want to increase their chances of converting prospects into customers can reach out to them during the buyer’s journey. However, some methods of contact are more effective than others, according to previous research.

RAIN Group conducted the “5 Sales Prospecting Myths Debunked” report and discovered that most customers (80 percent) like to be contacted via email during the buying process. This was compared to just 49 percent who stated that they prefer cold calls and 36 percent who prefer direct mail.

In terms of timing, most customers (71 percent) stated that they prefer to hear from marketers when they’re in the process of looking for new ideas to improve their business.