Just how bad is customer service on the Web? So bad that a recently concluded test of the e-mail response systems at 1,000 e-commerce operations over the course of a year showed that only 24 percent of the sites queried even bothered to reply. This, following on the heels of last week''s news that an estimated $6 billion in sales was lost last year because of inadequate service, can only be deemed pathetic. In fact, it makes you wonder if any of these companies that haven''t got it figured out yet can survive. You can bet there will be more dot com business failures, and sooner rather than later.
You say things can''t be that bad? Try these stats: the conversion rate of shoppers to buyers for a brick-and-mortar store is 48 percent, according to Paco Underhill''s book "Why We Buy," published by Simon & Schuster. Do you know what it is on the Web? 1.75 percent, according to the Web site of sales consulting firm Future Now Inc. And the repeat sales rate on the Web? Less than 10 percent. Those figures are from the First Annual Survey on Ecommerce Service, June 1999, by Net Effect Systems in N. Hollywood, CA, and are based on a survey of 25 top e-commerce sites.
Future Now, which specializes in the design and implementation of computer-enabled sales processes, markets Digital Salespeople (patent pending), a process for developing effective sales presentations in digital format.
The e-mail response figures are from opt-in e-mail marketing company WizardMail Marketing Systems, which said it conducted a one-year research project contacting, by e-mail, 1000 e-commerce sites on four separate occasions,
America''s corporations are not even making a minimal effort to forge solid relationships with existing or future customers, says WizardMail.
WizardMail said its test contained specific requests for each particular industry, either regarding the immediate or future purchase of their products or service.
Companies were judged on these three criteria:
Did they reply and answer the basic question?
If not, did they direct us to the proper channel?
Based on their responses, did they give us a warm fuzzy feeling?
The companies selected were: 200 Fortune 1000 companies, 300 random e-commerce Web sites, 400 industry specific Web sites, i.e. casinos, custom printers, specialty gifts, book/tapes, software and 100 home business and multi-level marketing companies.
All messages and responses were sent under different pseudonyms using free e-mail address sources.
WizardMail said its goal was to contact each company, up to four times if necessary, to receive an affirmation regarding the availability and price of a specific product or service.
All e-mails were verified for delivery and were designed specifically for the industry being contacted, with messages such as "We are interested in purchasing 5,000 custom printed business cards for our company. Would you please contact us regarding pricing and delivery. Thank you."
Only 71 companies responded more than once to the requests, only 14 responded three times.
"If the test results we found are any indication of how clients are being treated on the Internet, we know why 95 percent of all e-commerce businesses fail," WizardMail said.
The one-year e-mail test results are as follows:
April 1999
1000 E-mails Sent
752 No Response
168 No Specific Answer
80 Specific Responses
18 Warm & Fuzzy
July 1999
1000 E-mails Sent
843 No Response
89 No Specific Answer
68 Specific Responses
21 Warm & Fuzzy
December 1999
1000 E-mails Sent
779 No Response
142 No Specific Answer
79 Specific Responses
34 Warm & Fuzzy
April 2000
1000 E-mails Sent
791 No Response
176 No Specific Answer
33 Specific Responses
9 Warm & Fuzzy
WizardMail said that its telephone follow-ups regarding the non-response to the e-mails produced responses ranging from "I think that e-mail computer thing has been broken for a couple of weeks" to one final desperate question from an individual in Iowa: "Do you know anybody that is hiring right now?"
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