Service failure affects one-third of online consumers

One-third of UK online shoppers are experiencing problems when they shop online, according to new research by Aspect.

Conducted in December 2011, the Aspect Online Shopping Service Experiences 2012 survey set out to explore the attitude, opinion and behaviour of consumers towards the service they experienced the last time they shopped online, both pre- and post-purchase.

The survey found that 33 per cent of online shoppers experienced problems during their last online shopping experience, including ‘couldn’t find an answer to a question’, ‘insufficient product information’ and ‘a slow website’.  For e-tailers the message from the research is clear – if an online shopper is facing problems it stimulates them to search out alternatives.

“To ensure sites are ‘stickier’ and fewer issues arise during the purchasing process, e-tailers must consider investing in improved information, self-service (pre and post purchase), live help (voice and webchat) and outbound contact facilities,” said Mark King, Senior VP, Europe and Africa, Aspect. “They should also re-assess when and how they use different communications channels (email, phone, web chat, etc.) to ensure that both their objectives, and those of their customers, are optimally met.”

Key findings:

• 10 per cent of online shoppers surveyed had to contact e-tailers post-purchase to return items, check on deliveries, or change orders, all of which are potentially avoidable zero value calls.
• 97 per cent of shoppers reported that they had abandoned online shopping baskets at some time, ranging from CDs to furniture. Shoppers cited a long list of reasons for abandonment from ‘unable to access live support’ to ‘delivery charges’ and ‘insufficient product information’.
• 86 per cent of shoppers said that they were ‘happy’ or ‘very happy’ with their last shopping experience; and when shoppers did have to contact e-tailers post-purchase, 94% were able to resolve their issue(s) on the first contact.

While the survey paints a picture of an industry fast coming to terms with the needs of its customers, it also highlights areas of concern, especially when it comes to (1) the high percentage of online shoppers that have abandoned shopping baskets, (2) the large number of online shoppers who need to communicate with e-tailers post purchase, and (3) a lack of live service support, especially at weekends and in the evenings.

Mark King continued: “Despite this, the cost of supplying an agent-based channel for customers is costly and is unsustainable, and e-tailers must embrace multi-channel customer contact in the same way as they have embraced multi-channel retailing.”

Key recommendations:

• In response to the huge industry issue of abandoned online shopping baskets, Aspect advocates the use of ‘cart recovery’ (or ‘re-marketing’) techniques – and urges e-tailers to contact online shoppers by email within 24 hours, and not normally before 4 hours after abandonment, so as not to “spook”  the customer.
• A basket containing a CD may warrant an email or an SMS, but a suite of furniture or other high-value goods may warrant an outbound call.
• By so doing, Aspect claims that between 6% and 50% of abandoned baskets can be recovered. To deliver effective cart recovery services, Aspect urges e-tailers to make additional investments in fully integrated outbound telephony, email and SMS systems and services to handle the increased volume (and the multi-modal form) of today’s customer contacts, as well as to ensure their back and front office operations are optimally linked.
• Aspect also challenges e-tailers to reconsider their use of different communications channels, claiming that online shoppers are often forced down the email route because it is the cheapest option for e-tailers rather than the preferred choice for shoppers. When asked ‘How do you prefer an e-tailer to communicate with you?’ 77 percent of shoppers selected email, 14 percent the phone, and 8 percent web chat.

Mark King added: “Our survey revealed, however, that currently e-tailers make 92 per cent of purchase confirmations by email.  And when asked how they prefer to communicate with e-tailers, just 52 percent of shoppers opted for email, while 31 percent selected the phone, and 16 percent web chat.”

“There is a role for higher value ‘live agent’ voice and web chat services in key service areas: such as proactively calling valued customers to update statuses and alert them to issues (even before they become aware of them), and offering web chat assistance to customers that are struggling with the online shopping process. We believe that this will not only help reduce the number of abandoned shopping baskets but also reduce the number of unnecessary customer calls caused by individuals making incorrect purchasing choices because of a lack of information, or because they misunderstood an instruction.  Call avoidance should not be seen as a negative position. Informing the customer before they ask the question is actually an improvement to customer service and to consumer perception of a company or brand, which costs less than the traditional inbound call centre operations of the past,” he concluded.