Speed and simplicity are the most important factors in a ‘great’ digital experience for the majority of Brits, according to research conducted by 3Gem on behalf of FullStory.
The EMEA State of Digital Experiences 2023 report, which surveyed 3,000 European consumers, including 1,000 in the UK, found that being able to quickly accomplish what they came to do is the top priority for 77% of Brits.
Other priorities included personal information remaining private (70%), not needing to contact customer support (52%), that the experience constantly improves (43%), content being personalised (37%), and that errors are addressed immediately (21%).
“With so much talk about generative AI, hyper-personalisation, and augmented reality, it can be easy to lose focus on the basic elements that are so vital to a customer’s digital experience. Having a clear website or app, with a smooth and simple journey remains the most important thing for customers, so brands really need to nail those basics first and foremost,” said Andrew Fairbank, Vice President of EMEA at FullStory.
Naturally, in valuing efficiency, UK consumers rank slow loading pages as their biggest source of frustration (73%), followed by page loading errors (63%) and dead links that don’t go anywhere (44%).
Concerningly for brands, these problems are commonplace, with 49% of Brits frustrated by the digital experiences they receive from websites and apps. And 70% of UK consumers will walk away from an app or site after a bad experience – more than the other surveyed regions of Germany, The Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
“While there’s always a place for innovations and R&D, we first need to prioritise understanding our customers and making their day-to-day experiences as frictionless as possible. We need to know what is happening on our sites and apps, where customers are having issues, what impact that has on the bottom line, and how to fix it as quickly as possible,” Fairbank added.
“All too often, seemingly minor issues can go months or even years without being uncovered — becoming a permanent drain on revenue. Basic analytics are no longer enough, we need to move to more advanced signals, from heatmaps to ‘rage clicks’. These are the insights that will help keep customers loyal and provide a competitive edge.”
