Calculating the Costs: Website Downtime Impact (Part 1)
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The online presence of your brand is often initiated through the interaction potential clients have with your website. However, if your website experiences delays or becomes inaccessible, it could lead to missed opportunities for significant expansion. Website downtime, a situation where your site is unreachable due to factors like server complications, software bugs, or routine maintenance, can have far-reaching consequences.
Typically, the average website faces approximately three hours of downtime per month. While this duration might seem inconsequential at first glance, the resulting inactivity can have detrimental effects on user experience and pose a threat to a brand's revenue.
This article explores the cost of downtime, shedding light on its potential to tarnish a brand's image and erode the trust placed by clients.
These encompass:
For example, one of our clients in 2021 had a significant issue where their entire website went down due to a server issue, and the stress on the direct team was unbearable to some that we found grown men crying because they felt they had let down their team and business.
Not only were clients impacted but business partners too, and it was a loss of reputation for the business.
This is a case of poor risk management, and businesses must get their risk management processes right; leaving the door open to poor governance is never good.?
Why Do Websites Go Down?
Some of the more common reasons include:
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Potential Consequences
Loss of revenue
The e-commerce industry heavily depends on uptime for revenue; even a few minutes of downtime can result in financial losses.
For retailers like Amazon, downtime can result in a loss of millions, as seen earlier this year when a power outage at an AWS data centre led to a significant disruption of websites and applications dependent on this cloud platform.
The incident lasted several hours and is estimated to have caused $100 million in lost revenue worldwide. It also affected diverse services like Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify, resulting in a 2% drop in Amazon’s stock price.
Reputation setbacks
British Airways experienced a system downtime during one of the busiest travel weekends in the UK. It created a nightmare scenario for the organisation and its customers, affecting over 1,000 flights and stranding thousands of angry customers.
Trustworthiness
If a financial institution’s site goes down, it isn’t just the immediate downtime costs they must worry about. Users may start doubting the security and reliability of the institution.
A repeat occurrence can lead to customers moving their accounts elsewhere, fearing potential data breaches or unavailability when making critical transactions.
Loyalty and future business
Repeated downtimes can lead customers to competitors, not just for a single transaction but potentially for life. For subscription services like Netflix, downtime might lead to subscription cancellations.
Don't miss Part 2 of our article on safeguarding your business from website downtime! Subscribe for notifications and learn practical strategies to address challenges, from choosing reliable hosting to optimising performance. Stay proactive in protecting your data and enhancing user experience to fortify your online presence and ensure business continuity.