E-retailing tops customer respect list—and then some
On a scale from 0 to 10, the Internet retailing industry scored a 6.2 on the respect it receives from customers; it tied for the top ranking with the telecommunications industry, according to findings of a new study.
The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their online customers, today released findings from its Third Quarter 2006 Online Customer Respect Study of Retailers. The report assigns a customer respect index rating for studied companies; the rating is based on a mix of qualitative and quantitative analyses and independent measures of customers’ experiences with the retail web sites. The research firm uses factors such as site usability, one-on-one customer communication and trust with personal data in its research.
The report analyzed 51 major retail companies with e-commerce sites; these companies last year generated $143.2 billion. Five of the 51 companies performed well enough to gain an excellent designation; they include Sears Roebuck, Payless Shoesource, L.L. Bean, CVS and Wal-Mart. In the three categories, Saks was the best site in customer communication, Sears Roebuck was best in trust and Walgreens was best in site usability.
Based on report findings, it is clear that the online retailing industry has made tremendous improvements since last year in its willingness to deal with individual questions and e-mails from site visitors, The Customer Respect Group concludes. Online visitors are comparable to potential customers walking into any retail outlet and likewise will have questions and concerns that need to be addressed. For the category of communication, the industry scored an average of 6.6 on the 10-point scale against an all-industry average of 4.9, the report notes. Nearly half of the retail companies measured performed exceptionally well in communication, the lowest scoring area for most industries. The best communicators were Saks, Newegg, Footlocker, L.L.Bean and Victoria’s Secret.
Examples of actions that contributed to positive communication experiences include: 92% of e-mails sent by researchers received a response, which compares to the all-industry average of 81%; of the responses, 69% were received within 24 hours, compared with the all-industry measure of 52%. And most impressive, according to researchers, 91% of the responses were helpful and relevant, compared with an all-industry 64%. New communication innovations, such as online chat between retailers and customers, also scored high, with 22% of retail sites now supporting—almost unheard of a year ago and exceeding even the high-tech industry, the report says.
“Retailers see online customers as strong business prospects—more than any other industry. However, regarding respect, there is growing concern among customers about the use and integrity of their personal information,” says Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group. “While price and value still rank highest in choosing merchants, trust is becoming a major factor, especially because customer loyalty is limited in the retail industry. So this might start to affect click-through and conversion rates.”
A complete scorecard of measured retailers is available on The Customer Respect Group’s web site, CustomerRespect.com.
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