By Rizal Raoul Reyes & Maria Eden T. Dino
FILIPINOS and Malaysians spend the most time online using their smartphones, a survey by Limelight Networks Inc. revealed. In its report titled “The State of the User Experience,” the Tempe, Arizona, US-headquartered firm said 47 percent of Filipinos and 42 percent of Malaysians consume an average of 16 hours per week online.
“Our new research shows that nearly half of adult consumers in Southeast Asia are online 16 hours or more each week outside of work and they have high expectations for website performance, especially when it comes to e-commerce,” Jaheer Abbas, Limelight Networks regional sales director, was quoted in a statement as saying. “Nearly everyone surveyed said that they’re likely to recommend a brand to a friend if they have a positive web experience and, on the flip side, that they’ll leave and go to a competitor if it isn’t a good experience”.
While there is a great deal of behavioral consistency throughout the region, Abbas noted they have identified regional differences were identified in their research. He said personalized web experiences were ranked as very important in all countries, but were slightly less so in Singapore. Meanwhile, he said a big number of respondents in the region except in the Philippines said they will ditch a website if the experience is slow.
Despite these differences, Abbas said the report clearly indicates there is a significant need for organizations to prioritize the optimization of mobile experiences, understand the expectations of consumers within each country rather than implementing a “one-size-fits-all” approach, and accelerate website performance to keep visitors engaged.
Abbas said there are also differentiations on how people spend their time online. He said Filipinos spend the most time online closely followed by those in Malaysia. People in Singapore are online the least while in Thailand, millennials are online the least, with 34 percent online 16 hours or more a week compared to 42 percent for all other age groups. The gap is even greater in the Philippines, where 39 percent of Millennials versus 56 percent of all other age groups are online this amount of time.
These findings prompted Limelight Networks to encourage organizations to build a “mobile first” mindset, to optimize digital experience and create personalized offerings to online consumers in South East Asia.
Social media, being the dominant activity over the internet, is also used for online shopping especially for reviewing what the people think about a certain product.
The “State of the User Experience” report is based on a survey of 1,600 consumers aged 18 and over Limelight Networks said were chosen at random in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.