Study: Online shopper satisfaction holds steady

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Despite a decrease in online shopper satisfaction on Cyber Monday year-over-year, customer satisfaction with retail Web sites has remained steady ever since, according to ForeSee Results' weekly holiday benchmark. Satisfaction last week is on par with satisfaction on Cyber Monday (from 75.3 on the study's 100-point scale on Cyber Monday to 75.5 during the following week).

ForeSee Results measures online customer satisfaction using the methodology of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) which predicts purchase intent (both online and offline) as well as loyalty and recommendations. Because of the ACSI's scientifically proven predictive abilities, for many online retailers, satisfaction is the best measure of future success and can be a crucial bellwether during uncertain economic times.

"The fact that satisfaction with online shopping has stayed up this year during such a difficult economy makes me cautiously optimistic that we're going to have a better e-retail season than originally predicted," said Larry Freed, president and chief executive of ForeSee Results. "We usually see satisfaction maintain or rise slightly after Cyber Monday, and it's excellent to see the same pattern this year, when nothing else has been predictable or normal in any way."

Satisfaction is still lower this year than in previous years, but "all things considered, this isn't nearly as bad as we might expect," added Freed.

Other findings from the second weekly holiday benchmark report:

• Customer satisfaction with online prices is down slightly from the previous week, which is logical given the drop off in extreme discounts and promotions the weekend after Thanksgiving.
• Satisfaction with site performance dipped on Cyber Monday as high traffic levels taxed websites, but has bounced back to previous levels as traffic stabilized.
• Shoppers are less likely to purchase online this week than they were on Cyber Monday (because of fewer deals and discounts), but still more likely to buy online than they were at any point in November. In fact, likelihood to purchase online is higher this week than it was the weekend after Thanksgiving.

"We were all hoping that Cyber Monday would be just the beginning of a series of high volume, high sales points throughout the holiday season, and it looks like that's happening," said Freed. "Maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction throughout the holiday shopping period will separate the companies who are able not only to survive this year, but to thrive from those that will be closing their doors in January."