| The majority of online shoppers are satisfied
with the level of customer service they received in the last three months
of 2000, according to results of the Witnessing Excellence in Customer
Service Survey sponsored by Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS) and conducted
by International Communications Research (ICR) January 5 -14th,
2001.
Consumer spending for online purchases over the 2000 holiday season
came in under projections, but it didn't seem to impact the level of
customer service eRetailers provided. Of the 50 million U.S. adults who
made online purchases over the past three months, 74 percent of those were
very satisfied with the experience, a drastic improvement over 1999's
holiday season.
Key findings:
- 74% of shoppers are very satisfied with their recent online purchase
experiences.
- 77% of shoppers are very likely to purchase again from the sites
where they received customer service.
- On average, online shoppers spent $488 on Internet purchases made
within the past three months with men spending an average of $586 per
person.
- More than two-thirds purchased from an online retailer within the
past three months;
- 33% or one-third bought from a technology retailer or travel-related
web site.
- Retailer (clothing, audio/video, CDs, books, toys) - 68%
- Technology retailer (hardware, software, accessories) -- 32%
- Travel-related site (airlines, hotels, cruise lines, rental cars) --
32%
- Auction or bidding site -- 15%
- Financial services company - excluding stock -- 11%
- Men made more online purchases over the past three months than women
purchasing more than 35% of their holiday gifts online versus women
only 24%.
- Women online shoppers made the majority of their purchases on retail
web sites offering clothing, books, toys, etc. and spent an average of
$388 over the past three months.
- Men are twice as likely to purchase from technology retailers or
financial service sites than women. They also are more likely to shop
at travel-related sites.
- eRetailers have been proactive in their communications with shoppers
over the past three months showing five of six purchasers communicated
with or received communication from companies they purchased from
online.
- 2/3 of purchasers prefer email as the method of communicating with
companies regarding purchases.
- One in seven prefer a telephone call or to search the site
themselves.
- 1/2 of online purchasers are willing to wait up to one day for
responses through email.
Methodology: Sponsored by Witness Systems, a leader in customer
service software solutions, the Witnessing Excellence in Customer Service
Survey is a research initiative focusing on customer service issues. This
survey was conducted January 5-14th, 2001 by International Communications
Research (ICR) headquartered in Media, PA through a national semi-weekly
telephone Omnibus survey using single-stage random-digit-dialing (RDD)
sample of 1,000 telephone households. The findings are weighted to the
U.S. adult population age 18 and older. The margin of error is +/- 6% at
the 95% confidence level.
Source: Witness Systems
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