Companies able to quantify site abandonment find they are losing the equivalent of 24 percent of their annual online revenue—equating to more than $50 billion and £14 billion lost in the U.S. and U.K., respectively, within the last year—as a result of a poor Website experience.
This significant loss, also spurred on by companies’ deficient understanding of why consumers are abandoning Websites, should impel firms to garner stronger insight of the goings-on at the bottom of the online sales funnel, according to the Reducing Customer Struggle report, published by Econsultancy, in association with Tealeaf.
Research findings were generated from a global online survey taken this past March and April by approximately 500 professionals working for companies in the e-commerce- and e-business-related industries. Eighteen percent of survey respondents reported a “poor” or “very poor” understanding of the overall online customer experience, while 4 percent noted they possess an “excellent” understanding. The report states companies capitalize on technological approaches such as Web analytics, online surveys, focus groups and social media analysis to understand the experience aspects.
“Ultimately, companies need to ensure that they are using a blend of quantitative and qualitative tools or approaches to deliver ‘actionable’ insights,” Econsultancy reports.
Firms have thus far been late in the game when it comes to “paying more attention to converting Website visitors and retaining their [customers],” Econsultancy says. Although companies have solid insight into select customer behavior—63 percent responded with a “good understanding” ranking of how people became aware of their Website or brand, and 62 percent reported a “good understanding” of where customers were prior to their site visit—78 percent said they had “limited” or “no understanding” of the reasons customers abandon the shopping cart, while 81 percent say they have “limited” or “no understanding” as to why customers leave the site without converting. “As a result of this, the customer experience management industry is fast gaining momentum, with technology companies and agencies increasingly meeting demand for tools and services to give their clients a competitive edge,” Econsultancy says.
In addition, findings show a lack of proactivity, as companies typically detect or deal with customer experience issues after the firm has already been contacted by the unhappy customer.
Twenty percent of those surveyed said they have a dedicated customer service team to regulate comments on customer experience problems made via social media outlets like Twitter, another 59 percent noted these initiatives are handled by marketing departments, and 34 percent state “there is an escalation procedure” to alert the appropriate department. Online/offline integration within businesses was also touched upon, with 60 percent of companies saying the offline parts of their business “have little or no visibility into individual customer activity and engagement.”

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