Power Retail’s customer service index: See how you compare

In order to succeed in such a competitive and saturated market as online retail, retailers need to find a way to stand out from the competitors. A positive customer experience is a surefire way to win back customers who will value your brand and it can ensure you stand out from the competition. This is a known fact but there is only so much you can do from your side, how can you keep track of how people are finding the customer experience you deliver when one unsatisfied customer’s bad review on a third party website can derail your whole rating, and how can you tell how you really compare to others in the industry?

Power Retail is thrilled to unveil its new product, the Customer Service Index. This innovative report is developed by combining two essential aspects of the customer experience: mystery shopping and online user experience, to develop a benchmark in the online shopping experience. The benchmark was developed by analysing the Top 25 Power Retail Australian Online Retailers and its Switched On Advanced Retailer members and scoring them in all facets of the customer experience. 

Power Retail can now enable retailers to see how they stack up against the benchmark for a variety of categories that contribute to the overall online shopping customer experience. From the pre-purchase experience right through to the returns outcome, the Customer Service Index covers all the details including a product listing score and homepage score, to develop a comprehensive overview of how your customer experience ranks against your competitors. 

Utilise your Customer Service Score data to effectively attract and retain customers! Learn more here.

In the report, each retailer is given a score out of 100 for its performance in a category, compiled from website reviews and mystery shopper experiences. This score is then ranked against the benchmark for the retailer’s category. The categories the Customer Service Index ranks are: Pre-Purchase Experience, Post-Purchase Experience, Return Experience, Homepage Score, Product Listing Score, Product Details Score.

The report breaks down each category to a variety of questions and checkmarks with each one having their own benchmark score. 

“In the fast-paced world of ecommerce, things change constantly,” said Power Retail Head of Data, David Fear. “Our report, fueled by mystery shopping and website reviews, creates a Customer Service Index that’s like your online retail GPS. It helps you see how your online store stacks up against the big players in the game. Whether you’re crushing it or need a boost, this index gives you the roadmap to navigate the e-commerce terrain and keep your business thriving.”

In developing the benchmark data for the Customer Service Index, Power Retail analysed the Top 25 Power Retail Australian Online Retailers and its Switched On Advanced Retailer members, scoring them all facets of the customer experience. For example, Microsoft ranked top among retailers for the Pre-Purchase Experience with a score of 83, based on combined scores in Shipping Cost Options, Delivery Choice Window Score, Sustainable packaging option score and more key arras. In this category, of the analysed retailers, Baby Bunting is among the lowest performing in this particular category with a score of 17. An analysis of over 30 retailers was then combined and analysed to produce an industry benchmark average score of 51.3. 

The Customer Service Index offers some really interesting insights, a retailer could be dominating all categories except one which could really bring its overall performance down. For example, Adore Beauty ranked in the 80s for all categories but one, it tops the list for Home Page and Product Listing scores at 88 each, but falls dramatically short in Pre-Purchase with a score of 57. The Customer Service Index can help you identify these problem areas and help you track changes over time as you make changes to your customer experience. 

Power Retail Switched On members unlock access to monthly reports that draw from the aggregate, anonymised benchmarking data of over 10 million online sessions per month from a broad cross-section of Australian online retailers, plus monthly survey data with a minimum of 1,000 respondents in each survey.