A "Little" problem

A poll was recently commissioned by IM Shopping and conducted by Harris Interactive. The survey of 2,274 adults, ages 18 and older, measured customer sentiment on receiving human assistance while shopping online. The results seem to indicate that customers really would like to talk to humans even when buying online. Some of the statistics are:
1. About 74% of US online adults have purchased online in the last 6 months.
2. The most common purchases were:
44 percent purchased clothing
38 percent purchased books
28 percent purchased music
28 percent purchased health and beauty products
28 percent purchased travel related items
4 percent purchased automobiles
1 percent purchased real estate.
3. About 77 percent who have purchased within the last 6 months say they would be interested in getting help from a real person before making certain online purchases. More than half say they would want help before purchasing real estate
(56%), automobiles (54%),and insurance (51%). Other items that many would also like help from a real person to make the purchase include computer hardware/software, home appliances and mobile phones.
4. A significant point is that 82 percent say there have been times when they have not been able to get the help from a real person.
5. Perhaps one of the most telling statistics is that 52 percent who have not been able to get the help they needed from a real person say it affected their decision to not purchase the product (at least sometimes).
6. Automated assistance is not the answer. About 93% of those who purchased online say they have had a question about an online purchase and over half (58%) say the question cannot be answered from the information on the website at least sometimes,and 16 percent say their question almost always or often cannot be answered.

The statistics tell the story that people are important when in comes to selling even when the selling is online. Most companies know about VoIP and how to tie phones into their Internet site. Maybe these statistics will inspire the companies that have a large presence online to reexamine their online strategy.

The bottom line is that we have not yet achieved the ability to displace people in the sales cycle. Until the computers start acting more human or the population becomes more adjusted to online shopping, the successful companies will make sure that real, live people are available to their online customers.

Online Impact on Customer Loyalty

A survey conducted by Zoomerang in May, 2007was based on 333 respondents aged 18 or over and who shopped on line at least once in the last year. The study was conducted for WebCollage, a New York-based company tthat provides integration services to manufacturers and their retail partners.

The general finding found that 71% of the shoppers indicated they would be more likely to visit and purchase from a physical store of a retailer whose website they used for research and which provided the shopper with complete and up-to-date product information.

Some of the detailed findings of the study were:
1. 91% of the shoppers iindicated it was either "important" or "very important" for retailers to provide complete product information.
2. 44% of the shoppers believed the website did not have complete information on the products.
3. 33% of the shoppers believed the information on the website was out of date.
4. 37% of the shoppers said they would visit competitor's retail website to find the information they needed.
5. 55% of the shoppers said they would go directly to the manufacturer's website to get the information if they believed the retailer's information was inadequate.
6. 82% of the shoppers said they were more likely to return to retail websites that were able to provide complete and current information.

The bottom line is that shoppers are rewarding companies who keep their websites current and complete.