Report: One in five customers won’t wait for a website error to be fixed

While having new digital ways to interact with brands is exciting, poor user experiences, often due to developers prioritizing speed over quality of code, can impact brand loyalty, accessibility and revenue.

In fact, according to new research being published today by Sauce Labs, 23% of consumers say they encounter an error or experience issue that keeps them from accomplishing a task online at least once a day. What’s more, users that report using assistive technology to browse the internet experience errors and user experience issues more frequently, with 62% of those who use assistive tech say they frequently experience errors on a given day (compared to 38% of general web users). 

Sauce Labs’ research found that consumers have had enough. Nearly one in five users say they won’t wait any length of time for an error to be fixed, proving that they have literally zero patience for poor user experiences.  More surprisingly, 49% — almost half — of consumers have “rage-quit” an app in response to an error and 27% of users have had a visible reaction to their apps not working as expected, with 7% of the browsing public have thrown something in frustration due to errors and 20% admit to cussing or yelling aloud.

These findings show that bad user experiences have a direct impact on businesses’ bottom lines. One quarter of users have written a negative review of a company after a bad experience, and 20% have abandoned shopping with the brand altogether. Close to half have shared a bad experience with friends and relatives — meaning that errors and challenges can spread to potential customers via word of mouth. 

Only brands delivering the best experiences will survive in today’s digital economy. To come out on top, businesses need to prioritize delivering quality code that supports flawless user experiences.

For its report, Sauce Labs surveyed 1,500 consumers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany.

Read the full report by Sauce Labs.