By Steve Ranger, 20 June 2007 14:28
NEWS
UK online retailers are still letting down web shoppers where it comes to customer service.
In a mystery-shopper exercise conducted by customer service software maker Talisma, 45 per cent of retailers failed to reply to customer emails - and only 47 per cent of those who did provided accurate and complete information in their response.
The company contacted 62 UK online retailers via email and asked them to provide details of their shipment charges, and to find out which credit and debit cards could be used to make payments on their sites.
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While all 62 retailers encouraged internet users to contact them via email, 45 per cent failed to respond to these enquiries at all.
According to the survey, health and beauty retailers provided the best customer experience, with all emails and phone calls answered promptly and accurate information given in all cases. UK supermarket chains and toy retailers also fared better than average.
But Talisma said the clothing and accessories retailers contacted provided "a pitiful level of service", with only 23 per cent of emails responded to - and only 31 per cent of retailers providing accurate information via email.
The most successful online retailers will be the ones that respond to enquiries immediately with accurate information, treat every potential customer as an individual and interact with them through the channel of their choice, said Talisma.
Comments
There are 7 comments. Join the discussion
1. Chris Walker
I must admit that I work on the assumtion that any e-mails will be ignored and am pleasantly surprised when I get a reply from a real person and even more surprised when it answers my original question.
In my experience, the worst offenders are on-line survey companies, from whom I have never had a reply after the original "your e-mail has been received and we will respond ..."
2. Nick Ashburner
In a recent experience with problems on Tesco's web site I found that you are not able to email support at Tesco!
3. anonymous
Just like face to face customer service then, which is often not much better!
4. Rob Parsonage
The smaller companies seem to be better. I have had good personal responses from a number.
Media sellers seem to be the worst. Order a CD or DVD and if it doesn't turn up the following day the only way to get order status, other than their on-line trackers, is to telephone.
5. anonymous
Perhaps the online sellers giving bad service have noticed that the shares of two companies with notoriously poor customer service---Talk Talk and Ryan Air---have prospered dramatically despite their reputation.
6. Ali Subhan
Online companies are experiencing very high levels of shopping cart abandonment and with the abundance of choice, who can blame us?!It was always going to happen!! An ex-colleague of mine, an Online Guru used a company to deploy 24x7 live chat, which helped him to increase customer satisfaction, and drive bookings around the clock… Needless to say, it reduce shopping cart abandonment!!
His thoughts were that the internet does not shut at 9pm, so why should sales and customer service channels?! The consumers of today are demanding service more than ever before; it’s got to be FREE, fast, effective and available at the click of a button.
Pro-more provide this service to www.hostelbookers.com - check it out!
7. Nick Cole
And that pitiful experience is made worse by the often difficulty of getting an email address. Frequently a form mail is used with constrained text options. Then there is the tendency to use 0870 numbers expecting callers to pay them for the privilege of speaking to them.
And often follow up action falls over because senior people, managers, other more appropriate departments or personnel are far too important to be bothered with mere customers. The classic response is to be instructed to 'write a letter'.
The best service in my expreience is always from those who have a conventional telephone number and a normal email address. Formmail and premium paid numbers are an excuse to hide away.
It is exactly the same with after-sales support, with some very big names offering no more than a dismissive appalling attitude to problems.