Online Shoppers ‘Unforgiving’ of Increasingly Poor Service, Says Northridge

Consumers are shopping online more than ever but finding the service experience increasingly “inadequate,” a Northridge Group survey found. Two-thirds of the roughly 1,000 canvassed consumers plan to continue their escalated rate of e-commerce shopping post-pandemic, but shoppers “are increasingly frustrated at the level of effort required to reach companies to get the help they need,” said the management consultant Thursday. With 42% of consumers reporting resolution of such headaches on “first contact,” that’s a sure sign that brands are “missing the mark,” it said. And 73% report “long wait times to reach a live agent” as their biggest gripe, with 69% also reporting difficulty finding website answers and 60% complaining they had to provide information “over and over again” when they finally did reach a live rep, said Northridge: “Despite the global pandemic, consumers continue to be unforgiving when it comes to poor customer experience. An alarming 73% of consumers report they are likely to switch to a competitive brand after just one negative experience.”