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CA Calls for European Businesses to Wake Up to ‘Web Stress’ or Risk Losing Customers and Sales

• World’s first* neurological experiment into poor online customer experience proves existence of ‘web stress’
• Brain wave analysis indicates that consumers need to concentrate 50% more than normal when using a badly performing website
• Two most stressful points of the online sales cycle are search and checkout

* Based on extensive desk research in February 2010.

London, UK February 24, 2010 – CA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CA), the world’s leading independent IT management software company, today announced the first ever neurological study of consumer reactions to a poor online experience. The research proves that many consumers experience ‘web stress’ when trying to make an online purchase. The stress levels of volunteers who took part in the study rose significantly when they were confronted with a poor online shopping experience. In order to retain customers, attract new ones and prosper during the economic recovery, CA is calling for European businesses to focus on giving their customers the best possible online experience.

CA partnered with Foviance – a leading customer experience consultancy – to explore ‘web stress’ in relation to application performance, and its impact on consumer behaviour and buying habits. Brain wave analysis from the experiment revealed that participants had to concentrate up to 50% more when using badly performing websites, while facial muscle and behavioural analysis of the subjects also revealed greater agitation and stress in these periods.

During the study, volunteers were wired up to sophisticated neurological and physiological testing equipment, including an EEG (Electroencephalography) cap which was used to monitor brain wave activity. The volunteers then carried out a series of everyday online tasks such as finding and buying a laptop PC and travel insurance. Using all the data gathered, CA and Foviance identified the two most stressful points of the online sales cycle were search and checkout. At these two points, subjects experienced heightened levels of ‘web stress’. During the experiment, volunteers persevered and completed the purchase but in reality, more than three quarters of customers will abandon the site. The study also revealed that after a bout of heightened ‘web stress’, on average it took each participant up to a minute to return to a relaxed state.

“The results of this study sends out a clear message – businesses need to reduce ‘web stress’ and improve the online experience of their customers if they’re going to maximise returns from their web channel,” said Kobi Korsah, Director, EMEA Product Marketing at CA. “It’s not just about website design or internet connection speeds – the performance of a website is dependent on the performance of the web applications that support it. Businesses need an Application Performance Management (APM) solution which not only provides real insight into how customers are experiencing their web applications, but will proactively manage the performance and availability of these applications. This translates into better customer service, improved brand loyalty and increased sales.”

Catriona Campbell, leading behavioural psychologist, Director and Founder of Foviance, said: “Consumers have very high expectations of web applications and web sites – to be always available and instantly responsive. This experiment simulated the experience of underperforming web applications for our volunteers. The results show that when online expectations aren’t met, people quickly become agitated, confused and have to concentrate 50% more than normal. All these problems can be detected and prevented as long as businesses take a proactive approach to measuring the customer’s experience of web applications.”

The experiment builds on the CA 2009 Web Stress Index published last year which examined the frustrations associated with underperforming web applications. The research found that more than three quarters (77%) of European consumers blame either website owner or the website host (which is in any case chosen by the website owner) when an online application fails. It also revealed that if consumers encounter problems online, 40% will go to a rival website and 37% will abandon the transaction entirely. Only 18% said they would report a problem to a company, which means companies need to have their own measures in place to understand how their website is performing from the customer’s point of view.

About the Experiment

Foviance carried out the study on behalf of CA at the labs of Glasgow Caledonian University in January 2010. Thirteen volunteers took part in the study – eight female and five male participants, aged between 22 and 42. The participants were from the UK, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. During the study, volunteers were wired up to sophisticated neurological and physiological testing equipment, including an EEG (Electroencephalography) cap which was used to monitor brain wave activity. They then carried out a series of everyday online tasks such as finding and buying a laptop PC and travel insurance.

Download the study here

About CA

CA (NASDAQ: CA), the world’s leading independent IT management software company, helps customers optimise IT for better business results. CA’s Enterprise IT Management solutions for mainframe and distributed computing enable Lean IT—empowering organizations to more effectively govern, manage and secure their IT operations.

About Foviance

Foviance is a leading customer experience consultancy that works globally with some of the world’s best known brands to deliver measurable improvements in performance.

Founded in 2000 and with a heritage in website usability and data analytics, Foviance delivers consultancy to its clients about the effectiveness of their individual channels, such as mobile, web and call centre and how they combine in a cross-channel environment. For many clients, insight is provided not only in their home market, but also internationally through Foviance extensive alliance network.

Foviance engages with its customers wherever they are in their product lifecycle, and provides insight so they understand how to improve, create and deliver excellent customer experiences.

Foviance boasts 43 of the UK FTSE 100 companies among its client roster, including Barclays, BSkyB, and Sainsbury’s. In addition Foviance works with International brands such as AstraZeneca, Dell and Nokia. For further information please visit: www.foviance.com

Press contacts

Catriona Campbell – Foviance  info@foviance.com +44 (0)845 054 6500

London, UK, 18 January 2010 – Foviance, the experts in multi-channel customer experience, are taking part in London’s second annual Vertical Rush in aid of housing charity Shelter. Foviance has supported Shelter for a number of years and in the spirit of keeping fit in the New Year, members of staff are preparing for the 920 step run up Tower 42 on February 25th.

Foviance will be running alongside famous faces such as businessman and Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne, in an attempt to climb 42 floors of London’s tallest building in the city in less than 10 minutes.

Foviance team captain, Adam Hardy said “Each member of our team is fit and active, but stair climbing is notoriously gruelling and none of us know quite how our bodies will react on the day! But we’re relishing the challenge and hope that we can make a considerable contribution towards shelter’s fundraising target of £250,000.”
Sponsor Team Foviance

About Shelter

Shelter is a charity that works to alleviate the distress caused by homelessness and bad housing.
This is done by giving advice, information and advocacy to people in housing need, and by campaigning for lasting political change to end the housing crisis for good. Shelter provides confidential help to people with all kinds of housing problems, tackling the root causes of bad housing by lobbying government and local authorities for new laws and policies, and more investment, to improve the lives of homeless and badly housed people.

Influential campaigns bring aspects of bad housing to the attention of the media and the public, helping to fight for solutions. Shelter also works in conjunction with the housing sector to promote good practice, publish reports, and deliver professional training.

London, UK, 13 January 2010 – Foviance, the experts in multi-channel customer experience, were appointed in October 2009 by lowcostholidays.com to evaluate the user experience of their website, ensuring their position as key differentiators in the Travel industry.lowcostholidays.com had conducted research with Foviance in the past and the further opportunities for improvement identified through the latest round proved the benefits of regular interactive testing for enhanced website performance. The direct influence and importance of the design recommendations made was immediately evident by measuring the impact of changes to key areas of the site. Read more about: lowcostholidays.com website conversion ratio increases 17% after implementing Foviance recommendations

In 2009, Foviance’s CEO Paul Blunden contributed to the 4th annual Customer Engagement Report along with industry experts like Jim Sterne. It is possibly the best Customer Engagement report so far produced in association with cScape and is the most influential and comprehensive report available. Read more about: Customer Engagement report

Foviance survey reveals that 44% of people don’t buy online because they want to physically see the product and asks what retailers are doing to provide a joined up experience.

London, UK, 9 December 2009 – Foviance, the expert in cross-channel customer experience, carried out a survey in the autumn of 2009 and found that 44% of people don’t buy online as they want to physically see the product. In addition, a further 18% cited the cost of delivery as a barrier to online shopping. Read more about: Foviance Whitepaper – Cross-channel customer experience

Movember moves into December, Foviance men start to shave off their moustache’s after raising awareness for The Prostate Cancer Charity.

London, UK, 1 December 2009 Foviance, the expert in customer experience, today announced the end of their Movember challenge. We have now reached the end of Movember and the Foviance boys are ready for the big shave off. After growing their fancy moustache’s for a whole month, Foviance’s Chris Holmes applauded his fellow participants with “Well done, lads! Mo’ cash for the ‘tache!” Read more about: Foviance ’shave off’ after raising awareness of prostate cancer

On 12th November 2009 - Foviance, the experts in customer experience will broadcast a webinar with Marty Carroll as part of World Usability Day. The title of the webinar is ‘Customer experience in a transparent world’.

This webinar will explain why investing in customer experience is now an imperative to sustain business in the long term. Marty will show how the changing nature of the anger/action relationship enabled by social media means that customer experience should be on the agenda at the highest level of the organisation. Read more about: World Usability Day webinar broadcast by Foviance

Team Foviance participate in this years Movember cancer awareness drive

London, UK, 29th October 2009 – Foviance, the expert in customer experience, has an office full of health conscious young men and decided to take an extra step in caring for men’s health. Read more about: Moustache revival takes hold of Foviance men