Is a Lack of
Contact Information Driving Away Your Customers?
As part of a small
business you know how important your website
can be in dealing with customers. Yet a huge
number of businesses are potentially driving
customers away, and making them angry to the
point of violence by hiding their contact
details.
A new survey by 1&1
Internet Ltd has found that an alarming 83%
of Britons have been negatively affected by
being unable to find contact details on a
businesses’ website. Half of consumers (52
per cent) have felt angry or stressed, and 1
in 5 (22 per cent) admitted to feeling
powerless and desperate by the problem.
Struggling to find a means to contact a
business from its website was the number one
customer service gripe for 77 per cent of
Britons.
Real-time live dialogue
with businesses using live-chat, forums or
call-me-back facilities is in high demand,
with 90 per cent of consumers wanting this
type of communication, and 1 in 3 requiring
it from the UK businesses they currently
use. In contrast, a further survey of 260
British firms showed that 92 per cent did
not currently provide these facilities on
their websites and 42 per cent had no plans
to do so in the future. The absence of such
facilities can have a clear effect on a
business' image with 41 per cent of
consumers likely to form a more negative
opinion and 29 per cent expecting to spend
less money as a result.
The inability to find a
way to contact a business from its website
is the biggest customer service bugbear for
77.2 per cent of people, followed closely by
'being held in a telephone queue' (77.1 per
cent), 'staff with heavy accents' (56 per
cent), 'bad on hold music' (42 per cent) and
'inflexible office hours' (40 per cent). A
lack of clear contact information such as
address and telephone numbers on a business
website has elicited a negative emotional
response from 83 per cent of consumers,
ranging from irritation (63 per cent), anger
in half of consumers (52 per cent),
powerless and desperation in 1 in 5 (22 per
cent) and even violence in 2 per cent.
'Facilities for contacting a business' is
the biggest concern for users of business
websites, after the ability to navigate a
website.
Andreas Gauger, CEO of
1&1 Internet said, "Our research clearly
shows that struggling to contact a business
from its website is a major cause of concern
for consumers. More of us than ever are
using real-time online messaging in our
everyday lives and consumers now place a
high value on the ability to talk to
businesses in this way".
The strength of UK consumers' preference for
real-time live dialogue online is evident.
For more than half of consumers surveyed (52
per cent), real-time live dialogue
facilities on a business website make them
feel more supported, and for 1 in 3 (38 per
cent), the communication method instilled a
greater sense of trust in the company.
Gauger added, "Britons benefit greatly from
access to support in real time and both
consumers and businesses have a lot to gain
from developing better online
relationships".
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