Customers know what they want on a catalog’s Web site—but they are not getting it, according to a study by list company Millard Group Inc.
Millard surveyed 51,000 customers who purchased from a catalog site over the holidays. Customers were asked to rate what was important to them on a site and what they actually experienced on that particular site. The catalogs were Millard clients and the customers were responding to their experience the particular catalog for which they were a customer. The responses are an aggregated result.
Customers were asked, on a scale of 1 to 4 (with 4 being excellent), how important is it to have products described accurately and shown clearly online? Respondents gave this a rating of 3.8 for importance. But, respondents’ actual shopping experience rated product descriptions much lower–at 3.3.
A rating of 3.9 was given to the importance of “product matches online description.” But in actually delivering a product that matches online description, respondents ranked the sites at 3.3.
Overall, how important is it for merchandise to match expectations? The aggregate response was 3.7. But, in practice, respondents could only award a ranking 3.1.
The importance rating for a site being easy to shop was 3.7. But the rating for sites actually being easy to shop was 3.3.
“There’s a large gap between what customers expect, and what they get,” said Lilliane LeBel, Millard director of marketing services, in Peterborough, NH. “Catalogers need to figure out how to manage and meet those expectations online if they expect a second or third order online.”
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