Response-time thresholds (Doherty)
Delays beyond roughly 0.1s, 1s and 10s break the feeling of directness, flow and attention in turn.
Seven of the eight page areas.
It also applies sitewide, on every page. See everything at work on every page
Four ways to use it, and one to avoid.
- Make pages load fast, with checkout pages first in line.
- Give feedback on add-to-basket within about 0.1s.
- Show a loading indicator for anything over a second.
- Use skeleton loaders and optimistic interface updates.
- Avoid: showing an order or payment as complete before the server has confirmed it.
The thresholds are rules of thumb, but slowdowns were linked to lower sales.
In real online retail data, slowdowns were linked to lower sales, most of all at checkout.
The 0.1s, 1s and 10s limits are expert rules of thumb. The IBM report shows productivity rising with sub-second response and never mentions 400ms. Using real online retail data, Gallino and colleagues linked slowdowns to lower sales, with shoppers most sensitive at checkout. In a controlled slowdown experiment at Bing, each 100ms of delay cost about 0.6% of revenue.
Five sources, each checked.
Last reviewed
Optimistic updates should never show an order or payment as complete before the server has confirmed it.
This is simply a pointer to check, not legal advice. Seek legal advice before you put this principle into action.