Online retail customer service needs to improve

LONDON, ENGLAND: The customer experience in online retailing is not meeting consumer expectations according to new research conducted by the intuitive customer experience company, <24>7. More than one in three respondents admitted they had bought a product elsewhere as a result of bad customer service received by an online retailer.

The research study of more than 2,000 UK consumers conducted by Leadership Factor on behalf of <24>7 highlighted the need for online retailers to make better use of the data they hold on their customers, particularly retaining context when customers change channels.

Two in five respondents said they got frustrated when retailers did not know who they are or what their issue is, despite having interacted via another channel previously.

Consumers also expect an online retailer to know what they want based on previous contact and irrespective of which channel they use to contact the retailers - 23 percent said the most frustrating aspect of customer service was a retailer not having any record of their customer history and having to start a conversation afresh each time.