Take the Load Off Slow Page Loads
Nov 9th, 2009 by admin
In last weeks site performance webinar we learned that almost half of visitors will abandon a site if they perceive a page or feature takes longer than 2 seconds to load. Is there a way to entertain customers while a page or object loads? How about give them something to read?
Picture of Take the Load Off Slow Page Loads [source:getelastic.com]
Like the musack you hear while on hold with your bank or cable company, a bit of text can distract a customer and make the wait seem less, well, long. Heres what I spotted online retailers doing
Diapers.com tells customers an interactive display is loading. Interactive display sounds intriguingperhaps intriguing enough to motivate some to be a bit more patient.
Similarly, Anthropologie explains its loading a global checkout. While one might wonder why that should take longer than 2 seconds, at least theres a promise of something happening rather than a blank page.
Only the geeky will understand what objects are, but Dell.ca satisfies the are we there yet? question as it counts down the objects, 3-2-1.
Pop-ups that show enlarged images and multiple views are used by many top online retailers, but they can take their sweet time to load. DSW promises the load lag is well worth the wait.
Nothings worse than waiting for a page to load. Except getting cheated on, of course says Moosejaw Mountaineering.
With the exception of DSW and Moosejaw, I dont think the above retailers intentions were to entertain, persuade, inform or simply distract visitors while the page loads. But there is opportunity to use value propositions, pieces of free knowledge or humorous content in your loading pages/features to reduce the perceived page load time. This idea can be explored with user testing.[source:getelastic.com]
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