Forrester published an interesting research piece regarding customer experience last year. That research includes some valuable statistics about the level of customer loyalty to retail businesses as well as its impact on retailers’ revenue. Here are two interesting facts you probably didn’t know about:

1. Retail customers have very low loyalty for a particular company (i.e. retailer). They have the lowest willingness to purchase from the same company again among 13 industries that have been evaluated by Forrester (hotels, airlines, banks, internet service providers, etc).

2. Better customer experience drives $46 million in revenue increases with 76.5% coming from the churn reduction (reduction of customers loss to other retailers).

Based on those statistics you can see how much revenue you can lose because of poor customer experience as well as that most retailers failed to provide good customer experience to their clients.

In this post I would like to focus on online customer satisfaction and the ways you can improve it.

Lets start with reasons why your customers switch to other retailers. During the survey conducted in August-September 2012 by Spark::red 196 online shoppers were interviewed. According their answers there are 9 common reasons online shoppers switch to other retailers.

Reasons online shoppers switch to other retailers

1. The product wasn’t what they expected

2. It was hard to return the product (get respond from the retailer, find information about return policy)

3. A smaller selection of products on the website than competitors have

4. Product wasn’t delivered in time

5. Credit card information was stolen

6. It’s easier to find what they are looking for on other websites

7. Other online stores have better prices

8. Their friend advised to try another online store

9. They don’t remember from which online retailer they purchased last time

Check list to minimize the chance of your customers switching to another online retailer

1. Detailed product description page

2. High quality pictures showing the product from different sides

3. Clear and easy to find return/exchange policy

4. Easy to find retailers contact information

5. 24/7 support staff

6. Wide range of products/services

7. Meet PCI Data Security Standards

8. Use reliable PCI Compliant hosting provider (if you outsource)

9. Easy navigation

10. Send promotional e-mails to remind about your online store

11. Unique website design

12. Your company’s name and logo on every page