Trends Report

European Online Retail Customer Service Availability Is Still Immature

Retail eBusiness Customer Service And Support Benchmark, 2009

January 15th, 2010
Patti Freeman Evans, null
Patti Freeman Evans
AC
Andrea Carini
With contributors:
Kate van Geldern , Diane Clarkson , Elizabeth Stark

Summary

Forrester evaluated the accessibility and availability of online customer service and support among 42 leading European retail Web sites across six retail subsegments. Four sites received a passing score, and pure online retailers received the highest subsegment average. Overall, retail sites delivered substandard customer service availability, with the major weakness found on product pages. During our analysis, we uncovered some good practices, such as ASOS's use of social and community customer service, La Redoute's adoption of click-to-call, and Next's request for consumer feedback after FAQ interactions. To improve online customer support availability, eBusiness and channel strategy professionals should provide reliable and consistent contextual support on product pages and improve online self-service search.

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