The report includes individual satisfaction scores with the 40 top e-retailers for the past six years, allowing for comparisons over time and between companies. Amazon, Netflix, QVC.com, Avon.com, LLBean.com, Newegg.com and Apple.com are rated by customers as the most satisfying retail websites, each scoring 82 or higher. Altogether, a dozen retail websites had superior customer satisfaction scores of 80 or higher.
The report found that customer satisfaction has a huge and quantifiable impact on the future success of a website. Highly-satisfied visitors to retail websites say they are 60% more committed to the brand overall, 61% more likely to purchase from the retailer online, 35% more likely to purchase from the retailer offline, and 64% more likely to recommend the retailer than are dissatisfied visitors. Nearly 20 years of research coming from both academia and the private sector indicates that increasing customer satisfaction is one of the most powerful things a retailer can do in any channel to increase sales, loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
"What else can a retailer do between now and next November to make customers 61% more likely to purchase, or even 10% or 20% more likely?" asked Freed. "There are few investments aside from improving customer satisfaction that would have the same impact on sales, loyalty, and recommendations, and result in such targeted, actionable recommendations at both strategic and tactical levels."
The report examined a few notable head-to-head match-ups:
- Amazon vs. Walmart.com: E-retail giant Amazon (86) and retail behemoth Wal-Mart (80) both have superior online satisfaction scores, but Amazon still holds a significant 6-point advantage. Amazon beats Walmart.com in three measured drivers, or elements, of website satisfaction: content, functionality, and merchandise, and they are tied on consumers' perceptions of their prices. When it comes to priorities for improvement, neither retailer registers price as a top priority for improvement, which indicates the two may not need to be doing the price slashing we've seen in the last week before Christmas.
- Staples vs. Office Depot vs. OfficeMax: The three major office suppliers compete closely in terms of satisfaction, with Staples leading at 78, Office Depot at 76, and OfficeMax at 75. The difference-maker in the office supply category is price, and Staples scores better than its rivals for the price element of the retail website experience.
- Netflix vs. Blockbuster: While video rental is not typically associated with holiday retail, Blockbuster and Netflix are still two of the highest revenue e-retail websites on the Internet. Netflix is online only. Blockbuster has the potential advantage of being an integrated multi-channel retailer, but Netflix (86) beats Blockbuster (76) in two very important categories: price and website functionality. In this case, improving functionality is more important than price if Blockbuster is going to make any strides toward closing the satisfaction gap with Netflix.
- Apple.com vs. Dell.com vs. HP.com: In the battle of PC manufacturer websites, Apple (82) continues to dominate Dell (76) and HP (78). Apple defies conventional wisdom because it achieves the highest customer satisfaction despite scoring below its rivals on perceptions of prices. However, Apple scores much higher than the others in website functionality, which is the most important driver of customer satisfaction for all three websites.
Across all of the analyzed match-ups, the companies with higher customer satisfaction also have better scores for desired likely future behaviors, such as brand commitment, likelihood to purchase, and likelihood to recommend, which is not surprising, since the ForeSee Results methodology shows, time and again, that satisfaction is a key driver of future consumer behavior.
"The holiday shopping season is the time of year that retailers have the most exposure to the broadest spectrum of consumers," said Kevin Ertell, vice president of retail strategy at ForeSee Results. "And because customer satisfaction is predictive, this study is a great opportunity for retailers to see how they measure up to the competition and figure out what they need to do to drive sales well into the next year."
