Study: Retailers underperforming on customer service

eGain used a "mystery shopping" approach to evaluate customer service performance. Posing as prospective buyers of high-value products and services, eGain researchers contacted leading retail businesses through email, showing an obvious intent to buy, and also evaluated the self-service capabilities offered by these businesses. The objectives were to assess the responsiveness and quality of email customer service, the range of Web self-service options offered, and the ability to easily escalate to agent-assisted service. The North America research also included other aspects of customer service including interaction channels offered, and multichannel and multi-agent service consistency.

The following key statistics emerged from the study:

North America findings:

• 25 percent of the companies failed to respond to customer emails
• 65 percent responded to emails within 24 hours, but 55 percent of the responses were "poor" or "below average" in quality
• 45 percent scored "above average" or "exceptional" in web self-service but 55 percent received "poor" or "below average"

North America-UK comparison:

• North America trailed the UK in email response "quality"
• Only 45 percent of the North America sample received an "above average" or "exceptional" rating in email quality, compared to 56 percent in the UK
• North America performed better than the UK in email responsiveness. 65 percent of the North America sample responded to emails within 24 hours compared to only 36 percent in the UK
• Only 25 percent of the North America sample completely failed to respond to customer emails compared to 35 percent in the UK
• Web self-service performance was poor across the board, although North America was ahead of the UK
• 45 percent of North American companies scored "above average" or "exceptional," compared to only 16 percent in the UK

"These scores are concerning, especially since email customer service and web self-service are key requirements to attract and retain customers in today's volatile macroeconomic environment and increasing movement of brick-and-mortar purchases to online channels," said Ashu Roy, chairman and chief executive of eGain. "It is crucial that retailers invest in robust customer service management solutions that will not only improve online customer service but also unify the customer service experience across channels."