Slow response times and lack of personalization hampers customer care

[February 20th 2001]

Broadbase Software, Inc has announced the findings of its independent survey that identifies issues consumers face when returning purchases made online.

The survey showed that while E-Businesses are becoming more effective at providing a variety of options for returning goods, as well as providing both e-mail and call center service for customer queries, the timeliness of e-mail response continues to lag behind call center options, and companies are missing critical cross-sell and up-sell opportunities by failing to turn customer queries into marketing opportunities.

Broadbase Software commissioned the survey as part of its continuing effort to understand the challenges and opportunities that E-Businesses face. Data was gathered from 100 companies that conduct business online, including bricks and clicks, pure-play online companies and department stores. Survey participants were asked to return purchases made online and use any customer interaction capabilities available on each site. They were also asked to track any targeted marketing campaigns they received after making the initial purchase in November.

E-mail response times continued to be a problem for many E-Businesses, as nearly one-third took more than two business days to respond to inquiries, forcing customers needing faster response times to use more expensive options, such as dialing into a call center. While more than half of the E-Businesses surveyed did make an outbound offer to the customers after the initial purchase, 85 percent of those offers were not personalized to the customer, creating the impression that the offers were untargeted spam e-mails, instead of a carefully thought-out offer based on the previous buying habits of the consumer.

Many of the key statistical findings from the survey showed the areas that E-Businesses are improving, as well as continuing problem areas:

Positive Findings -- Demonstrating progress for the online customer experience

• 83% of the sites provided the option to check the status on a return via e-mail
• 100% provided the option to call in queries regarding the status of a return
• 89% allowed customers to return their purchases by method of choice
• 60% of companies gave offers to participants after initial purchase

Negative Findings -- Indicating areas for improvement

• Of the sites providing e-mail, 29% took more than two business days to respond to inquiries
• 85% of the campaigns were not personalized
• Just 11% of campaigns contained graphic content instead of plain text
• 64% of returns took over two weeks to be credited

According to Jupiter Media Metrix, 42% of online shoppers said they would buy more on the Internet if the return process were easier. Customers are frustrated with the overall lack of customer recognition and prolonged turnaround times for tracking returns. The findings of this survey have demonstrated that, while companies are making some progress in different phases of the online customer experience, there is still a need for increased intelligence and personalization - across all touch points - to increase customer satisfaction.

"E-Businesses need to remember that customer service is measured from the minute the customer logs onto the site through the entire purchasing/returning process," said David Milam, executive vice president of marketing at Broadbase Software. "A customer's loyalty to any given business is only as good as the overall customer experience from beginning to end. Broadbase Software commissioned this survey to identify issues that organizations are continuing to have, and ultimately provide solutions to resolve these issues."

Links
Broadbase Software		http://www.broadbase.com