FREEDyourMind

Top Retailers Get Happy Holiday News

Yesterday we released our report on satisfaction with the top UK e-retailers, today comes our annual report on holiday satisfaction with the top American e-retailers. We measure 40 of the best (by sales volume, according to Internet Retailer).

So here's the scoop: the top e-retailers are doing very well. We saw across-the-board increases for most of the e-retailers on the list, and we saw aggregate satisfaction jump 5 points and 6% to 79; an all-time high (on our 100-point scale).

We use the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) created at the University of Michigan. And the reason we use it is that it is not just a measure of what already happened, it's been proven to be a predictor of the the future: future financial success, future stock prices, even (at the macro level) future consumer spending and GDP. So those companies that did very well should give themselves a quick pat on the back.

There are caveats, of course.

1) This study shows many increases in satisfaction year-over-year. Last year was such a miserable year because of the economy, many of those companies were simply recouping satisfaction losses.

2) This is the top 40 e-retailers. All our data and Comscore's indicates that the best are getting better and many of the rest will be suffering when the final revenue numbers come in. In our weekly benchmarks, which include 110+ e-retailers from a much broader spectrum (big, mid-size, and small), we see scores consistently down year-over-year. Since ACSI's measure of satisfaction predicts revenue, we've been predicting modest increases all along...sure there would be some revenue gain over last year (especially since last year was so dismal) but nothing like the 8%-11% increase some were expecting at the beginning of the season. Meanwhile, Comscore hasn't come out with final holiday numbers yet (should be next week), but they said that in November, sales among the top 25 retailers grew 13% while small and midsize retailers declined 10%.

3) Amazon hit an all-time high this year of 87, the highest score any company has ever gotten in our holiday Index. Amazon sells almost everything, and almost every shopper has been to Amazon, which means Amazon is setting the standard. Even if you don't directly compete with Amazon, your customers' expectations may be that your website is as strong. By this measure, almost anyone with a satisfaction score under 87 has work to do.

Company Name	Satisfaction 2008	Satisfaction 2009	Point change	% change
AGGREGATE SATISFACTION	74	79	5	6.1%
Amazon.com Inc.	84	87	3	3.6%
Netflix Inc.	84	86	2	2.4%
QVC Inc.	79	83	4	5.1%
Apple Inc.	78	82	4	5.1%
Cabela’s Inc.	NA	82	NA	NA
Avon Products Inc.	77	81	4	5.2%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc.	76	81	5	6.6%
Newegg.com	78	81	3	3.8%
L.L. Bean Inc.	78	80	2	2.6%
Systemax Inc.	77	80	3	3.9%
Victoria’s Secret Direct	76	80	4	5.3%
Costco Wholesale Corp.	72	79	7	9.7%
Dell Inc.	73	79	6	8.2%
Macy’s Group Inc.	70	79	9	12.9%
Musician’s Friend Inc.	NA	79	NA	NA
Nordstrom Inc.	74	79	5	6.8%
Walmart.com	78	79	1	1.3%
Williams-Sonoma Inc.	74	79	5	6.8%
Zappos.com Inc.	75	79	4	5.3%
1-800-Flowers.com Inc.	72	78	6	8.3%
HP Home & Home Office Store	76	78	2	2.6%
Target Corp.	75	78	3	4.0%
Best Buy Co.	73	77	4	5.5%
Blockbuster Inc.	72	77	5	6.9%
Office Depot Inc.	72	77	5	6.9%
SonyStyle.com	70	77	7	10.0%
Staples Inc.	77	77	0	0.0%
Buy.com Inc.	70	76	6	8.6%
Gap Inc. Direct	69	76	7	10.1%
HSN	69	76	7	10.1%
Overstock.com Inc.	69	76	7	10.1%
OfficeMax Inc.	70	75	5	7.1%
Redcats USA	73	75	2	2.7%
Sears Holdings Corp.	70	75	5	7.1%
Toys ’R’ Us Inc.	NA	75	NA	NA
Circuit City Stores Inc.	69	73	4	5.8%
The Neiman Marcus Group Inc.	69	73	4	5.8%

Our report shares some general findings about what factors contributed to the increase in satisfaction and how e-retailers can continue to increase. But truthfully, every website is so different, industry-level generalizations really aren't actionable at the individual retailer level.

Claire McCain Miller at the New York Times did a nice summary of the research, as did Ben Worthen of the Wall Street Journal, so read those or check out the full report (available for free download on our website, and our clients can get it off the portal without having to give an email address).

Any surprises on this list for you? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Satisfaction with Top UK E-Retailers Surges

We've just completed and released our analysis of satisfaction with the Top 40 e-retailers in the UK, and it's great news: satisfaction increases across the board. Since satisfaction calculated using the scientific methodology used in this study predicts sales, loyalty, and even stock prices, this is great news for many top UK e-retailers. Get the full report and full list of 40 measured companies on our website or read about it in V3.

• Aggregate satisfaction with top UK e-retailers is 71 on the study’s 100-point scale, up 4 points and an incredible 6% from last year’s aggregate score of 67). This increase is made all the more notable by the fact that it occurred during a global recession. 
• Amazon continues to lead the Index with a score of 83, the only e-retailer in the UK to score above 80. Play.com (79) and QVC.com (78) rounded out the top three performers in the UK.
• Websites for Debenhams, M&M Direct, John Lewis, and WH Smith have seen the greatest increases in satisfaction since last year; all four registering year-on-year increases of 13% or more.
• 15 of the 40 measured UK e-retailers registered scores of 69 or lower, generally considered to be bottom performers who are risking erosion of market share and sales if improvements are not made. Ticketmaster UK and B&Q had the lowest scores in the Index (both at 65). Dixons, Currys, Freemans, and Littlewoods did only slight better but still fall to the back of the pack. (all at 66)

The report goes into my theories for why the increases are happening, but its clear that both the industry and UK shoppers have made leaps and bounds this year, and I expect it will be a very merry Christmas for many on this list.

Two caveats 1) we've seen in both the UK and the US that the best are getting better while most of the rest are getting worse. This theory/prediction is confirmed by our data, Comscore data and other post-mortem analysis of the holiday season.

We're releasing our US Index tomorrow with scores for the top 40 US retailers...keep an eye out.

A Disappointing Green Monday

Today we released the third weekly e-retail benchmark we've done this holiday season, and satisfaction is still down from last year.

Satisfation with online shopping in November? Down every week, across the board.

Satisfaction on Thanksgiving Weekend? Down 3%

Satisfaction on Cyber Monday? Down 4%

Satisfaction the week after Thanksgiving (11/30-12/6)? Down 3%

Satisfaction Dec. 7-13? Down 3%

Satisfaction on Green Monday? Down 4%

Meanwhile, Comscore has adjusted their predictions to 4% YOY (up from 3%, based on a record-setting week last week.) That's still pretty disappointing, given the low levels we're starting from last year. Some analysts were projecting YOY increases in the 7-9% range, and the satisfaction data tells us we just won't see it. I'm looking forward to the Comscore data on Green Monday--they're predicting it will turn out to be the heaviest online shopping day of the season, maybe of all time, but won't release their data until later in the week.

Anyone else want to go out on a limb and make any predictions?

Hiring!

Just wanted to put the word out that as always, we are hiring. We have a full list of open positions on our website, but here are a few we're really eager to fill with the right people. 

Usability Services Manager

Responsibilities:

• Manage team of Usability Auditors; monitoring and managing group utilization, development goals, annual performance reviews, building team cohesiveness, training of new hires, etc.
• Act as a coach and mentor to Usability Auditors; modeling strategic thought and consultative approaches in the context of projects and client relationships with Usability Knowledge Subject Matter Expertise
• Participate in recruitment process and hiring decisions
• Participate in sales efforts as they relate to usability services
• Facilitate collaboration between Usability services and other teams at ForeSee
• Deliver webinars and conference presentations regarding usability services and user experience/usability
• Lead on-going process improvement around delivery of usability services
• Serve as human factors/usability expert within organization
• Maintain ongoing professional development to stay current with key thinking in the field
• Conduct training with Client Services and Sales regarding Usability Services
• Collaborate regarding development of new usability services/products
• Conduct ad hoc research regarding usability principles and best practices
• Oversee quality assurance for client deliverables
• Participate in delivery of usability audits and client presentations, as needed
• Work in a strategic and consultative fashion with clients, positioning ForeSee Results and Usability Services as thoughts leaders and experts in their field
• Manage vendor relationship for usability audit database application

Required Skills:

• 8+ years of relevant usability experience in an online environment
• A minimum of 3 years of experience managing a group of Usability Professionals
• Strong understanding of user experience for the Web and usability concepts
• A Bachelor’s Degree in Human Factors, Usability Human Computer Interaction, or other related discipline; Master’s degree preferred
• Passionate about usability and a strong desire to make a website usable
• Ability to quickly learn and adapt in a fast-paced environment
• Strong leadership and influence skills required to establish a usability competency and drive use of user experience concepts and principles on projects

Events Manager (Ann Arbor)

Responsibilities:

• Manage Event Programs for a Multi-million dollar technology company including development of strategic events plans and evaluation of events performance against key objectives
• Develop strong program content that provides a platform for establishing ForeSee Results as a thought leader
• Responsible for leading all events, ensuring timely execution of event details and evaluation of events
• Leverage industry contacts and supplier references to gain greater exposure
• Generate qualified sales leads through sponsorship and event management
• Sell sponsorships of ForeSee Results events directly to partner organizations
• Work closely with sales management and other internal departments to ensure maximum exposure and value from events
• Demonstrate effective sales support & documentation practices
• Travel to manage high profile events (e.g. top-tier sponsorships with large on-site presence)
• Manage resources and coordinate with Marketing and Sales
• Supervise members of the events team
• Handle budgets, proposals and direct development of materials for all events
• Manage relationships with events vendorsWork independently with minimal supervision

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business or related field
• A minimum of 7yrs of event management and operations experience
• Solid management experience requiring long-term relationship building among key events organizations to get maximum cooperation and exposure
• Computer literacy including, MS Office
• Ability to travel up to 75%
• Excellent written and verbal communication skillsExperience with marketing in the High Tech/Internet industries is preferred

Regional Sales Managers (throughout the U.S.)

These professionals will be responsible for a particular geographic region generating client leads, cold calling potential clients to make contact, creating client interest, qualifying the potential sale, giving client sales presentations and closing the sale. They will also maintain client contact as necessary and maintain client information in the sales management system. Positions are located throughout the United States according to sales territories. This position requires a bachelor’s degree and more than seven years of outside sales experience and cold calling experience with sales to contacts at the director-level or above. Successful candidates will have experience selling into the online products industry. Experience selling online market research is preferred.

Online Holiday Spending Continues to Limp Along

Another lackluster week.

Another week come and gone, one week closer to the end of the holiday season and the latest Online Holiday Spending results from Comscore released today.  For the week ending December 11th, online holiday spending was up 4% from last year.   For the current holiday season, online spending is running 3% up from last year (Nov 1 - Dec 11).

2008 was a tough year as we all know, and Comscore last year reported a 3% decline in 2008 from 2007 online holiday spending levels.

Half full or half empty?

So how should we feel about a 3% increase for the current holiday season compared to a 3% decline from last year?  A 3% increase is not a decrease and some may say flat is the new up,  And if just look at those two reference points we would fell pretty good.  However, if we go back to 2007, we saw a 19% increase in online holiday spending from the prior year.  As we saw last week, consumer's satisfaction with online retail sites is down significantly from last year.  And looking further into the situation, we see the same trend we saw last year - that we are seeing a further separation from the high performing sites and the rest of the pack. 

Here comes Green Monday

Green Monday is the last Monday of the holiday season where you can still use ground shipping and get it there by Christmas, and usually with free shipping.  Over the last few years this has been the largest online holiday spending day of the season.  Well, Green Monday is here tomorrow.  And we are anxiously awaiting the results.  Not only of the dollars spend but also how well consumer's needs are met - in other words, their level of satisfaction.

What do you think ?

Is the glass half full or half empty - should we be happy with the 3% increase in online holiday spending?

Will Green Monday give us a big boost this holiday season ?

Online Holiday Spending - A Disappointing Increase So Far

Last week we reported that consumers satisfaction with online retail was down from last year.  Now there were significant increases in online spending over the holiday weekend, compared with last year, with Comscore reporting an increase of 10% on Thanksgiving day, 11% on Black Friday and 5% on Cyber Monday.

Last week we (ForeSee Results) suggested that the decrease in satisfaction did not bode well for the future and caused us concern, further suggesting - "While we should see a modest increase in online sales overall this year, it will be the retailers who are satisfying customers online who will reap the true rewards".

The holiday season seems to be playing out as we expected.  Comscore reported on Sunday that for the period from November 1 through December 4th online sales were up only 4%.  Still an increase, but far less then what we were seeing through the promotion driven holiday weekend.  They went on to further report that the top 25 online retailers were up 13% from November 1-30 compared to a decline of 10% by smaller retailers.  Now, there are not a lot of details as to who is in the top 25, etc., but we know one thing for sure.  Amazon, who has traditionally excelled in satisfying its consumers, is the biggest online retailer by everyone's standards.  What we saw last year in our research and are expecting to play out again in this year's holiday research is the strong get stronger and the weak struggle to survive.  Those that satisfy their customers will gain market share...and those that don't will suffer.

I am excited to see the results of consumer satisfaction with online retailers from last week to see how the rest of the holiday season will play out.

Now a couple of questions for you.

• What are your online spending levels compared to last year?
• Are you doing more of your online shopping at the "big and best" online retailers?

Satisfaction Down on Cyber Monday

Our first 2009 holiday benchmark shows some cause for concern: online satisfaction with e-retail on Cyber Monday is at its lowest level in four years.

Why is this troubling? Because the ACSI methodology used to conduct the survey predicts future financial success and links satisfaction to likelihood to purchase online and offline. I'm seeing online retail forecasts ranging a 3% increase to an 8% increase, with a few outliers suggesting higher or lower.

We know sales were up on Cyber Monday--higher than last year and higher than Black Friday. But satisfaction was down. Does this mean people are buying early to take advantage of discounts, or do you think we'll see a strong and robust online holiday shopping season? 

Are Healthcare Websites Sick?

As the debate on healthcare continues, we decided to look at the healthcare websites that we measure at ForeSee Results and see how they are meeting the needs of consumers.  You can download the full report here.

Why look at consumer satisfaction of healthcare sites?  Well, as the debate goes on, one thing is certain, healthcare costs a lot of money.  And one way to reduce and manage some of those costs is better use of technology, for example, improving the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare websites.  The web brings us the opportunity of a win-win that is rarely available in other channels.  The first win is providing more information to citizens when they need it, anytime from anywhere you can get to the internet.  More information that is more readily available to consumers is a big win for consumers.  The second win is cost.  By providing more information, be it educational information about symptoms of a disease, potential side effects of a drug, information about the services provide by a hospital or information about deductibles and co-pays of your health insurance, we can lower the cost of providing the information to consumers.  A more informed consumer will make better health care decisions and lower the total cost of the servicing of that consumer.  A win - win!

So, how did the healthcare sites we measured do.  First of all, we surveyed more then  40,000 consumers who visited these healthcare sites in October and we utilized the proven methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) that was founded at The University of Michigan to measure the consumers satisfaction with the websites and how it would impact the consumer's future behavior.  We segmented the sites into four categories and their satisfaction scores are as follows:

• Government Health Information Sites     79
• Pharmaceutical Sites                           78
• Hospital Sites                                      73
• Health Insurance Sites                          64

The aggregate across all sites was 75.  To put these numbers in comparison, we look at 80 as the threshold for a very good site.  On average, the over 700 sites measured everyday by ForeSee Results, resulting in over 1 million completed surveys per month, score a 72, 4% below the healthcare index.  Not bad! 

The sites measured were wide ranging in their success to date, with scores as low as 42 and as high as 86.  86 is the same score that web leaders Amazon and Google obtained in their most recent published ACSI report.  Very impressive results from some of these healthcare sites.

I applaud all the sites (even the ones scoring in the 40's) because the first step to improvement is to measure.  You cannot manage what you do not measure.  And if you don't measure it you won't know if you improved.  So those low scoring sites are at the beginning of a journey that is bound to take them nowhere but up.

So, does satisfaction really matter for these sites?  Well, we talked about the win-win earlier, but lets take another perspective on it.  When we looked across those 40,000 consumers surveyed in October on these healthcare sites, we see that there is huge payback for high satisfaction.  When we look at the consumers who scored 80 or higher and compare them to those that scored 69 or lower, across all the sites, we see that the highly satisfied consumer is:

• 139% more likely to return to the website
• 169% more likely to recommend the website to others
• 153% more likely to use the website as a primary resource for interacting with the healthcare organization

This is truly a huge payback for satisfying your customers and results in the win-win, more information and services at a lower cost.