Tuesday, May 15, 2001

Poor Online Service = Frustration and Abandoned Sales

Many online business buyers are unhappy with the online service they receive and regularly abandon transactions on the Internet because of it, according to a new survey conducted by Critical Research and commissioned by intelligent service software leader Motive Communications.

The survey of 200 U.S. online businesses found that 95% had abandoned web sites during transactions due to a range of problems, from difficulty in locating information or completing transactions, to untimely and inaccurate information in response to service requests. Furthermore, businesses reported that current electronic service options, such as email and the telephone, were inadequate in helping complete online transactions.

Ninety-three percent (93%) of the users surveyed said they regularly had problems conducting business online. Trouble spots included signing up for a service (85%), researching a product (81%) and executing transactions (75%). However, current modes of online assistance were generally dissatisfying, providing help in solving problems for only 36% of those surveyed. For example, only 15% of those seeking assistance by email, 22% using the phone and 32% using chat/instant messaging found their service experiences satisfactory.

Business users are also growing increasingly frustrated with the amount of time it takes to answer a question or solve a problem and the frequent amounts of inaccurate information they receive. Almost all survey respondents (90%) claimed that responses to queries were unacceptably slow, and 81% said they had received inaccurate information when they finally received a response.

"When a customer walks into an bank or office supplies store, the salespeople are trained to make the whole experience as smooth as possible,'' commented Anna Clepper, Motive's vice president of marketing. "Companies clearly haven't been able to replicate this level of service on the Internet, even though the online customer is just as important and the cost of switching to another vendor is much lower on the Internet. The winners in e-business will be those companies that wake up to this disparity and center their business models on the online service experience. With online service at such a low point, companies have a tremendous opportunity to differentiate based on service and keep those customer dollars from going elsewhere.''

ISPs Develop Into Product Channel
Internet service providers (ISPs) are selling a full range of software and hardware to their business customers, indicating that ISPs have developed into a full-fledged sales channel for high-tech products, according to a study by Reality Research & Consulting.

Reality finds the top products sold by ISPs are Internet and network-centric, as ISPs expand on their business models of providing Internet access and connectivity services. Out of an estimated 10,000 ISP organizations in North America, Reality Research estimates that more than half sell Internet-related software such as Web server, browser, e-mail or groupware. Networking hardware products frequently sold by ISPs include routers, hubs or switches.

Business customers of these ISPs tend to be in the services sector. ISPs are actively selling to retail, Internet/Web site development and financial investment services sectors. More than two-thirds of the estimated 10,000 ISPs sell to each of these sectors.

These findings are based on 150 telephone interviews completed with ISPs in the United States and Canada. The respondents in the survey are executives at companies that resell Internet access or connectivity services to end-customer businesses. Reality Research conducted the survey with ISP sample obtained from CMP Media Inc.’s Network Computing and InternetWeek publications.

“The service focus of ISPs reflects the importance of Internet access and connectivity to service businesses,” said Elizabeth Gallagher Caginalp, Director of Research Operations at Reality Research, a leading market research and analysis firm. “Their product sets are consistent with the business focus on Web services.”