Online shoppers are more loyal to websites that process their orders correctly and load pages quickly - and in droves abandon sites that don't meet those expectations, a study from research firm Gomez finds.

Over 90 percent of online shoppers abandon a web store after three or fewer failed attempts to complete a purchase, according to a survey of 1,173 online holiday shoppers by research firm Gomez, reports Internet Retailer. Also troubling for under-performing internet retailers was the finding that 75 percent of shoppers said websites generally load too slowly, and more than half of those shoppers said they would switch to a competitor’s site when that happens.

"If a store can’t deliver a positive online shopping experience, then a competitor’s site is just a click away," said William Agush, VP of marketing at Gomez. "It appears that ensuring a quality online experience trumps brand loyalty, and even savings."

Word of mouth also plays a pivotal role, with 47 percent of respondents saying they would tell five or more people if they had a bad online experience. If, as JupiterResearch forecasts, there are 114 million online holiday shoppers this year, and just 10 percent have a disappointing online experience, 27 million people could hear about it, Gomez notes.