Webreep research reveals 5 most annoying things about the internet and websites

The most annoying thing about the internet is not being able to find information, followed by download speed, according to data collected by Webreep.

The website feedback tool was created by Dr Brent Coker, an internet consumer psychologist at the University of Melbourne, and founder and director of Webreep and is administered by dgm for Australian websites. Over the 12 months to May 2012, Coker collected data from more than 36,000 respondents worldwide to come up with the top 5 things that annoy people on the internet.

Coming in at number 3 is slow responses to emails, then bad quality information and unattractive design at number 5.

Tom Edmonds, head of strategic development at dgm which is implementing Webreep for Australian websites, said the tool is one of the simplest ways any website can diagnose specific issues and overall user satisfaction.

Says Edmonds: “Identifying the pain points with a tool such as Webreep gives empirical evidence that helps us to develop strategies to improve website performance.

“We then have data to support business decisions, and the ability to remove subjectivity from those decisions.”

On the flip side, the Webreep feedback collected over the year shows the five things the most successful websites are doing well.

These are: ease of use at number 1, followed by social proof – which might include testimonials, client / customer lists or social media “vanity counts”. At number 3 is attractive design, which according to the data correlates with trust, which is critical to loyalty and word-of-mouth. At number 4 is high-quality information and 5 is relevant information.

Webreep collects customer experience data from websites spanning 30 different industries across the internet, primarily through customer feedback surveys. The purpose of Webreep is to detect website dissatisfaction, identify what factors cause loyalty and word-of-mouth, and indentify how websites in different industries compare to each other.

The 5 worst things you can do on your website:

• Hard to find information
• Slow download speed
• Slow response to emails
• Bad quality information
• Unattractive design