Devoted to customer service and the principles of exceptional customer services

A recent study was conducted by Talisma, a leading Customer Interaction Management (CIM) software solution provider.  In a survey of America's 100 top online retailers, this is what they discovered:

1. One-third of email queries were ignored - Email is generally accepted as one of the most efficient communication tools. This seems to have been overlooked by many online retailers as 34% didn’t reply to customer emails.

 2. Lack of Self-Help Tools - 97% of online retailers had no knowledge base to help prospective buyers make an informed decision based on product features and suitability, known issues, or customer service accessibility and policies.

3. Accuracy of information provided - only 51% of emails and 72% of phone calls answered provided accurate information.

Additionally, the audit revealed that 89% of online retailers do not provide agents with a unified customer history of all customer interactions across channels.

“With a $329 billion market at stake, online retailers need to carefully gauge the impact of this report,” said Dan Vetras, President & CEO of Talisma. “Significant opportunities exist for retailers to improve their service while expanding their profits."

Here's what I think: Many online retailers carry such a wide variety of products that it can be difficult for customer service agents to become knowledgeable about each and every product. 

In traditional brick-and-mortar stores customer service reps are able to see and touch every product.  Through training and experience they get the product knowledge.  However, with online retailers, the CSRs have no idea how a product may work or if there are many returns for it because of defects.  

As far as these online retailers not answering emails, well...All I have to say is that companies are going to need to hire more people to take care of this issue or else suffer the consequences.