Apple ranked second in an e-retailing satisfaction survey conducted by research firm ForeSee, scoring 85 percent customer satisfaction rating. Apple tied with home shopping giant QVC, with both firms led by Amazon’s record 89 percent satisfaction rating.
ForeSee measured customer satisfaction in seven categories, including: Apparel & Accessories, Books, Music & Video, Computers & Electronics, Food & Drug, Home Improvement, Mass Merchants, and Specialty/Non-Apparel. Apple was tied for number two across all categories, but was ranked at the top of the Computers & Electronics category.
Chart by The Mac Observer, from ForeSee Data
“Highly satisfied website visitors are nearly 70% more likely to recommend the website to others than dissatisfied customers,” Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee, said in a statement. “In the modern world of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, it is even more imperative to provide the best experience possible to your customers because any experience has huge potential to be amplified, for better or for worse.”
According to the firm’s methodology, customer satisfaction in the online buying experience has been increasing, with scores rising significantly among the Top 100 companies.
“If there’s a negative spin to these positive trends” Mr. Freed said, “it is that this puts even more pressure on all other e-retailers to keep up or catch up.”
Not surprisingly, online retailing giant Amazon is leading this race. The company scored an 89 percent customer satisfaction rating, outpacing Apple and QVC by four points, with a three point increase over the 2011 survey.
“Amazon continues to set the standard for e-retailers,” Mr. Freed said. “The truth is that every consumer who has visited Amazon knowingly or unknowingly benchmarks all other experiences against it, and why wouldn’t they? They do everything and they do it well.”
Apple and RueLaLa.com were both tied as the most improved players with a five point increase in customer satisfaction. Apple scored 80 percent customer satisfaction in 2011, while RueLaLa.com went from a 70 percent customer satisfaction to 75 percent.
We also wanted to point out that in the top 25 chart we compiled above, you can se that there is a very small spread from 5th place (Avon at 83 percent) to 25th place (Dell at 80 percent).
A ForeSee Infographic Released with the Report