Retail customers face email black hole
A new study has found that just 48% of retailers could successfully answer basic questions sent by customers via email.
The 2012 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study evaluated 40 leading retailers, spanning the CD/books/DVD, consumer electronics, food and fashion sectors. They were tested on their ability to provide answers to 10 routine questions via the web as well as their speed and accuracy when responding to enquiries sent via email.
Eptica, the customer interaction management software provider, found that it was impossible to contact nearly a quarter (22%) of the retailers in the study via email, as they either had removed the opportunity for non-customers to contact them through this channel or email addresses could not be easily found. The company said this was a dramatic change since 2011, when 97.5% of retailers provided email contact details.
The study also looked at retailer’s response times when responding to emails and found that it took an average of 66 hours, 52 minutes for the retailers to answer emails, a whole day longer than in 2011. One retailer took over one month to reply to an email although another responded in just 19 minutes.
Never Miss a Retail Update!In addition, the study revealed a growing gap between best and worst regarding online customer service. Whereas fashion companies answered 75% of questions asked on their websites, CD/DVD/Booksellers and food retailers scored just 40%.
“In such a competitive sector, a good Christmas can make the difference between survival and failure for hard-pressed retailers,” said Dee Roche, VP, Global Marketing, Eptica.
Roche added: “Delivering a first class customer experience is central to winning and retaining sales, but our research found that while some retailers are excelling at service, many seem to be unable to provide answers to even the most basic of questions. It is particularly worrying to see that a rising number of retailers are making it more difficult for customers to contact them via email – not only does this potentially break the law, but it forces consumers to change channels and risks them going elsewhere.”
Social media was found to be a growing channel for customer service with 90% of retailers in the study now providing links to their Twitter accounts and 88% having Facebook pages. This was up from 58% on both networks in 2011.
