PacketZoom, the San Mateo, California based startup focused on increasing mobile app engagement through in-app networking technology, released their most recent report yesterday on the effect of mobile app network performance on users.
The PacketZoom report, performed in conjunction with mobile ad platform tapjoy, involved over 2,000 mobile app users in the US aged 18 and above. It found that reliable performance was the second most important factor in app satisfaction, following security.
The report overwhelmingly highlights the “direct correlation between mobile app performance and the brand perception”, said Shlomi Gian, CEO of PacketZoom. “Consumers express impatience and unforgiveness when it comes to poor performing mobile apps.”
The majority of users (67%) primarily use mobile apps while at home on their own WiFi network, yet 86% nevertheless report mobile app performance problems across the last six months. The surveyed users reported a series of app issues.
70% of users said that they expect mobile apps to load within three seconds and a majority of users (63%) reported that they would abandon an app that takes over five seconds to load.
Users react to poor performance in mobile apps primarily by closing the app (44%) while 34% of users said they would be less likely to use the app in the future, and 32% reported that they would actually uninstall the app from their smartphone.
By contrast, 55% of users said they reward high performing mobile apps by using the app more. 33% said they would use the app for a longer period if its performance was strongly reliable, and 29% said good performance would encourage them to select the app over another one.
PacketZoom report in summary:
The global mobile app market is surging, presenting new revenue opportunities for mobile app developers. According to a new report from analysts at App Annie, consumer spending across mobile app stores will surpass $110 billion in 2018. This represents a 30% increase on the previous year. The report called out China, India and Brazil as countries to particularly watch in 2018. China will “significantly outpace” the rate for the rest of the world.
Games are particularly driving the overall spend, including AR apps, but video streaming apps are also driving consumer spend and mobile increasingly plays a role in e-commerce transactions.
PacketZoom’s timely study is a reminder that the surging mobile app market is a highly competitive one involving time-sensitive users with low tolerance for unreliable or slow loading mobile apps.