Web-Phone User Experience 2010: Discount Retailers

Forrester applied its Web-Phone User Experience Review methodology to the experiences at the four largest discount retailers in the US: Costco, Kmart, Target, and Wal-Mart. The results: Target led the pack, but the overall experiences across the retailers earned nowhere near passing scores. What were common problems? The retailers were missing content and functionality in each of the Web and phone channels. But we did encounter best practices across the firms, like Wal-Mart's detailed online customer reviews, Costco's deft error handling on the site, and Target's smooth transitions between channels. To improve the Web-phone experience, discount retail customer experience professionals should enhance online content and functionality to help users make better buying decisions and improve IVR order status capabilities.