2 seconds is some kind of unique period of time in our lives. It is used so often, it's got to be. For example, there's the 2 second rule for keeping distance from the motorcycle in front of you when riding in a group. Then there's the 2 second rule computer scientists use for maximum amount of time computer system responses should take (yeah right). And there's the 2 second rule on how much time to let elapse to avoid talking over someone (especially useful for men or so I'm told).
Out today is a new rule to add to the list: half of all Internet users surveyed by Forrester say they expect a Web page to load in 2 seconds . . . one-one-thousand-two-one-thousand . . . boy have we come a long way!
In 2001 Zona Research teamed up with Keynote to study how retailer home pages were performing. Can you guess what the average page load time was in January 2001? (Answer below.) It was an ugly picture and the trend was getting worse.
That was before widespread broadband adoption took hold which interestingly didn't happen until the years after the dot-com crash.
So how are retailer sites doing today with over 70% broadband adoption in the U.S. (and higher in parts of Western Europe and Asia)? Looking at the latest Keynote Performance Index for Retailers for the week starting Sept. 7th, the average home page performance is 1.91 seconds. But there are 20 companies above 2 seconds. The worst performer clocks in at 4 seconds (which while twice the average is far better than the worst performer in the Keynote Business 40 which for this past week was 8.32 seconds).
Forrester's survey also found that 40% of Internet travelers will give a Web site 3 seconds to load before abandoning it. I guess I could have called it the 3 second rule . . . one-one-thousand-two-one-thousand . . . nah, 2 seconds just sounds better. Oh and the answer to how retailer home pages were performing in 2001 is 17.63 seconds.
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