Top 50 eRetail Sites Show Poor Results In Customer Service Survey

The survey revealed that, of the top 50 sites in the survey, 23 percent were rated average, 73 percent were rated fair and 4 percent were rated poor. The message to consumers is clear. For customer service on retail Web sites, pick up the phone.

Gartner predicts this could be a costly situation for eRetailers. According to the survey, none of the surveyed eRetailers has learned how to achieve excellent or even good customer service on the Web. Satisfying customers on a Web site is less costly than driving those customers to a live call center. With the right processes, retailers can achieve up to15 percent of their revenues from the Web, according to Gartner.

"The operating cost is not the only downside to this trend. E-tailers are annoying Web customers at a time when brand loyalty is the Holy Grail,'' said Gartner spokesperson, Carol Ferrara. "Today, most retail call centers treat Web customers like strangers. Marketers are not integrating the Web site with the call center. Customers who are disappointed at the Web site pick up the phone only to inform again all of their basic information to a representative who is blind to their Web activities and transactions.''

Of the sites surveyed, half were virtual retailers and half were traditional retailers. The virtual retailers were more adept at customer relationship management (CRM) on the Web than the traditional retailers.

CRM on e-tail sites amounts to little more than lip service, according to Gartner, as the survey details that only 10 percent of sites surveyed allow customers to track inquiries through to resolution. Only 6 percent offer a feature asking the retailer to call the customer. Some 24 percent have instant messaging, and only 28 percent will even acknowledge that an e-mail inquiry was received.

Fully 90 percent of the sites featured a Frequently Asked Questions section. That static approach to CRM is merely the starting point, advises Gartner. As far as customer interaction, satisfaction and loyalty, e-tailers must implement the enabling technology that will keep their customers on the Web and out of the costly call centers. (See the 2000-3 report on Commerce Cubed Strategy from eRetailNews and the eRetail Association).

"It's easier to build CRM entirely on the Web with no offline component,'' said Ferrara. "Traditional retailers that are integrating the offline and online CRM must master their databases and streams to stay with their customers as they move between selling channels.''

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