Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design, 2007

Forrester applied its Cross-Channel Review methodology to the experiences at 16 firms — four of the largest credit card issuers, consumer electronics retailers, PC manufacturers, and wireless providers. While Dell and Circuit City received the top overall scores, none of the 16 companies received a passing grade. Other results: Dell and T-Mobile received the best Web site scores, Chase received the top interactive voice response (IVR) score, Gateway received the top phone interaction score, and Circuit City received the top email interaction score and the top score for its transitions across channels. We uncovered many flaws, but also found a number of good practices like Best Buy's and Sprint Nextel's call-back capabilities, Circuit City's emails that provide access to other channels, and follow-up emails from Dell and Gateway phone reps that allow customers to see and buy products they configured over the phone. To improve cross-channel customer experiences, firms must undertake a companywide effort that examines customer behaviors across channels and recognizes channel strengths and weaknesses.