Study finds experience key to customer loyalty

While it has long been known that customer experience is key to shopper happiness, a new report is putting a number to that statistic. Qualtrics has released their new Retail Pain index which indicates that 75% of shoppers will stop shopping with retailers because of "terrible experiences".

by Kristina Knight

Just what makes an experience "terrible"? Rude employees top the list for in-store shoppers (42%) according to Qualtrics, along with disorganized stores (17%) and higher than expected pricing (15%). For online shoppers, 55% say they'll stop shopping stores if shipments don't arrive, because of fake reviews (34%), or because when the item arrives it doesn't look like the pictures (34%).

As to what makes shoppers happy, the ability to try on items tops the list for in-store shoppers (54%), along with "getting out of the house" (42%) and lower than expected pricing (39%). For online shoppers, product selection (22%), free shipping (19%), and not leaving home (18%) top the list.

"Qualtrics inaugural Retail Pain Index looks at nearly every aspect of a shopper's interaction with a store, everything from checkout to experiences with employees to product selection," was written in the report. "The study also looked at demographic and psychographics comparisons, including differences in attitudes among men and women and those who shop in-store or online."

More data from the Qualtrics report can be accessed here.

Digging a little deeper into online shoppers' buying habits this holiday season, Edison Trends has found that while Amazon still leads the pack, accounting for most online purchases, other retailers are gaining ground fast. Walmart, for example, has seen their online shopping revenue increase 85% YoY. Target (38% YoY increase) and Nordstrom (40% YoY increase) have also seen significant revenue increases.

Comparatively, Amazon's YoY increase stands at about 18%; that is to be expected since the online giant already accounts for 81% of online sales.

Not all digital retailers are faring as well as Walmart or even Target, though. Edison Trends data shows Best Buy revenue has decreased by about 2% YoY, JC Penney has seen revenue decrease about 10% and Jet.com has seen revenue decrease by about 53%. Those decreases are only for online revenue.

Tags: customer loyalty, ecommerce, Edison Trends, loyalty marketing, M:Commerce, Qualtrics