Are some firms losing up to two thirds of their online sales?

Businesses could be losing up to two-thirds of their potential online customers because their website is performing poorly, research has found.

A study by Site Confidence, a website performance-monitoring company, found that 66 per cent of people said they would only wait 20 seconds or less before closing a website and going elsewhere.

When asked what stopped them purchasing online, 78 per cent said they were concerned about website performance, with 21 per cent saying the process was too slow and 57 per cent saying they feared a website would crash.

The majority of respondents (70 per cent) also said they trusted the security of the internet for making online payments, suggesting website performance is the main barrier to online sales.

But there are measures businesses can take to ensure their website performs better.

Bill Kirkwood, chief executive officer at Site Confidence, said: "The key thing for small businesses to remember is to keep their websites simple. A complex website which is heavy with graphics and even audio-visual content will only serve to slow down the website and frustrate end-users.

"While it's difficult to predict exactly how much revenue businesses may be missing out on due to bad performance, our research has shown that three-quarters of users will abandon a transaction if it is too slow or links are broken.

"Essentially having a website which is experiencing performance problems or has crashed is like having a shop with a closed door."