Retailers Fall Short on Customer Service Expectations

A study by Eptica reveals that many retailers fail to provide timely and accurate responses to customer inquiries, with email proving to be the most effective channel for customer service, followed by chat and social media. The study found that retailers struggled to keep up with consumer expectations, particularly on social media, where they often took hours or even days to respond to questions. Meanwhile, consumers increasingly expect fast and personalized responses across multiple channels.

Key Takeaways:

• Retailers replied successfully to nearly three-quarters (73%) of emails received, compared to 20% of questions sent via Twitter and 54% of Facebook messages.
• Email responses were over 3 times faster on average than social media, but still failed to meet consumer expectations, with only 58% of consumers wanting a response within 2 hours.
• Retailers took an average of 7 hours and 51 minutes to respond to emails, compared to an average of over 27 hours on Twitter and over 31 hours on Facebook.
• Only 14% of retailers delivered similar responses to the same question across 4 or more channels, while 33% were completely inconsistent in their responses.
• The Flowers/Gifts sector was the top performer on chat, answering 60% of questions, while the Food/Drug and Health/Beauty sectors were the worst, answering only 14% of questions via chat.
• The Mass Market category came top across all channels, answering 68% of all questions asked, while the Toys/Hobbies sector was the worst, answering only 47% of questions.

Statistics:

• 500 U.S. retailers were evaluated in the Eptica Retail Multichannel Customer Experience Study.
• 1,000 American shoppers were polled on their expectations for customer service responses.
• 20% of retailers replied to a question sent via Twitter, and only 20% provided a satisfactory answer.
• 54% of retailers failed to answer a message sent via Facebook.
• 65% of answers to routine questions could be found on company websites.
• 85% of consumers expect an answer on Facebook within 6 hours, but retailers took an average of over 27 hours to respond.
• 64% of consumers demand an answer within 60 minutes on Twitter, but retailers took an average of over 31 hours to respond.

Sources:

• 2015 Eptica Retail Multichannel Customer Experience Study.
• Toluna consumer research on channel expectations conducted in October 2015.
• Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study methodology.