Web-User Satisfaction: An Exploratory Study

This paper studies the relationship between Web page download time and various elements of user satisfaction. These elements include content, format, ease of use, appeal of graphics and responsiveness. The approach that was followed to test the hypotheses was a controlled experiment where the users were provided with several Web pages. The download time of the Web pages was varied and controlled by the administrators. A questionnaire was used to assess the user’s level of satisfaction. Surprisingly, delays of 15 seconds or less did not appear to impact a user’s overall level of satisfaction. In the process, the paper highlights the strategic implication of corporate Web sites and makes several recommendations in that regard.