Online consumer enquiries badly handled

A mystery-shopper exercise in the U.K. found that many online retailers are failing to respond speedily, accurately or professionally to customer enquiries.

by Helen Leggatt

Talisma, a customer service software producer, tested leading U.K. online retailers in a mystery shopping exercise. They contacted 62 leading U.K. online retailers to enquire about their delivery charges and which credit/debit cards could be used on their online payment system.

Talisma found that almost half (45 percent) of online retailers failed to reply to customer emails. Worse still, of the online retailers that did respond, only 47 percent provided “accurate and complete information” and only 37 percent were personalized.

"The online retail market is growing rapidly but its highly competitive nature means that customer satisfaction and loyalty will be key for retailers to generate repeat business and growth from the 25 million UK people that now shop online,” said Jon McNerney, vice president and general manager of Talisma.

Another worrying finding was the lack of integration between different communication channels. Ninety percent of online retailers appeared to have no link between telephone and email enquiries, found the test.

"Dissatisfied customers not only defect, but on average tell 10 people about their bad experience," added McNerney.