Customer satisfaction with online retailers falls to lowest level since 2006
Tuesday 11 August 2009
A recent quarterly survey completed by eDigitalResearch and IMRG has highlighted that consumer satisfaction with online shopping services has dropped once again and is now at its lowest since levels were first recorded in April 2006.
The worst performing areas are the speed of response to customer service enquiries and ease of access to online help, according to the latest e-Customer Service Index.
The July survey for online customer satisfaction stands at 76.7% overall, compared with the all-time high of 79.6% reached in November 2008. Worst performing areas identified in the survey include the speed that online retail customer services respond to queries and ease of access to online help with purchases.
"People are becoming savvier shoppers and recognise that the internet can provide a quick and easy price comparison," says eDigitalResearch's Michelle Fuller. "Online retailers need to react quickly by identifying who their brand advocates are and offering them better incentives. With expectations growing and loyalties swaying, investing more in the end-to-end customer experience is vital in order to keep people coming back."
"Falling customer satisfaction rates could be an indication of online retailers struggling to cope with the increase in popularity for online shopping," suggests IMRG's James Roper. "With customers now expecting faster and a better informed service, it is vitally important that no customer query or request goes unanswered. This merely acts as a catalyst for people to switch loyalties. Online retailers need to address this quickly and ensure that they have a seamless customer experience."
Ian Rowley, Business Development Manager for Parker software comments 'we are seeing these types of results time and time again; customer satisfaction is paramount for an organisation to survive online. We have seen a dramatic uptake from online retailers in particular in the US adopt technology such as our own WhosOn software, a Live Chat solution, providing real-time human responses to customer questions, essentially we are giving the Internet a Face, which instils confidence for the customer. From our own experience we have seen companies in the US who have already adopted this technology excel, with significantly improved conversion rates and higher volumes of returning visitors, however in the UK, large retailers in particular, have been slow to adapt the technology and this is why we are seeing these types of results from such surveys.'