Online Shopping Satisfaction Lags 2007’s Level

Since Thanksgiving, online customer satisfaction has lagged last year’s levels, according to research from ForeSee Results.

On a 100-point scale, customer satisfaction was 75.5 during Thanksgiving weekend, down from 77.1 during the similar weekend in 2007. On “Cyber Monday” – the first Monday after the holiday, when consumers allegedly jump online to shop – satisfaction dropped from 76.6 a year ago to 75.9.

This lower-than-last-year trend has held for the weeks following Thanksgiving. During week 1 (Dec. 1 through Dec. 7), satisfaction levels were 75.6, down from 76.3. And during week 2 (Dec. 8 through Dec. 14) the difference was even greater – 77.6 last year to 75.2 during the week just ended.

“The satisfaction gap between last year and this year is growing, and since we’ve seen our measures of online satisfaction tracking with Comscore’s weekly revenue reports, it’s starting to look a little worrisome” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, in a statement

On Green Monday – a term used to denote what is allegedly the biggest online spending day of the year -- 2008, satisfaction levels stood at 75.7. The company did not analyze Green Monday data last year.

ForeSee’s research also found:

* Customer satisfaction with online prices is exactly the same as last week, probably meaning sales aren’t disappearing as quickly as customers expected.

* Customer satisfaction with navigation is at its lowest score in nearly a month. According to ForeSee, since retailers are not likely to be changing their navigation this deep into the holiday shopping season, the dropping score may be a reflection of customers’ increased impatience as the holiday—and deadlines for gift buying—draw closer.

* Likelihood to purchase both online and offline this week is also at the lowest level since the beginning of November. ForeSee says this may confirm what some analysts have feared: that people did their shopping early to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, but that sales will be winnowing down from this point forward.

Data was collected from more than 65,000 visitors to more than 80 online retailers between Monday, 12/8/08 and Sunday 12/14/08.