Conducting the study is The Customer Respect Group, a research and consulting firm that merchandises its Customer Respect Index (CRI) methodology to assist companies in improving online treatment of their customers. Companies surveyed are given a rating between 0 and 10, with 10 being the highest. Customer Respect Group explains it measures “Simplicity (ease of navigation), Privacy (respects customer privacy), Attitude (customer-focus of the site), Transparency (open and honest policies), Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries) and Principles (values and respects customer data).” In this most recent study, transportation and logistics companies surveyed averaged 5.9 overall, which is the lowest among all industry sectors studied by the Customer Respect Group. Top four in overall CRI were Yellow Corp. (9.8), UPS (8.7), Amerco (8.4) and J.B. Hunt Transport (8.2).
Roger Fairchild, Customer Respect Group president, notes, “Transportation and logistics firms have some work to do with their online presence. Most have figured out how to create sites that are fairly simple to navigate, but haven’t paid attention to other areas such as responsiveness, privacy and principles. Frankly, the fact that more than one-third don’t respond to any inquiries and more than half don’t respond to all inquiries displays an unacceptable attitude toward online customers. And when visitors to Web sites leave because of an unsatisfactory experience, tow out of every three go to a competitor’s site.”
For more information about the Study, visit www.customerrespect.com