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94% of European Retailers and Financial Institutions Fail to Comprehensively Manage Online Customer Experience
Survey reveals poor website performance is costing businesses upwards of £500,000 / €730,000London, 16 February 2006 - Research commissioned by Compuware, the software and services company, has found that despite 50% of European retailers and financial organisations claiming to monitor and manage the performance of their transactional web site, just 6% of organisations have comprehensive and specific information about the actual end user experience for each individual logging on. Out of the 200 IT directors surveyed, 50% said monitoring the load on the web server to ensure that peaks in demand do not bring the site down best described their approach to managing and monitoring web site performance. This approach does not enable organisations to measure and evaluate real end user experience in real time and provide analysis alluding to the probable cause of poor performance. 20% of organisations indicated that measuring end user experience by using dedicated PCs in different locations, which simulate transactions to provide an insight into user experience, best described their approach to managing and monitoring the performance of their transactional web sites. However, this method is synthetic and can be deceiving as it presents an artificial representation of the user experience. With such insufficient methods in place, it is therefore perhaps unsurprising that poorly performing transactional web sites are costing a third of retailers and companies in the financial sector across Europe approximately £500,000 / €730,000 per year. An additional 21% estimated that poor web site performance was costing them around £1.5million / €2.1million, with a further 23% estimating the cost to be in the region of £2million / €3million. "Transactional sites have become an essential element of any organisations business, much like shop fronts, and it is important that they manage the experience that each user has of the site, said Michael Allen, EMEA sales director, performance management, Compuware. "Whilst Retail and financial organisations may think that they have the necessary procedures in place to safeguard user experience, the reality is that they don't. Retail organisations are struggling, with many having to close flagship stores, whilst financial institutions are fighting to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market. For companies operating in both of these sectors this is not an ideal situation. They want to be making money from their e-commerce investment and using it to further competitive advantage. Companies may consider themselves to be on top of managing the end user experience of their transactional web sites, but as the research highlights, this belief is misplaced. The measurements that they are currently using are ineffective and unrepresentative." If retail and financial organisations were effectively monitoring the performance of their transactional web sites, it would be reasonable to assume that they would be aware of which ISP each customer was using and the impact that their ISP choice has when they log onto the site. However, just 26% of companies actually have this level of visibility and a further 61% have no idea what type of internet connections - dial up or broadband - customers are using. This was further underlined by the fact that 61% of companies have no idea if, and when, a client drops off a page or how many times they might click the refresh button in a particular section. Consumers have confirmed that they find the mismanagement of web sites highly frustrating, with 72% stating that if a web site performs badly then they are likely not to make a transaction. A further 68% said that if web site performance does not match their expectations they will use an alternative web site to make the purchase. Only 43% of customers questioned said that if they logged onto a site and it performed poorly they would re-visit it. "The consumer responses clearly demonstrate that there is a big knowledge gap between what businesses think they know and what they actually know. The internet is a free market and the bottom line is that if your site is performing badly there will be a company with a similar product who has a site meeting the performance expectations of users," continued Allen. "If a customer complained, presently just 6% of European retailers and financial organisations would be able to take proactive steps to resolve individual user performance issues. Organisations need to become more customer centric in their approach to service delivery management. If companies want to start making money from their transactional web sites, instead of losing it, they need to be able to pinpoint problems, be in a position to solve them quickly and proactively manage their online service." Independent research company Vanson Bourne conducted the research across
the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. 200 CIOs in retail and financial
companies were surveyed. In addition, 400 consumers were polled by Spark
Communications. About CompuwareCompuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) maximises the value IT brings to the business by helping CIOs more effectively manage the business of IT. Compuware solutions accelerate the development, improve the quality and enhance the performance of critical business systems while enabling CIOs to align and govern the entire IT portfolio, increasing efficiency, cost control and employee productivity throughout the IT organisation. Founded in 1973, Compuware serves the world's leading IT organisations, including more than 90 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies. For more information visit: www.compuware.co.uk Compuware is a registered trademark of Compuware Corporation. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Compuware is a member of The Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group
(TLG), a premier industry-networking forum for leaders within the IT industry,
established in May 2002. For Compuware Press Inquiries Contact:Sophie Jarvis/ Barbara Bajkowski |
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