Internet Pet Peeves: What Drives Consumers Away From Your E-Business

Hostway Corporation, a leading provider of Web hosting and managed services, conducts a national survey identifying website pet peeves and consequences.

Chicago, IL—Monday, August 1, 2005—As small to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) continue leveraging their online presence to build their business, consumers are demanding more, and tolerating less, from the websites they frequent.

A new national survey of consumer “pet peeves” about commercial websites identifies some of the top offenders as pop-up ads, registration log-on pages and eye-catching Flash software. This may be bad news for businesses that rely on these tactics to encourage, track or engage their current and potential customers.

What’s more, in responding to the survey commissioned by Web hosting leader Hostway Corporation, more than 70 percent of consumers say they’re unlikely to purchase from, or even return to, a website after encountering these pet peeves. And, because only 25 percent of consumers say they’ll complain to the companies about their pet peeves, the use of these online annoyances may be having a negative impact that’s difficult to trace or measure.

“The results of this survey are a clear warning to e-businesses,” said John Lee, vice president of marketing at Hostway. “The Internet has matured to the point where consumers demand an easy online experience. Quite simply, consumers are warning companies, ‘you’re going to lose my business if your website experience is annoying.”

According to the survey results, a whopping 93 percent of consumers say pop-up ads are annoying or extremely annoying; 89 percent are annoyed at the need to install extra software, and 83 percent express annoyance with registration log-on pages that block access to online content.

This survey also measured the likelihood of other consumer responses when encountering their top pet peeves:

• Seventy-four percent are extremely or somewhat likely to unsubscribe from the company’s promotions or messages
• Seventy-one percent are extremely or somewhat likely to view the company in a negative way
• Fifty-five percent are extremely or somewhat likely to complain about the website to friends/associates

“In an increasingly Internet-focused world, consumers have many choices,” said Lee. “These results clearly show that consumers will make a behavioral change if they encounter a website that annoys them. In the context of this research, SMBs have the opportunity to analyze their websites and make appropriate changes.”

Most Annoying

What irks consumers the most? The survey asked consumers to rank their most annoying website pet peeve and 35 percent of consumers responded that pop-up ads are their number one pet peeve. Directly following are requirement to register and log-on before viewing a site (at 17 percent) and requiring the installation of extra software to view the site (at 16 percent).

How annoying are they?

Additionally, the survey presented a list of website quirks and asked consumers to describe each one on a scale of annoyance:

• Eighty-six percent of consumers stated that dead links are annoying or extremely annoying Eighty-four percent stated that confusing navigation is annoying or extremely annoying
• Eighty-three percent of consumers stated that slow-loading pages are annoying or extremely annoying
• Slightly over eighty percent of consumers stated that ineffective site-search tools are annoying or extremely annoying

Comparatively fewer consumers ranked aesthetic characteristics of Web sites annoying or extremely annoying:

• Fifty- nine percent of consumers think moving text is annoying or extremely annoying
• Fifty-five percent of consumers feel strongly that poor appearance in regard to color, fonts and format are annoying or extremely annoying.

Gender, Generation and Income

The survey data additionally identifies differences between genders, generations and income levels. Survey results suggest that women and those beyond 60 years of age are more likely to have a strong opinion on their pet peeves, regardless of their income or geographic locations.

Consumers with an income greater than $90,000 and those aged 40 to 49 had the highest percentage of respondents naming pop-up ads as their top pet peeves.

Market research firm TNS conducted the survey for Hostway between July 7-11 questioning 2,500 adult consumers nationwide about their website pet peeves.

To obtain top-line survey results please visit hostway.com/media/survey/petpeeves.html.