"This Browser is Lightning Fast": The Effects of Message Content on Perceived Performance

Abstract: With technical performance being similar for various web browsers, improving user perceived performance is integral to optimizing browser quality. We investigated the importance of priming, which has a well-documented ability to affect people's beliefs, on users' perceptions of web browser performance. We studied 1495 participants who read either an article about performance improvements to Mozilla Firefox, an article about user interface updates to Firefox, or an article about self-driving cars, and then watched video clips of browser tasks. As the priming effect would suggest, we found that reading articles about Firefox increased participants' perceived performance of Firefox over the most widely used web browser, Google Chrome. In addition, we found that article content mattered, as the article about performance improvements led to higher performance ratings than the article about UI updates. Our findings demonstrate how perceived performance can be improved without making technical improvements and that designers and developers must consider a wider picture when trying to improve user attitudes about technology.