Tammy Everts (@tameverts)

eMetrics Chicago – June 16-19, 2014

Emotional Engagement

and Brand Perception

How we used EEG technology to measure

the neurological impact of slow web

pages on mobile device users

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Have you ever done any of the following

when a site takes too long to load?

a. Cursed at your phone

b. Screamed at your phone

c. Thrown your phone

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Tealeaf/Harris Interactive, 2011 @tameverts

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1 Why do we care so much about mobile web

performance?

2 Why neuroscientific mobile testing?

3 What is emotional engagement research?

4 How did we perform our study?

5 What kinds of insights did we gain?

@tameverts

It’s a mobile-first world.

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55% of all time spent on retail sites takes place on a mobile device.

comScore, October 2013

@tameverts

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@tameverts

Four all-too-common

mobile assumptions

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Assumption #1

My site isn’t slow on mobile.

Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance

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@tameverts

Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance

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@tameverts

Assumption #2

Mobile users expect pages to be slow.

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Keynote, 2012 Mobile User Survey

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@tameverts

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Assumption #3

Mobile users want to browse, not buy.

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By 2017, retail mcommerce is expected to hit $113 billion – 26% of total ecommerce sales.

eMarketer, September 2013

Mobile shopping cart abandonment rate is 39% greater than desktop rate.

2013 Google I/O

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@tameverts

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Assumption #4

Users will stick around, even if pages

are slow, if they really want to buy.

Skava/Harris Interactive, 2013

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@tameverts

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Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics

@tameverts

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1 Mobile usage (time on site) for retail has overtaken

desktop.

2 People expect sites to be at least as fast on their

mobile devices as on their PCs.

3 Most mobile sites are far too slow.

4 This slowness has a significant impact on

abandonment rate and other business metrics.

@tameverts

Why neuroscientific mobile testing?

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• 2010 EEG study of desktop

users

• Throttled connection from 5MB

to 2MB

• Found that participants had to

concentrate up to 50% harder

• Afterward, participants reported

negative brand associations

@tameverts

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What is emotional

engagement research?

“95% of the consumer’s

decisions are made at the

subconscious level.”

Dr. Gerald Zaltman, Harvard UniversityExecutive Committee of Harvard University’s

Mind, Brain and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative

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@tameverts

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Patients with damage to emotional parts of the brain cannot make decisions, despite having no change in IQ.

Antonio Damasio, Descartes’ Error

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@tameverts

The problem with surveys…

Traditional research relies on eliciting post-cognitive

responses.

But thinking and talking about emotions changes and

distorts them.

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@tameverts

Five benefits of neuroscientific testing

1 Evaluates think/feel (not say)

2 Quantified data

3 Moment-by-moment interaction

4 Cause-and-effect triggers

5 Fresh, deeper insights

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@tameverts

Simplified cognitive timeline

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@tameverts

EEG Emotional Engagement Study:

How We Did It

Our research team

• Seren – leaders in customer experience & service design

• NeuroStrata – expert consultants in blending neuromarketing

applications

• Neurosense – global leader in implicit methodologies

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@tameverts

The brands we tested

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Our test participants

• 24 participants (12 male and 12 female)

• Pre-screened to ensure normal cognitive functioning

• Experienced mobile device users

• Did not know they were part of a performance study

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Jakob Nielsen, Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users, 2000

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@tameverts

Methodology

• Standardized set of shopping tasks (browsing and

checkout)

• Testers served sites over one of two speeds:

– normal Wifi

– artificial 500ms delay

• Using EEG headset and eyetracker, measured moment-

by-moment responses

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@tameverts

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Why test a 500ms delay?

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics

@tameverts

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We focused on the metrics most affected by the 500ms delay:

Emotional engagement

Frustration

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Normal speed

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2.66s 2.92s 2.83s 4.24s

Frustration levels across sites (normal speed)

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@tameverts

Engagement levels across sites (normal speed)

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@tameverts

500ms delay: Peak frustration results

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@tameverts

500ms delay: Average engagement results

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@tameverts

EEG test summary

• A mere 500ms delay results in significant increase in

frustration levels.

• Faster pages result in higher levels of engagement.

• Different sites trigger emotional shifts at different phases

of the experience (browsing vs. checkout).

• Important: These tests happened under ideal browsing

conditions.

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@tameverts

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Impact of site speed on post-test brand association

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@tameverts

If pages aren’t fast, everything suffers.

Content “boring”

Visual design “tacky” and “confusing”

Navigation “frustrating” and “hard-to-navigate”

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@tameverts

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@tameverts

Takeaways

1 People feel “web stress” even when shopping under ideal

conditions.

2 Slower web performance has a clear and measurable

impact on people at a neurological level.

3 Slow sites can seriously undermine overall brand health.

4 The nature and scale of impact varies, depending on a

number of factors (e.g. inherent strength/weakness of

brand).

5 This presents great opportunities to strengthen overall

brand by investing in performance optimization.

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@tameverts

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http://www.radware.com/mobile-eeg2013/

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@tameverts

Sources

Web Stress: A Wake-Up Call for European Business (Foviance, 2010)

http://www.ca.com/us/~/media/files/supportingpieces/final_webstress_survey_report_229296.aspx

2013 Social & Mobile Commerce Consumer Report (Shop.org / comScore)

http://shop.org/research/original/2013-social-mobile-commerce-consumer-report

2012 Mobile User Survey (Keynote)

http://www.keynote.com/docs/reports/Keynote-2012-Mobile-User-Survey.pdf

2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance (Radware)

http://www.radware.com/mobile-sotu2013/

The Danger of a Poor Mobile Shopping Experience [INFOGRAPHIC]

http://www.getelastic.com/the-danger-of-a-poor-mobile-shopping-experience-infographic/

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics (Web Performance Today, November 2011)

http://www.webperformancetoday.com/2011/11/23/case-study-slow-page-load-mobile-business-metrics/

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webperformancetoday.com

twitter.com/tameverts

linkedin.com/in/tammyeverts

plus.google.com/+TammyEverts/

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Questions?