For this interview we spoke with Terry Golesworthy, president and CEO of The Customer Respect Group. Terry discussed how online shoppers assess a retailer’s appreciation of their business and analyzes his company’s most recent survey.

Hi Terry, let’s talk a little bit about your most recent Online Customer Respect Survey released in December 2007 which examined 51 top retail companies in the United States and rated them on how well they catered to their online visitors. What were some of your key findings?

Some retail Web sites have become more interactive, moving away from the purely self-serve environment to a more concierge based experience. We found help, including real-time help, more readily available and in a greater array of ways than expected. Even the increase of user input such as reviews can improve the interactive feel. Overall, while the retail industry does not have all the best practices, it does tend to lead the way in usability innovations.

How do you define customer respect?

We measure a broad set of criteria, now over 180, to represent the degree to which the customer is treated online. It is much broader than customer experience; we look at data privacy, site usability for a broad set of users, search capabilities as well as the willingness to interact with online customers. These are all issues that the customer has expressed are important to them.

Your report mentioned the increased prominence of proactive chat and click to call in your study. From your perspective, how do you feel these technologies can be leveraged to improve customer respect quotients?

Customers get frustrated when they cannot complete an intended task; this can be the fault of the site design or in fact the user’s own inability to navigate. What causes that problem is irrelevant; the customer will feel more respected if they think the company is trying to help and are available. In our studies, we found a very high correlation between overall responsiveness and perceived respect and while this was largely based on email responsiveness, real-time interaction has the same impact.

While your most recent survey featured several leading retailers, your focus is on financial services. What are some lessons that financial services institutions can learn about conducting business online from their retail counterparts?

Our focus is across many industries, one being financial services. In that industry, as well as others, there can be a huge gap between the “research and learn” phase on the Web and the execution or purchase phase. Financial services sites provide a lot of complex material but often require or encourage that an in-person meeting with a local agent be the next step and this may not be a logical progression for the customer. Retail sites, while admittedly providing simpler solutions do a good job in creating a continuum of experience from research to purchase. Financial services can learn from the retail Web site experience and transfer the research phase into a place where the customer is ready to select products and vendors.

Technorati Tags: ATG, eStara, ecommerce, e-commerce, customer experience, Terry Golesworthy, The Customer Respect Group, eTail, eTailers, online shopping, Customer Respect, Click to Call, Proactive Chat 

Our latest intereview is with Scott Silverman, Executive Director, Shop.org. Scott takes a look back on recent industry growth and shares his thoughts on changes in online retailing.

So Scott, each year, Shop.org conducts a study on the “State of Online Retailing.”  Last year’s results found that online retail grew by nearly 25% in 2006.  In your view, what are some of the drivers behind this growth, and what are your predictions for future growth?

There are a variety of growth drivers, including:

1. More people are shopping online;

2. Online shoppers are using the Internet to do more of their shopping, including in non-traditional ecommerce categories such as cosmetics, apparel, shoes and home furnishings; 

3. Retailers are improving the online and multichannel shopping experience making is smoother and easier. 

For 2007, we’re expecting more than a quarter trillion dollar in online sales, which is amazing.  The growth of new shoppers must slow down eventually and this will affect the overall growth rate.  However, there is considerable room for growth in the Internet influencing off-line shopping.

Despite the increase in sales, which you note in the study, the New York Times reported over the summer that online sales may be losing steam since growth had dropped sharply in certain key sectors, such as books, tickets and office supplies (Note: I’ve already shared thoughts on this).  What are your thoughts on this, and does the Shop.org study support this hypothesis?

Online sales in 2007 will be $259 billion.  It shouldn’t be a surprise that the growth rates are slowing down when the base is so large.  That being said, it’s time to stop thinking about “online retail,” as its own industry and start thinking about it as part of the overall retail industry.  Whether its online, catalog or stores – they’re serving the same customers.  And, if there was any doubt that they are inextricably linked, look at some of the data about how online influences offline sales. According to JupiterResearch, in 2007, the Internet will influence nearly 600% more sales offline than it will generate online.

Regarding the influence of online research on offline sales, are you noticing any changes in how retailers are integrating e-commerce into their overall multi-channel strategies compared to the early days of e-commerce?

The biggest change is that retailers are getting more serious about cross-channel shopping and are offering more multichannel shopping features such as the ability to redeem gift cards online or allowing customers to return online orders in the store.  During the 2007 holiday season, it was interesting to see more retailers use Internet marketing to drive Black Friday shopping activity in stores.  I expect that the results from these efforts will raise awareness among non-ecommerce executives of the potential of the Internet in retail beyond online transactions.

How do you see the role of local search impacting the way national chains market to consumers, and distribute leads to stores?

Local search is a huge untapped opportunity for retailers.  How much commerce is prevented simply because someone looking to buy a something still doesn’t know where they can get it when they want it?  If I’m home at 8 pm with a craving for a particular Spanish wine, wouldn’t it be great if I knew that there is a store 15 minutes from my house with a collection of Rioja that is also open until 9 pm?  I haven’t yet seen local search applications that solve this problem.

Thanks for your time Scott. So what are your thoughts? Feel free to weigh in on the comments.

Technorati Tags: e-commerce, e-Commerce Insights, eStara, ATG, online retail, multichannel retail, local search, shop.org, Scott Silverman, NRF

Joining forces with eStara’s market leading Click to Call, Click to Chat and Call Tracking solutions has proven to be a key component  in ATG’s goal to provide an increasingly vital channel for helping consumers go from browsing to buying.  We look forward to continuing the integration of market leaders and creating more relevant interactions across the entire customer life cycle. To that end, we’re eager to post new eStara content that was once separately posted on eStara’s Multichannel Musings blog (see “Change is Good”) on e-Commerce Insights.