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Customer Experience Rankings – Online Retailers

Study Design:

In Spring of 2005, Keynote will conduct the second wave of its Customer Experience (CE) Rankings study across the top 20 retail sites to benchmark metrics of overall customer experience and brand perception. Keynote will also reveal the drivers behind brand affinity and customer loyalty. 2000 participants will be divided into 20 samples of 100 users each. Each sample will go to a single leading retail site and be asked to assess the home page and then perform a series of transactional tasks. Keynote will capture specific user feedback and behavior on the most common tasks on retail sites.

Keynote will track users’ behavior as they perform each task, capturing clickstreams, keywords, total page views, page load times and time per task. In addition, users will provide feedback to quantitative and qualitative questions about their experience, uncovering the “why” behind the sites’ performance metrics. Key questions addressed will be:
· Who has the best and worst customer experience, and why? What can be learned from both best and worst performers?
· What aspects of the site drive users to gravitate to one retail site over another?
· What are the key competitive differentiators between online retailers?
· What drives usage, retention and loyalty for retailers?

Sites Evaluated:

The sites listed below were chosen from a list of leading retailers that included:
· Top 50 general retailers (based on annual sales and assets)
· Top 50 online retailers (based on annual sales and assets)
· Leading retailers by site traffic
· Leading retailers in the top 5 purchase categories
· Innovative retailers

Sites in the Study: Top 20 Retail Sites

Department Store Retailers
Ø Sears
Ø JCPenney
Ø Macy’s
Ø Nordstroms

Discount Retailers/General e-tailer
Ø Wal-Mart
Ø Target
Ø Costco
Ø eBay
Ø Amazon
Ø Yahoo! Shopping
Ø Overstock.com

Specialty Retailers: Electronics
Ø Circuit City
Ø BestBuy

Specialty Retailers: Apparel
Ø Gap
Ø Lands End
Ø LL Bean
Ø Eddie Bauer

Specialty Retailers: Books, music
Ø Barnes and Noble

Specialty Retailers: Office Supplies
Ø Staples
Ø Office Depot

Possible replacement sites: Shopping.com
Panel Profile:

· Total 2000 (100 per site)
· US online adults 18+ from Keynote Research Panel
· Cross-section of the general Web population

Areas of the Sites Evaluated: (TBD)

· Find two products of interest
· Research two products
· Proceed through purchase process
· Browse for a specific product
· Search to find a product
· Use site's customer support

CE Rankings Analysis & Benefits:

The analysis for the CE Rankings measure attitude and behavior trends to identify the key drivers that impact customer experience. Keynote provides a competitive ranking based on quantitative, qualitative, and behavioral data to rank the 20 sites across key performance metrics. Below are some of the analyses Keynote perform:

· Site Effectiveness Measures – These measures estimate how well the site is contributing to the bottom line:
Ø Brand Impact Index – How well does the site promote, or detract from, the overall brand?
Ø Conversion Impact Index – How well does the site drive conversion and retention with respect to its online offerings?
Ø Customer Satisfaction Index – How well does the site provide a satisfying experience?
Ø Overall Customer Experience Ranking – An overall measure, taking into account the three index ratings above.

· Driver Analyses – These analyses provide guidance as to which aspects of the site experience are most important to improve:
Ø Brand Drivers – Which aspects of the experience are most related to brand impact?
Ø Conversion Drivers – Which aspects of the experience are related to intentions to book?

· In-depth Industry Analyses – These analyses highlight trends and changes across the industry, within the competitive context:
Ø Longitudinal Analyses – Compare companies’ results over time
Ø Industry Insights – Understand what users do and think related to the industry; Track performance across Web norms and industry trends
Ø Segmentation – Detailed comparisons between key customer segments (e.g., demographic segments)

· Comparisons Across 20 Leading Retail Sites – These comparisons provide insight into the competitive landscape and inform strategy decisions
Ø Discover strengths and weaknesses of competitors – Identify “Best-practices”
Ø Access complete data sets for each site for further custom analysis
Ø Explore supporting details from actual users – Learn the “why’s” behind the rankings, and the “how’s” to move up
Ø Benchmark over 100 metrics per site:
- Performance metrics - success rates, browse times, page load times
- Consumer expectations, needs, preferences, and satisfaction
- Frustrations and problems encountered
- Quantitative customer experience metrics
- Qualitative comments
- Composite scores