Customer Satisfaction on Cyber Monday Exceeds Expectations
Although Cyber Monday shoppers were less satisfied with their online experience this year than they were in 2007, satisfaction is better than it was a month ago, according to a new study from the Ann Arbor online customer satisfaction measurement firm ForeSee Results.
The study collected responses from more than 250,000 people who shopped online between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
ForeSee Results measures online customer satisfaction using the methodology of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index which predicts purchase intent (both online and offline) as well as loyalty and recommendations. Because of the ACSI's scientifically proven predictive abilities, for many online retailers, satisfaction is the best measure of future success and can be a crucial bellwether.
Online customer satisfaction was actually higher on Cyber Monday than it was at any point in November, including over the holiday weekend. Usually the opposite is true: satisfaction levels fall on Cyber Monday as online shoppers fail to find the deep discounts and free shipping offers they expect.
"It seems that for the first time, retailers have finally met customer expectations for sales and promotions with all of the well-publicized deals that were available Monday," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. "Whether or not they can continue to use these techniques to satisfy customers while still remaining profitable remains to be seen, and they don't seem to have much else in their bag of tricks."
Among the results:
* Cyber Monday shoppers were less satisfied in 2008 than on the same day last year. In 2008, Cyber Monday customer satisfaction was down almost 1 percent from 2007 (score of 75.9 in 2008 vs. 76.6 in 2007 on the study's 100-point scale).
"Satisfaction scores for Cyber Monday were down from last year across the board -- on every website element and future behavior that we measure, from satisfaction with navigation and price to likelihood to purchase online or offline," said Freed. "The real surprise to me is that satisfaction was as high as it was. It's less than a point lower than last year, and given all the gloom and doom reported every day, you'd expect to see a bigger drop. This should give retailers and investors confidence that while year-over-year increases won't come close to last year's successes, it may not be quite as bad as everyone is predicting."
* Despite the year-over-year dip in online customer satisfaction on Cyber Monday, satisfaction is actually higher than it was at any point in November, a reversal of the recent trend of satisfaction that is lower on Cyber Monday than in previous weeks. The unusual rise in satisfaction over the holiday weekend and into Cyber Monday can be attributed to e-retailers' unprecedented ability to live up to the promise of deals and discounts that Cyber Monday shoppers have come to expect. In previous years, dips in customer satisfaction on Cyber Monday have been attributed to strain on systems due to higher volumes and unfamiliarity of new shoppers drawn to the site for the first time by a discount or sale. The rise this year may indicate that e-retail sites are starting to overcome these challenges successfully.
* In a down economy, successful e-retailers have more to gain. ForeSee Results' data analysis shows that on e-retail Web sites with superior satisfaction scores (over 80 on the study's 100-point scale), customers are significantly more likely to purchase online and offline than are visitors to sites with subpar customer satisfaction (below 70).
"These figures demonstrate the extraordinary power of online customer satisfaction throughout a retail organization, especially in a down economy," Freed said. "With more retailers struggling, there will no doubt be a flurry of bankruptcies and acquisitions in January, based in large part on performance during the holiday season. E-retailers who are taking stock of their customers well enough to know what they want and need will be well poised to capture available market share."
The Cyber Monday survey, the first in a series of ForeSee Results' weekly holiday benchmarks, was done using the methodology of the University of Michigan's American Satisfaction Index, which has been proven to be predictive of future sales (online and offline), word of mouth, and financial performance. Data was collected from more than 270,000 visitors to more than 80 online retailers between Friday, Nov. 28 and Cyber Monday, Dec. 1. Sites in the survey included Ace Hardware, Best Buy, Newegg.com, Borders, Finish Line, NFL, Eastern Mountain Sports, Sears, Chico's and Danskin.
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