A survey of over 1,000 tech-savvy individuals across the UK has revealed that pop-ups, slow loading pages and adverts are not just putting people off websites, but giving users a bad impression of the whole company.

Of the 1000 office workers surveyed, 68% agreed that slow loading pages were the most irritating feature of websites. 57.8% also agreed that ‘pop-ups’ were deserving of second place. Interestingly, female workers were more likely to find slow loading times an irritation than their male counterparts. Men on the other hand, were more likely to become frustrated by pop-ups and poor search capabilities that don’t return the right results.

Further differences also emerged amongst different age brackets. As one example, 16-24 year olds were more likely to be annoyed by aesthetic factors such as the look and professionalism of a site. Surprisingly, they were also the least likely group to demand any form of social media integration. One explanation for this could be that younger workers are more likely to want to keep their social lives separate from the office environment.

The research, conducted by content and information management consultants infoMENTUM, also highlighted navigational issues, poor search capabilities and a lack of social media integration as issues that websites need to address. With one in five people admitting to judging a company based purely on its website, these findings should act as a wake-up call to IT and digital teams.

Often the first port of call for information is a company’s website, the survey found that companies are putting people off before they’ve even got past the first page. People judge a company on its web presence and it’s important to find the right balance between usability, practicality and, in the case of adverts, profitability. Doing this successfully means people are more likely to come back to you or share your pages – getting it wrong results in potential customers getting frustrated and potentially going elsewhere.

 

By Vikram Setia, the Co-founder of infoMENTUM. 

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