Customer Centric Corporate Restructuring
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April 1, 2000 *3,500 subscribers* Volume 2, Issue 4
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FEATURE ARTICLE

Tools to Ensure the Customer's Complete Satisfaction
Jeff Sheahan
President, Egghead.com

What determines the success of e-tailers in today's competitive global marketplace?  At Egghead.com we believe it takes great listeners to succeed in this market.  It is essential to create an efficient and convenient shopping model to ensure that customers have a positive shopping experience. Product and service preferences are changing at Internet speeds, and the e-tailing business strategy has to evolve rapidly to meet the demands of today's market. 

It is important to evaluate business strategies and services by viewing the online shopping experience through the customer's eyes. For example, partnering with a web-hosted interactive communication service such as Informative, Inc., can help an e-tailer formulate effective strategies for obtaining customer feedback.  Using "survey builders" (questionnaires designed to provide customer feedback) provides information needed to develop a user-friendly site design and navigational system.  Additionally, presenting customers with online surveys at the end of their purchase cycle enables e-tailers to gauge customer satisfaction and measure the effectiveness of their marketing practices. 

Another valuable tool is the use of focus groups. Meeting with individuals from targeted markets facilitates the development of long-term relationships with clients by allowing a better understanding of the customers' needs.  Clearly, this strategy does not reach the same volume of customer interactions as e-based customer communications. Nevertheless, one cannot underestimate the value of the opportunity to obtain constructive feedback from personal interactions with customers. 

Successful e-tailers must ensure that all participants in the supply chain are full partners in the quest to provide high quality customer service.  It is important to form partnerships with vendors to ensure that the products delivered meet customer expectations.  Today's technology products occasionally have technical or operational flaws.  E-tailers must focus on partnering with vendors who solve these issues with minimal customer inconvenience.  At Egghead.com, we measure the quality of our vendors' products and services by issuing "Vendor Report Cards."  Our vendors are rated by the following criteria: 

• How long it takes to solve customer issues with the product

• Volume of problems by vendor (this is measured by % of total vendor issues)

• Severity of the problems

Vendors who fail to meet our customers' expectations have failed to meet our expectations.  As an e-tailer, our job is to make sure customers are not only satisfied with the delivery of their product, but are equally pleased with the product itself.  Ensuring the clients' complete satisfaction is crucial for retaining customers.

Measuring the quality of services through the use of metrics is another tool that will help e-tailers evaluate customer satisfaction.  Below are five critical metrics used to evaluate customer service:

• Average time to answer phone calls
• Abandonment rate (customers who hang up)
• Response to service request (via e-mails)
• Percentage of all in-stock orders shipped within 24 hours
• Length of time to process customer returns and refunds                                    

These metrics measure customer service productivity and highlight problems, helping e-tailers develop strategies to better serve clients.

Using Internet survey builders, focus group studies, vendor reports and metrics increases understanding of who the targeted customers are and how to increase customer retention.  Our research shows that clients are looking for a fair price and reasonable freight rate (i.e. the cost of delivery must be commensurate with the service provided.)  Customers expect delivery on what is promised.  They want the option of overnight delivery, but do not want to be burdened with overnight shipping costs when overnight speed is not a necessity.  They want to choose from a wide selection of quality goods.  Customers want a straightforward, navigable site without having to worry about extra costs hidden in small print.  They want to be able to work with experienced and knowledgeable service representatives. 

The information provided by all of these approaches can help e-tailers formulate effective business strategies to meet the demands of today's complex and competitive global marketplace.

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