Smart Search Engines Equal E-Commerce Success

An impressive 80 percent of online holiday shoppers were highly satisfied with their experience this year, compared to only 60 percent last year, according to a new study conducted by ForeSee Results, a firm specializing in online customer satisfaction. The increase means that more and more shoppers are likely to come back to the Web as a shopping channel, which equals increased revenue and customer loyalty, says Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee. The survey, conducted live on Internet retail site DealTime.com, found that online shoppers who use shopping search engines to compare prices are more satisfied with their buying experience, representing a 22 percent improvement in satisfaction over those who don't. They were also found to be 24 percent more likely to shop online in the next two months and 26 percent more likely to recommend online shopping to others. While smart search engines can be a big help, Freed warns that doing business well online is not an exact science. "There's no secret recipe; you have to find out what's important to your particular customers, then figure out ways to improve how you give that to them," he says. Freed says that although creating high online customer satisfaction will be different for every business, it is simply something that should be done. "Traditionally, it seems that companies without high customer satisfaction levels in all channels are bound to fail," he says. "An investment in improving customer satisfaction will yield significant returns in influencing shoppers in a positive manner, yielding significant improvement in financial performance" Freed adds. "The satisfaction levels achieved with consumers today will determine the future success of online shopping."