Poor performance on the iPad threatens revenue for a third of leading websites, Zeus research reveals

CAMBRIDGE, UK – 14 December 2010 – Research conducted by Zeus Technology, the only pure software-based application traffic management (Application Delivery Controller) company, today shows that one third of the world’s most visited sites take more than a second to load on an iPad. With the average page load time taking 0.86 seconds, the research comes off the back of findings from Amazon that every 100ms of latency in page delivery time resulted in a 1% drop in sales.[1]

Despite being some of the most traffic heavy sites worldwide, the quickest websites included the homepages of Google, Mozilla and BBC which clocked speeds of 0.046, 0.015 and 0.078 seconds respectively on the iPad. Zeus is encouraging other slower performing sites that receive large volumes of traffic, to ensure they are putting the correct traffic management measures in place for iPad sites as they would for desktop designed online areas.

The research also revealed that the majority of the top visited sites globally are not offering a fully optimized web experience on the iPad. 82 per cent did not have any video on their iPad sites and one third (33 per cent) featured a video that would not work on the device due to compatibility issues.

Additionally, results showed more than a quarter (27 per cent) of the top 100 sites do not offer personalization options on their iPad sites, such as members areas or log-in sections.  Zeus is calling for all websites yielding large volumes of traffic to know who is visiting their site in order to prioritize regular visitors more effectively and ensure their loyalty is not compromised by frustrations about the performance of an iPad site.

Kosten Metreweli, Chief Marketing Officer, Zeus Technology, comments, “With the iPad or other tablet device – highly sought after Christmas gifts this year – a new wave of users will be accessing the web through these devices in the next few months. However, consumers are unlikely to be forgiving if websites fail to perform, no matter what device they are accessing it from. If a visitor accesses a site that doesn’t offer the level of service they expect, they will most likely go to a competitor’s digital channels instead to find what they are looking for. Equally, if they become frustrated with a brand, the volume of social media sites available nowadays means that they can easily share their negative sentiments with other users. Although not all performance issues can be planned for, businesses can take simple steps to ensure services do not fail when their consumer base needs them most.”

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[1] http://www.agigatech.com/pdf/pdf_AES2010_Hauck_for_web.pdf

Methodology

Zeus Technology measured the performance of top 100 sites on the iPad in November 2010. The 100 sites surveyed is based on Nielsen’s list of top 100 websites. Delivery times were calculated using http://www.periscopeit.co.uk/.  

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