Poll shows e-commerce customer satisfaction stalls

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- The American Customer Satisfaction Index's annual E-Commerce Report, produced in partnership with ForeSee Results and released on Tuesday, showed that customer satisfaction with e-commerce websites is down 2.6% to 79.3 on the ACSI's 100-point scale.



The results are the lowest since 2004.



According to the report, falling satisfaction with online retail pulled down aggregate satisfaction with the e-commerce sector overall, which also includes online brokerage and online travel.



"Satisfaction with e-commerce and retail is off from a year ago overall, but the individual company results are mixed, and some organizations manage to find ways and resources to improve the customer experience," said ACSI founder Claes Fornell, professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. "Still, any downward pressure on satisfaction does not bode well for sustained spending growth at a time when the economy could use it."



Online retail dipped 3.6% to 80, as customer satisfaction with smaller e-retailers suffered a major drop. The "all others" category, which is an aggregate of smaller e-retailers and other companies not individually measured, plunged 6% to 78.



But some of the most notable names in e-retail continued to dominate. Amazon (+1% to 87) and Netflix (-1% to 86) switched places at the top of the industry, and eBay gained 3% to 81.



This year’s study added mobile commerce to the mix, as ForeSee Results applied ACSI methodology to measure customer satisfaction with the online experience when accessed via mobile phone. Aggregate satisfaction for the retail and travel sectors of e-commerce scored 75.