E-tailers are their own toughest critics, a study released today says.
In a survey of 368 online retailers conducted by ForeSee Results, a customer satisfaction management company based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the magazine Internet Retailer, retailers barely gave themselves a passing grade when it came to their own online shopping experiences.
When asked to evaluate e-commerce sites, insiders gave themselves a score of 63 out of 100, based on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index. Consumers give the e-tail industry a score of 83.
"They're an interesting audience because they are the most Internet-savvy crowd around," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. "They live, eat and breathe the Net. If nothing changed, this group would be a great foreshadowing of how sites would be viewed in the future by consumers."
In this, the second annual survey, scores from market insiders rose from 58 to 63, a change that's on par with the rise in consumers' scores. That, along with an increase in the number of e-commerce sites, suggests that the industry is healthy and growing, Freed said.
Areas that receive a lot of attention from online retailers, such as content, the look and feel of a site, and product information, all ranked as the lowest priorities for customers and have the least impact on satisfaction, according to the survey. More important to users are their image of a company and nuts-and-bolts
Requires Free Membership to View
When you register, you'll begin receiving targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers on the latest customer relationship management (CRM)and call center technology issues today. Our goal is to keep you informed on the hottest issues facing this fast-changing industry.
Hannah Smalltree, Editorial Director
functions like account setup, Freed said. Product ordering and functionality performed the best in the study.
Additionally, online sellers said that, while they feel they should be doing a better job, they don't have the necessary information to respond to customer needs. Only 25% said they were highly satisfied with their current Web analytics software's ability to gauge customer satisfaction, and 44% gave their analytics operations a failing grade.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The Best Web Links on e-commerce
Ask your question about customer loyalty to SearchCRM.com expert Michael Lowenstein