ForeSee Survey Finds Cyber Monday Satisfaction Down

The holiday shopping season is well under way and positive results are in! Black Friday was a great success with retailers opening as early as 9pm Thanksgiving night, and Cyber Monday is a story in itself.

According to customer experience analytics firm ForeSee, Cyber Monday sales are “booming” but customers are less satisfied. Their annual analysis of Cyber Monday suggests that online shoppers are less satisfied than traditional retail shoppers.

The report states that compared to last year online commerce was up 26% on Black Friday and 22% on Cyber Monday, and the National Retail Federation is reporting that sales over the four-day holiday weekend increased 16% over last year. Sales are up, but website browser satisfaction is down.

What’s the difference between a shopper and a browser?

 A browser is defined as anyone shopping on a retail website, whether or not they completed a purchase. Browser satisfaction this Cyber Monday (72.7 on the study’s 100-point scale) is lower this year than it was over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend (73.3), lower than it was last year on Cyber Monday (73.1), and notably lower than it was on Cyber Monday in 2008 (75.9). In fact, satisfaction with online shopping over the holiday weekend and on Cyber Monday is at its lowest point in five years (the largest dip occurred between 2008 and 2009, and satisfaction has failed to rebound).

Larry Freed is the president and CEO of ForeSee and explains the difference between how happy shoppers are vs. just browsers.
“So far, we know that the holiday season has been a success for the retailers in terms of sales, but that is clearly not the whole picture,” he said. “Our research tells us that buyers are generally as satisfied this year as they were last year, but that browsers overall are somewhat less satisfied this year because more shoppers couldn’t find what they were looking for, experienced site performance issues, or were dissatisfied with prices.”

ForeSee stresses that browser satisfaction during the holidays is extremely important, because it can influence current and future sales, along with brand loyalty and potential long-term revenue.

Here are some of their other findings:

• Retail website satisfaction for browsers (the group who shopped on a retail website, whether or not they purchased) on Cyber Monday this year (72.7 on the study’s 100-point scale) is slightly lower than it was over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
• Retail website satisfaction for buyers is about the same this year as it was last year.
• Shoppers appear to be more price sensitive on Cyber Monday than they were over the holiday weekend, suggesting that they have high expectations for deals. Shoppers have shown signs of greater price sensitivity this year since early November.
• Of the 159 retail websites in the ForeSee benchmark, 40 (one-quarter) scored 80 or higher, generally considered the threshold for excellence using this methodology. Last year, one-third of all retailers in the benchmark scored above 80. This polarization of scores may indicate that, as customer expectations increase, some retailers are finding it harder to keep up.
• Websites that sell apparel, accessories, and shoes are providing the most satisfying experience for holiday shoppers this year, while websites selling computers, electronics, and mobile phone accessories are providing the least satisfying experience. This could mean there may be bigger gains in apparel retail revenues than in revenues for a number of other product categories.

How does ForeSee get accurate results? They use a  methodology that measures the customer experience and predicts how that experience impacts future sales, loyalty, and recommendations.

ForeSee uses results from 159 individual websites, ranging from Fortune 100 retailers to smaller, regional retailers, and has been releasing a weekly online satisfaction benchmark during the holiday season for six years.  See below for a chart of the weekly satisfaction for the past two years.

“In a struggling economy, it’s a zero-sum game where successful retailers have more to gain at the expense of retailers who don’t satisfy their customers,” said Freed. “The e-retailers who are doing well now and satisfying customers will be in the best position to capture market share from retailers that fail to meet customers’ increasingly high standards and expectations.”

Read the entire article by clicking here and visit www.foresee.com for original research.