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Are Website Performance Metrics Still Relevant?

Posted by Cliff on from the stuff-to-discuss dept.

jackvalko asks: "Recently Keynote Systems began an upgrade of Transaction Perspective, one of their performance measuring products. The data collected is used by the Executive staff at the dotcom I work for as a means to evaluate our customer experience. Now that they are almost done, we've noticed a better than 40% reduction in response time of our site. While I'm happy that our performance 'looks' good, this major change has given us pause to question the statistical relevance of the data that is being collected and the somewhat arbitrary nature of performance metrics collection in general. And, of course, how we message all of this to upper management. So I put it to you, Slashdot! Do you find performance metrics relevant to your customer experience? How do you manage expectations and change to upper management? And, most importantly perhaps, are organizations that collect this data still relevant on The Internet as it exists today?"

3 of 14 comments (clear)

  1. Performance Metrics by PhiznTRG · · Score: 3, Insightful
    First you have to decide what difference it makes if the results are good or bad - who gets judged and is held responsible.

    If it is you then: like all performance metrics, if the results are good then they matter - argue so. If the results are poor, then they are just statistics and you should point towards other, less numerical, measurements to justify your continued employment.

    Of course, for these types of measurements to matter you have to be measuring the correct thing. If the website loads faster but the customer still can't find the needed information because the layout sucks, then clearly that is not a good measure of customer satisfaction. You have to correlate what you are measuring (website performance) with what you care about (customer satisfaction). Unless you can show how those are related then you are correct in your worry - the performance stats are useless.

    1. Re:Performance Metrics by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think it is fair to say that for a large share of the market, performance statistics are only significant if they are bad. If you have no complaints - and remember, the number of people who report a problem is a tiny fraction of those who experience it - and your numbers are "average" then you should be fine. If the numbers are bad, you have something to work on.

      For some markets, like online trading, etc, performance can mean something entirely different.

      --
      That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
  2. Ask your customers! by asc4 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I know this is anathema to most big businesses, but you say you work for .com, so maybe this isn't so far out in left field. What is the point in paying Keynote big bucks to tell you what your page load times are? Great, you've improved your performance 40%. Does it matter? No one here can tell you, Keynote can't tell you. Only your customers can tell you what about your site makes them happy and what frustrates them. So ask them!