Performance Impact Analysis

Issue addressed “Are visitors to our web site getting annoyed with performance issues? Where do we need to focus on improving performance?”

Your challenge: Where do you need to fix performance problems?

The best that many Internet sites get to understanding of performance issues that annoy its visitors is by a performance rating in an online survey. This is hardly an effective way to determine if and where you need to focus your valuable resources on performance tuning:

• only a few self-selected individuals ever bother to respond - you'll probably never hear from the individuals that have already left your site for performance reasons
• respondents' self-reports of fleeting memories are inaccurate
  
• ratings are often based on a single incident rather than typical performance.

Fortunately, objective agent-technology exists for measuring the performance of your site from the perspective of the click-streams associated with key usage scenarios. However, even this information cannot tell you whether the identified performance issues really have a bottom-line impact on the individuals who visit your site.

My solution for your project

I employ a convergent scientific approach that combines objective user-centered performance data (server log analysis, agent-based performacne evaluation) with end-user research that identifies the real impact of site performance on your site’s visitors.

These data are used to determine whether you really need to address performance issues, and where you should pinpoint your performance-tuning efforts to get the biggest payback.

Last update: May 07, 2002
(c) 2002 Don Hameluck Usability Consulting Inc.

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