October 19, 2010
By the ZippyCart Shopping Cart Reviews Content Team
Harris Interactive conducted a recent study on behalf of customer experience management company Right Now, and the results provide insight into the impact customer service can have on ecommerce companies. Shopping online can be a great way to save money, but consumers also have to consider the potential negative ramifications that can accompany a low price. Many ecommerce companies pride themselves on having the lowest prices online, however these same companies do not typically have the same pride in their customer service. After reviewing the data from the Harris Interactive study, ecommerce companies should reevaluate their approach to customer service, as it could have a major impact on their bottom line. It was concluded that 85% of the consumers surveyed said that they would be willing to pay more for a service or product if it meant that they would receive better customer service. Specifically, 55% of the people surveyed said that they would be willing to pay an additional 10%, and 10% indicated that they would pay 25% more.
Establishing a system to allow an ecommerce company to provide their consumers with superior customer service can be a major endeavor, but the potential pay off associated with elevating customer service standards, should justify the time and resources needed to make the investment. Another factor to consider, is that having bad customer service can have additional consequences, outside of losing a customer. This is because the study found that 79% of consumers who have had a negative customer service experience said that they have told other people about it. Additionally, 66% of those consumers said that they wanted to discourage other people from doing business with that company. At the end of the day, ecommerce companies need to decide how much value they place on customer service, and determine if they want to make continual improvement to ensure that their customers are treated well.
Nick was born and raised in California, but has been working the dot com scene in Seattle for many years. He co-founded ZippyCart back in 2009, and now works here full-time. Nick wears many hats at ZippyCart, including producing content for our Ecommerce News blog. Nick loves photography and the outdoors, so when not working on ZippyCart you can find him out and about in Seattle.
I absolutely agree. It’s what I refer to as ‘Buy Cheap, Pay Later’, where the true cost of a purchase may only be realized when there is an issue and you need to contact the retailers customer services team.
http://consultingblogs.emc.com/richardwand/archive/2010/10/17/buy-cheap-pay-later-revisited.aspx
Excellent points! And, customer service goes beyond the call center, all the way to face-to-face interactions with customers in their homes. A recent study (http://toatech.com/costofwaiting/) found that 58% of customers would recommend a company if they are on-time for an in-home appointment. But, if the delivery / technician is just 15 minutes late, the number that would recommend falls all the way to 10%.
It proves your point that to keep your customers, you need to treat them with respect.