A large number of people who do business on the Internet have a less than favorable experience, according to a recent Harris Interactive Survey. Commissioned by Tealeaf Tech, a company that sells software allowing business’ to see how users are interacting on their sites, 2,420 adults were questioned on how they feel about e-commerce. The survey showed that merchants not only lose sales from frustrated consumers - but lose them for a lifetime.

E-Commerce Troubles
According to the survey, 83% of those surveyed expect offline and online experience to be the same. Trouble logging on, error messages and navigation difficulties are just some of the issues raised. 42% of consumers who run into difficulty will give up and leave the site.

“What companies haven’t realized or don’t appear to recognize is that shopping online is distinctly different than the traditional brick and mortar business,” Tealeaf CEO Rebecca Ward said.“It’s just so easy to switch to a competitor online. You’re just a mouse click away.”

Customer Service Impact
53% of consumers who ran into difficulty tried to resolve their problem by contacting customer service. Almost 70% of respondents who contacted customer service felt that the agent was not knowledgeable about the company’s web site. With all the effort that companies make to drive customers, its remarkable disconnect that service agents don’t have the tools or training they need to help customers.

E-mail Response Tested
When you e-mail a company with a question, especially one that deals with a potential purchase, you expect a reply. E-mails were sent to the top 1000 U.S. online retailers from May to June by the Talisma Corporation, a company that sells customer management software, asking what credit or debit cards they accept and what they charge for shipping. 33% of those e-mails went unanswered and of those that did respond, 49% contained incorrect information. Talisma CEO Dan Vetras said he was “somewhat, but not completely shocked” by the results.

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