Rookie mistakes still impact shoppers at some retail sites, Forrester says

by InternetRetailer.com

Just like in a store, if a shopper has a bad experience on a retail web site, there’s a good chance the retailer may never see that customer again—and that customer might relay his bad experience to family and friends.

The importance of a top-notch online experience cannot be stressed enough, and retailers that hone a good online shopping experience can use it to stand out from the crowd, says Bruce D. Temkin, vice president and principal analyst of customer experience at Forrester Research Inc.

“Our research on retailers shows they say the customer experience is very important and they want it to differentiate themselves from competitors and other companies,” Temkin says. “But our consumer research shows shoppers don’t think retailers are doing a very good job.”

Temkin will deliver the keynote address, “Making Customer Experience the Differentiator,” at the 2008 Web Experience Forum, held by web performance management firm Gomez Inc. and sponsored in part by Internet Retailer. The forum will be held Oct. 14-16 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

To gauge the quality of online customer experiences, Forrester Research analysts recently reviewed 1,200 web sites, including e-commerce sites—only 3% passed the firm’s usability test.

Read complete article.