CNN is reporting that a recent online customer study issued by the Customer Respect Group found that Overstock.com rated highest among 51 large retail companies in the US that do business online. The research focused on three areas: usability, responsiveness and trust. The goal of the research was to deduce how well American companies are catering to the needs of their online visitors.
The highest overall rating for the three categories above was received by Overstock, which also received the top mark for their privacy policy and high marks in customer communication and data handling practices.
Surprisingly, very few of the 51 largest online companies received an “excellent” rating for customer respect. Consumers routinely point out that lack of respect for personal information and privacy is a major concern when shopping from the so-called big-box online retailers. Trust is also important, but with big names such as Macy’s or Wal-Mart, trust is seen to be less of an issue as consumers are very familiar with these brands in the off-line world.
The research shows that once a retailer is large enough to be trusted in an online shopping venue, the next most important priority is the respect the company shows to the consumer, and a protective privacy policy.
The Customer Respect Group has evaluated over 2500 retailers online over the course of three years. The evaluations are conducted without any prior notice, and are financed independently in order to paint an accurate picture of a consumers experience with any given online retailer.
But of all of the 2500 retailers examined to date, less than 5% have received the group’s highest rating on the subject of consumer respect. Other companies that fared well in this latest round of research included Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Ralph Lauren, Target, and Amazon, all of which had high ratings in the all-important consumer respect category.
Among companies that did not fare well in this latest study, one of the most common complaints was a long-winded or confusing privacy policy. Consumers also responded negatively to online retailers who sent out frequent newsletters or sales event mailings, preferring companies that only contacted them sporadically.
Ease of use was also a big consideration with most consumers. A simple, easy to follow checkout procedure increased a retailer’s ratings substantially. Confusing shopping cart systems, or unclear payment information pages caused consumers to balk, and caused many big-name retailers a poor score overall in the customer respect category.
Customer information was also important, with a few of the biggest “turn offs” for consumers being delays in answering e-mail inquiries or processing refunds, and receiving form e-mail replies in response to their queries. Retailers who answered e-mails quickly and personally received the highest scores in the customer communication category.
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