The World Wide Wait: Effects of Delays on User Performance

Individuals searching for information on the World Wide Web are more likely to lose interest in a site if download times exceed 10 s (Nielsen, 1996). Long download times result in increased frustration and dissatisfaction, as well as lost profits for e-commerce web sites. This study investigated the effect of web page download delays on user performance and frustration. Twenty-five participants were presented information location tasks on a web site with varying download delays. The effect of delays (1, 30, 60 s) on lostness, frustration, and task completion was examined. The results indicated a marginal effect of delay on lostness, with participants being less lost in the 60 s delay conditions than the 1 or 30 s delay conditions. Frustration was affected by longer delay times, with the 60 and 30 s delays being rated as significantly more frustrating than the 1 s delays. The proportion of tasks completed was also lower for the longer delay conditions. These findings indicate that, for web site efficiency, faster may not always be better. Designers are encouraged to consider the cognitive demands of the tasks performed with their web site.