We always preach the value of superior customer service when giving merchants tips and hints here at Junkie. It’s simply one of the most effective ways to ensure repeat customers and separate yourself from your competitors over time. Unfortunately though, based on a report we stumbled across, customer service at many online retailers is lacking big time.
Chicago-based consultants The E-tailing Group announced the results of its latest Annual Mystery Shopping Study, which shows that only 10 of the 100 web merchants surveyed made the cut for stellar customer service. And even those ten had some issues, whether it be 20+ hour response times on email inquiries or shoddy product knowledge on the part of call center agents. Nevertheless, these are surprising results, particularly at a time when a rough economy should be making customer service priority number one for any business.
“Ten of 100 merchants exceeding expected customer service requirements certainly leaves room for improvement,” says Lauren Freedman, president of The E-tailing Group. “Stellar service should be non-negotiable and merchants shouldn’t hide behind self-service tools and technology when it comes to knowing their products and taking care of their customers.”
The study graded retailers’ customer service offerings based on the following criteria, in order of importance:
•Keyword search
•Four or fewer days to receive package
•Adequately and correctly answering e-mail question within 24 hours; providing a specific, rather than automated, answer
•On-site home page accessibility of a toll-free phone number, with an assigned score by researchers of 2.0 or higher on a three-point scale
•Customer service agents’ product knowledge when calling the toll-free number, with an assigned score by researchers of 2.0 or higher on a three-point scale
•Five or fewer clicks to checkout
•E-mail shipping confirmation sent
•E-mail order confirmation sent with order number and customer service information included
•Real-time inventory in shopping cart or on product page
Blue Nile, Brooks Brothers, Coach, Crutchfield, Green Mountain, Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), Land’s End, REI, Saks 5th Avenue and Zappos were the highest scoring retailers in the study, with consistently high scores in a number of areas.
E-mail response time, for example, averaged about 20.69 hours across the 100 subjects, with Blue Nile the lowest, at 12 minutes. That’s impressive. Zappos had the best clicks-to-checkout number at 3, much lower than the average of 5.42 clicks, while also leading the way in total business days to ship an item at just one day (the average time among the 100 sites was just over 4 days). All the sites scored at least 2.0 out of a possible 3.0 when it came to the knowledge of their customer service representatives.
However, in the big picture, data from the report seems to indicate that wait times are up for both phone and email responses, new live chat options aren’t consistently meeting user needs (hinting perhaps that while automation may help your bottom line, it’s not necessarily customer-friendly), and fewer sites are offering effective self-service information like FAQ sections.
“Always keep in mind the old retail adage: Customers remember the service a lot longer than they remember the price,” Freedman added.
We couldn’t agree more. And the high marks earned by Zappos, Blue Nile and the others can provide a blueprint for ensuring better customer service across the board. Use this opportunity to conduct an internal review of your customer service practices on the whole and take a look at some of the problem areas exposed by The E-tailing Group study. How knowledgeable are your agents? Do you provide a FAQ section on your site? Are customers waiting endlessly for email responses? How efficient is your shipping process?
These are just some of the questions that must be addressed if you’re serious about leaving your mark as a customer service leader from here on out. At a time when retailers everywhere are feeling a squeeze, it’s how you treat your customers that will dictate your long term sustainability.
As always, feel free to leave us comments or questions below!
[...] Customer service is obviously paramount to this question. We covered the holes many online retailers have in their customer service offerings a few weeks ago when we reported on the E-tailing Group’s study of online customer service. [...]