15 Years of the Digital Customer Experience

Fifteen years of benchmarking data combined to provide comprehensive insights into the developing digital

customer experience

Contents

01

Expert foreword

3

02

Introduction & methodology

5

03

Executive summary

10

04

How has the digital customer experience

changed over the past 15 years?

11

05

What does a good digital experience look

like in 2015?

21

06

Conclusion

51

Expert foreward

by Chris Russell

Joint CEO & Visiting UCL Professor

When Michelle Fuller and I first became involved with ecommerce in 1996 we were jointly convinced that a new age was upon us. We were early adopters of all things digital. As professional marketeers we began working with Darryl Mattocks – a so called ‘dotcom’ millionaire with his company travelstore.com. Darryl had a couple of non-executives based in California advising us and every Tuesday afternoon we would participate in a conference call. They extolled the concept of speed of thought and development, land grab of contacts and email addresses. Sales figures were relevant but secondary; getting our website to market was all important. It was a brave new world where numbers of users was paramount.

The US participants in our conference calls introduced us to the concept of an internet year lasting seven weeks – a five year plan was thus 35 weeks - and whilst we scoffed initially we saw that it was possible for new global organisations (and indeed small local ones) to launch and challenge established companies and whole sectors with new working practices.

Indeed, despite the dotcom crash of 2000 producing many failures through a sudden drought of funding, the march of the digital consumer continued at pace. New names such as Amazon and eBay established themselves - quickly followed by Google, iTunes, Facebook and Twitter. Digital consumers were embracing technology and change – and fast.

Throughout this there was a lot of ‘making it up as we went along’. What made sense to the new digital consumer? Website copy was being written by techies and the way things worked on a website were largely the creation of their logical code based brains. There was no time to test and no time to develop methods of asking who these users were, what they liked and disliked - were they ever going to come back and purchase? In this new world we could track what site visitors did through analytics but we did not know who they were and why they behaved as they did.

Michelle and I identified understanding what online customers wanted as an opportunity and in 1999 launched what was to become eDigitalResearch into the teeth of the dotcom crash. We argued that a consumers website experience was a journey that had a series of distinct phases – from home page, search, product information, shopping basket to checkout – but it also included customer service, returns and refunds as well as delivery.

It was an ‘end-to-end’ experience.

This report seeks to show just a small part of the journey through the last fifteen years of eDigitalResearch reviewing website experiences through the eyes of ordinary users and providing subsequent reports on best practice and benchmarking to the UK’s major retail organisations. It contains the results of the latest review undertaken during the crucial 2014 Christmas shopping period (November 2014 – January 2015) where new best practices are being constantly established as the use of smart devices becomes all the more commonplace.

The stories and innovations coming from the latest results are fascinating – but what does the future hold for the digital customer experience? New technology and ways of working will change everything all over again. Personalisation of information – the Internet of Things – will take us in to new territory but one crucial factor will remain constant – the need to listen to customers, interpret what they want and delight them by putting findings into action to create a customer experience that is well beyond expectations.

Chris Russell

Joint CEO, eDigitalResearch February 2015

In addition to being Joint CEO of eDigitalResearch, Chris is also a visiting professor at University College London where he has devised and presented courses on the digital consumer for the past ten years.

Introduction

15 years of benchmarking

Back in 1999, ecommerce and the internet was in its infancy.

Amazon had launched their first UK site just twelve months earlier,

while British high street giant Marks and Spencer opened their

online doors for the first time – becoming an early ‘bricks and

mortar’ entry into the booming world of ecommerce.

As the dotcom boom turned into crash during the first years of the new millennium other ‘bricks’ bought up the now ailing ‘pureplay’ early successes that were being starved of cash investment. Jungle.com was bought by Argos and Woolworths bought streetsonline.com.

Despite extensive media coverage that ecommerce was ‘finished’, consumers continued to adopt online shopping and persevered (despite dial up 28k and 56k modems), often spurred on by better pricing and the improving provision of site functionality. The success (and threat) of new-age, online retailers encouraged traditional high street stores to enter the fray. In addition to the traditional retail arena, other sectors such as travel, (particularly low cost airlines encouraged by disintermediation of the travel agent), grocery, electronics, media and fashion started to appear and changed the way consumers would order products forever.

Argos website since 1999

Since inception, online retail has grown to become a multi-billion pound industry in the UK and across the globe. Year on year, consumer online spend is growing at an unprecedented rate. The digital customer experience has never been so important. In 2010, like the online retail industry, the benchmark study was expanded to cover emerging digital channels, including mobile sites and apps. The introduction of mobile technology and smartphone devices (that now worked) fundamentally changed the customer experience as it had done during the original internet

revolution of 1996. For the first time, consumers were able to shop when they wanted, where they wanted and how they wanted. They had total control.

That same year fifteen years ago, eDigitalResearch embarked on the very first

eRetail Benchmark. Taking a range of the UK’s then top online shopping destinations, eDigitalResearch measured and assessed the entire end-to-end online customer experience – from a user’s first impressions to their delivery and customer service. We started by taking the top 65 online retailers and reporting quarterly to the shopping portal, AOL, sharing the results with each of the sites involved. When portals became largely defunct we carried on, surveying the top sites and reporting best practice from a digital consumer’s perspective.

We have now completed fifteen

years worth of end-to-end usability

assessments since 1999 providing a

unique perspective and benchmark

for the UK digital community

This change in behaviour bought around a dramatic rise in consumer expectations. Never before has online retail been so competitive - listening to what customers like (and what they don’t), understanding how to improve and actioning results in order to delight customers is key to success in today’s digital world.

The eDigitalResearch eRetail Benchmark report has provided -

and continues to provide - a definitive and unparalleled view of the

digital customer experience across a growing, and often complex,

customer journey.

Key steps in the Marks and Spencer mobile customer

journey, 2010

The digital customer journey

From landing on a homepage to clicking ‘buy’, there are a number of decisions that digital shoppers need to make (or not) as they navigate through a site on their path to purchase.

The digital purchase journey can often be a complex one. Retailers need to ensure that they delight customers at every single stage if they are going to turn browsers to all-important buyers.

The Customer

Journey

In order to truly understand how retailers were performing online, eDigitalResearch utilised their unique eMysteryShopper tool. Taking profiled online shoppers, real users were asked to complete a purchase in their own home on selected sites and feedback their findings – how easy was the site to use? Did they encounter any problems? And what improvements could be made?

By using real users (eMysteryShoppers) making real purchases, the eRetail

Benchmark report provides a definitive view of how brands are performing when it comes to the digital customer experience. At each and every stage of the purchase journey, surveyors are asked to provide a detailed assessment on how they found the site - from how well the site’s keyword search worked to how easy it is to locate a brand’s customer contact details.

Each digital channel is reviewed by a representative sample of independent

surveyors. It allows us to assess not only the digital customer experience as a whole, but also measure a brand’s website, mobile site and app experience independently from one another - and provide a comprehensive view of how and where the digital customer experience can be improved.

Alternated throughout the year, brands included in the eRetail Benchmark must offer all three digital channels – web, mobile and app – and the ability to complete a purchase via each individual touch point.

How easy was the site to use?

Did you encounter any problems?

What improvements could be made?

Executive summary

eRetail Benchmark 2015 results

Changes over fifteen years

The overall digital customer experience continues to improve. Year on year, there has been a three per cent increase in customer satisfaction as leading retailers continue to develop their websites, mobile sites and apps.

Search and navigation remain the two top performing areas of the end-to-end digital customer journey. However, there is still plenty of room for improvement elsewhere, with retailer homepages, product pages and shopping baskets needing development. A detailed look at results reveals that apps continue to drag down the overall

multichannel digital experience. While mobile sites are close to matching the satisfaction of websites, retail apps are still a long way from providing the sort of experience that shoppers seem to increasingly expect.

After extensively re-developing their mobile site, New Look top the eRetail

Benchmark league table by offering a seamless and consistent experience across their digital channels

Tracking over the years reveals how a number of key developments to the online customer experience had a positive impact on satisfaction. In early days, improvements to mere site speed and reliability saw the average eRetail Benchmark satisfaction score increase dramatically, while the integration of search-engine technology to retail sites in the early noughties also helped uplift satisfaction.

With the introduction of the first mobile sites - and followed swiftly by apps – overall satisfaction with the digital customer experience dropped. It seemed that mobile channels were failing to live up to the expectations set by their established website counterparts.

How has the digital customer

experience changed over fifteen

years?

Fifteen years ago, the online world was a very different place. Errors

and technical issues were common place - the benchmark survey

even had to offer surveyors the ability to abort their research if they

were unable to load a website merely due to simple stability. In fact,

in the very first eRetail Benchmark back in 1999, just three out of

four surveyors were able to access retail sites successfully.

Waterstones

Homepage

Waterstones

Duplicate search results

Today, as consumers, our expectations have changed. Advances in technology meant that we gradually started to enjoy (and expect) ever-improving site experiences - leading to an increased use of digital channels and online sales. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of online shoppers increased seven-fold. In 2002 – just four years after Amazon launched in the UK - £1billion was spent within one month alone and by 2005, us Brits were spending more time online than we were watching television.

Looking back, it’s clear to see how changes to the digital landscape have altered our overall experiences with brands. Over time, satisfaction with sites has improved as retailers slowly but surely fixed issues, developed their sites and integrated key technologies.

How did it all change?

Average eRetail Benchmark scores 1999-2014

Year Satisf action sc or es Improvement in speed and stability Introduction of mobile sites Introduction of mobile apps

2002, the first wave of improvement

In 2002, the retail industry witnessed a significant leap in user satisfaction - thanks to various improvements across the customer journey. Basic system enhancements to a number of retailer platforms lead to an increase in stability and speed, directly impacting a number of key areas of the online customer journey. Take search for example - customers were now able to access products much quicker. Over 95 per cent of searches in the 2002 eRetail Benchmark were completed successfully.

Other areas of the customer journey had also been substantially developed in the same year. Traditional high street retailers had started to catch up with their pure-play counterparts, especially when it came to the shopping basket area of the customer journey. Brands, such as John Lewis and Argos, had started to introduce features to their basket that online retailers had long championed – features such as clear product images and delivery information, the ability to amend quantities or delete certain items, and the opportunity to save items onto a ‘wish list’ in case you changed your mind later down the line. A standard for shopping baskets had now

2001-2002 benchmark average across customer journey

78.8%

76.9%

+1.9%

+7.7%

+6.2%

+4.1%

+4.1%

Home page Search Product pages Basket Purchase

80.6%

72.9%

79.2%

73.0%

80.2%

76.1%

81.3%

77.2%

At the same time, Amazon were setting the benchmark for product pages. Clear product information and pricing, vibrant images and product reviews, coupled with their ability to recommend products based on browsing behaviour, vastly improved user satisfaction and has now become the foundation for all modern-day product pages.

Come 2007, consumer confidence with the online retail industry was growing – particularly with homepages. In the early days, homepages were often difficult to load thanks to cluttered designs. By 2002, many brands had opted to move towards Amazon’s navigation-based homepage template and in 2007, there was an almost five per cent leap in satisfaction as retailers re-worked their homepages once again. 2004 witnessed another significant leap in satisfaction – especially

for search, due to the introduction of search-engine type technology into key retail sites. Thanks to Google’s advanced technology, finding what you really wanted online in 2004 was easy, and consumers expected exactly the same when they shopped online.

Yet, before 2004, a lot of retailers had failed to integrate the same technology onto their sites, making search and search results one of the lowest rated areas of the online journey. By simply looking to best practice elsewhere online, retailers were able to vastly improve aspects of their online customer experience.

2004 search increase

Learning lessons from others online

Growing consumer confidence

+4.4%

Search

84.5%

80.1%

Source: eDigitalResearch eRetail Benchmark, 2003-2004 search satisfaction rate

Web 2.0 was upon us and retailers were starting to recognise the value of their online channels and the level of investments in site infrastructure and technical developments increased. Homepages were re-worked with a simpler design that clearly highlighted strong promotional messages with ‘vista’ style navigations tabs becoming the norm, making it simple and easy for customers to access product ranges at the click of a button.

Over the years, satisfaction with the online retail industry grew steadily and in 2008, reached its peak. By this time, retailers had continued to evolve their digital customer experience. The introduction of videos, zoom functions and 3D viewing to product pages had vastly improved consumer perception of products online, while the addition of predictive text technology to keyword search functionality made browsing entire catalogues of products even easier.

Carphone Warehouse home page satisfaction scores

1999 - 73.3% 2002 - 78.9% 2007 - 88.0%

2008 Product pages // Amazon & Figleaves

2008 Search // Amazon

85.1%

87.2%

85.5%

85.2%

85.2%

Home page Search Product pages Basket Purchase

2008 benchmark average across customer journey

How we accessed the online world changed forever in late 2008. The introduction of ‘smart’ phone devices meant that consumers, for the first time, were able to successfully access retail sites on the move. Penetration of smartphone devices gradually increased throughout the following years and months and in 2010, eDigitalResearch launched the first eRetail Benchmark incorporating the mobile shopping experience.

Tracking shows that consumers overall satisfaction with their digital shopping experiences dropped considerably that year. Thanks to numerous advancements in technology, a certain standard had been set - consumers expected to receive the same shopping and browsing experience on their smartphone devices as they did when using their PC.

Sadly, however, this was rarely the case. Satisfaction across the mobile customer journey was considerably lower than on more established desktop sites. Key details, such as product or stock information, was omitted from product pages to make them easier to digest while mobile customers were often left frustrated by seemingly never-ending card expiry date options when it came to making an actual purchase - a number of leading retailers had even failed to adapt their websites for mobile use, despite over one third of the UK population owning a smartphone device at this point in time.

How mobile changed everything, again

2010 customer journey scores: online and mobile

JD Sports & Comet, 2010

Dull home pages

80%

76% 74% 72%

Homepage Search

(Keyword) (Navigation)Search Product _Pages Shopping_Basket Purchase

78% 80% 86% 84% 82% 88%

PC

Mobile

Tesco

Forced registration

John Lewis

Minimal information on product pages

The first mobile sites were focused purely on functionality - retailers designed (and re-designed) sites to ensure that their mobile customers were able to make a purchase as quickly and easily as possible. However, many failed to take into account the level of experience that people were now accustomed to, thanks to the continued development of established eRetail sites. Surveyors complained of homepages that were ‘uninspiring’ and ‘fiddly’ registration processes that complicated the purchase process.

2011 customer journey scores for online, mobile and app

In 2011, transactional apps were added to the eRetail Benchmark, causing the overall benchmark average to fall further. Like their mobile counterparts, retail apps were failing to live up to the expectations set by desktop sites - it seemed that retailers were struggling to re-create online experiences that were years in the making to the smaller screen. 80% 76% 74% 72% Homepage Search

(Keyword) (Navigation)Search Product _Pages Shopping_Basket Purchase

78% 90% 86% 84% 82% 88%

Online

Mobile

App

80%

76% 74% 72%

Homepage Search

(Keyword) (Navigation)Search Product _Pages Shopping_Basket Purchase

78% 90% 86% 84% 82% 88%

2014/2015 customer journey scores for online, mobile and app

Mobile

App

However, as retailers start to really see the benefits that mobile channels have to offer – key multichannel players are now seeing around half of their online traffic generated from mobile devices – investment and development in mobile touch points has led to a significant rise in multichannel satisfaction. Retailers are beginning to offer a multichannel customer experience that is living up to the expectations set over the past fifteen years.

Satisf

action

Source: eDigitalResearch eRetail Benchmark, 2014/2015

What does a good digital

experience look like in 2015?

In general, the overall digital customer experience is improving –

leading to over a three per cent increase in multichannel customer

satisfaction in the last twelve months.

But while the overall eRetail Benchmark average has seen an increase year on year, there is still room for improvement in key areas of the digital customer journey.

Search and navigation remain the two top performing parts of the customer journey for shopping and browsing digitally. Both are areas that retailers have invested in heavily over the years, introducing technology from elsewhere online. With the introduction of smartphone devices, retailers built their first mobile sites around their search and navigation tools – helping smartphone shoppers to get underway with browsing products quickly and easily. In fact, back in 2010, overall mobile search technology was on a par with what retailers were offering online through traditional sites.

Search and navigation is something that retailers got right from the beginning of the multichannel evolution and are still a key focus of online and mobile shopping

82.7%

88.1%

88.6%

82.2%

82.9%

83.7%

Home page Search Navigation Product pages Basket Purchase

2014/2015 eRetail Benchmark average across the customer journey

Overall average: 84.6%

Purchase remains one part of the customer journey where retailers need to look for improvements. Registration processes are still the root cause for the majority of shopper frustration in this area – especially mobile shoppers – while some surveyors feel that a handful of retailers are failing to update them with key information at this stage, such as delivery timescales.

Product pages are also failing to live up to higher expectations. Since 2010, retailers have been struggling to optimise product pages for mobile devices and the smaller screen. Over the years, leading brands have introduced more and more features – such as product videos and customer reviews – to their product pages in an attempt to inform customers and increase conversion. However, optimising all this content for mobile has been difficult – and the latest eRetail Benchmark results show that there is still some work to be done.

As in previous waves, websites continue to lead the digital customer experience field. Retailers have been investing in this channel for over fifteen years now, constantly refining their online experience - it’s no surprise that websites continue to come out on top.

However, as the mCommerce market continues to grow, and with many leading retailers now recording more mobile traffic to their site than desktop, investment in the channel will grow. As development continues, we would expect to see mobile satisfaction in particular start to overtake its more-established web counterpart. A more detailed look at results reveals that satisfaction with retail apps is affecting the overall retail digital customer experience. While mobile experiences are close to matching the customer satisfaction of sites, retail apps are still a long a way from providing the same sort of experience that customers are currently receiving on other digital channels.

Multichannel Web Mobile App

eRetail Benchmark: overall multichannel digital experience

# Retailer Multichannel _Score Web Mob App

1 New Look 88.7% 91% 90% 85%

2 John Lewis 88.4% 90% 91% 85%

3 Marks and Spencer 88.0% 88% 87% 89%

4 Amazon 87.5% 90% 89% 84% 5 Next 87.0% 89% 82% 90% 6 Debenhams 85.4% 90% 83% 83% 7 Dorothy Perkins 83.6% 85% 84% 81% 8 ASOS 83.5% 88% 86% 76% 9 Waitrose 83.2% 88% 76% 86% 10 Tesco 82.9% 88% 78% 82% 11 House of Fraser 82.4% 87% 81% 79% 12 BHS 82.3% 85% 85% 77% 13 Sainsbury’s 80.8% 85% 84% 74% 14 ASDA 80.3% 85% 78% 78%

After extensively developing their mobile site, New Look now offer a seamless digital customer experience across all channels, and join the likes of John Lewis and

Amazon as leaders of the eRetail Benchmark.

Customer satisfaction with New Look’s mobile site and app has grown considerably since the eRetail Benchmark in 2013, contributing to a rise in their overall customer experience.

+7.1%

+5%

+11%

+7%

Increase of

New Look’s developing digital customer experience

Multichannel Web Mobile App

88.7%

81.6%

91%

86%

90%

79%

85%

78%

Note: multichannel scores are calculated using overall satisfaction of each digital touchpoint Source: eDigitalResearch eRetail Benchmark, rise in satisfaction, Christmas 2013-2014.

New Look top the homepage, search and shopping basket eRetail Benchmark league tables. Their vibrant homepage is littered with clear, image based navigational links (especially on mobile) making it easy for users to delve deeper into product ranges, while their accurate search facility makes it quick and simple to browse the entire New Look range.

New Look

John Lewis

+1.4%

+0%

+4%

+2%

Increase of

Multichannel Web Mobile App

88.4%

87.0%

90%

90%

91%

87%

85%

83%

Desktop, mobile & app App navigation

Leading multichannel retailer John Lewis continues to lead the digital experience sphere, and provide best practice when it comes to digital site navigation. No matter what touch point a customer uses, navigation remains the same making John Lewis’ extensive range of products simple and easy to browse – one surveyor was even able to navigate their way to the item they wanted without the need of the keyword search.

Note: multichannel scores are calculated using overall satisfaction of each digital touchpoint Source: eDigitalResearch eRetail Benchmark, rise in satisfaction, Christmas 2013-2014

Why do grocery experiences suffer online?

For a number of years, grocers have consistently scored poorly across the digital customer journey and failed to reach even the top half of the eRetail Benchmark league table.

Grocers face a difficult dilemma optimising their stores for digital shopping and browsing – with such a large and diverse product range, it seems that supermarkets are struggling to cater to online users.

Grocery homepages are often cluttered as brands try to display everything they have to offer – from the sheer volume of goods and categories they sell to any number of deals and promotions.

Supermarket brands particularly suffer when it comes to their keyword search. eRetail Benchmark surveyors found it difficult when searching for particular products, with many sites taking too long to provide often inaccurate results. While grocery brands will point to the difficulty of searching their extensive product range, pure play leader Amazon manage to make searching their site quick and simple thanks to their wide range of filter options.

Grocer product pages often lack a number of key features – such as reviews or zoom tools – and therefore score poorly with surveyors. While the general consensus may be that grocery shoppers don’t need to see multiple images of food items online, supermarkets aren’t following the standard for product pages set by others and therefore falling short of expectations.

I felt that the product descriptions weren’t very detailed and I couldn’t always zoom in to see the text on the box of the products I wanted to buy

ASDA web surveyor

First impressions are key, especially online. Switching retailers and going elsewhere in the digital world is simple and just one click away – it requires virtually no effort on the part of the consumer.

Retailers therefore need to work hard to keep users on their site and encourage them further down the path to purchase – and it all starts with the homepage.

There are often two types of online shoppers in today’s world – those who know what they are looking for and those that know they want something, they’re just not sure what and are looking for a bit of inspiration.

A great homepage needs to cater to both these types of shoppers – clear navigational links and search facilities are vital in helping users to quickly navigate their way around a site, while inspirational imagery is key in encouraging others to delve deeper.

Strong branding is also fundamental on a good homepage – brands need to clearly identify who they are and what they sell to users from the offset. Branding needs to match what shoppers see across multiple touch points - from in-store to emerging digital touch points.

Homepage

Key considerations

Does it encourage customers to continue to browse and shop? Is the website proposition clear?

What are the first impressions of the site?

eRetail Benchmark 2014/2015 average

Multichannel

82.7%

Web

87.2%

Mobile

82.5%

App

78.5%

Homepage

# Retailer Multichannel _Score Web Mob App

1 New Look 86.50% 92% 88% 80%

2 Marks and Spencer 86.00% 86% 87% 85%

3 Dorothy Perkins 85.70% 89% 86% 82% 4 Amazon 85.50% 87% 87% 83% 5 John Lewis 84.20% 90% 87% 76% 6 Debenhams 84.00% 91% 83% 78% 7 Tesco 83.30% 89% 78% 83% 8 Next 82.80% 86% 78% 85% 9 Sainsbury’s 81.60% 86% 82% 77% 10 BHS 81.10% 85% 84% 74% 11 Waitrose 81.00% 86% 73% 84% 12 ASOS 80.80% 87% 85% 71% 13 House of Fraser 79.60% 87% 80% 72% 14 ASDA 76.30% 81% 77% 72%

New Look score well for their overall first impressions, especially on their website and mobile site where they top the table. Their bright, bold and inspirational images draw site visitors in and their brand identity and proposition are clear from the offset.

I really like the layout of the homepage, it is bright and colourful and makes me feel excited to get shopping. The tabs at the top of the page make it really obvious where to go for everything and there is absolutely nothing that I dislike about it so far

New Look web surveyor

“

_“

The homepage is bright and very much indicative of New Look. The site has clear and easy links to different departments with an obvious menu, search and basket section

New Look mobile surveyor

“

“

New Look

New Look

The app loaded very well and in good time and has very clear menu options with an overall colourful homepage which looked very straightforward and easy to navigate

Next app surveyor

“

_“

In just one click, New Look takes browsers from their homepage to their product pages, making finding what users are after as simple as possible.

In comparison, it takes three simple clicks for a visitor to New Look’s mobile site to reach the brand’s product pages, starting with logical, image-led navigational links on their homepage. Their keyword search is cleverly disguised and only appears when clicked on, allowing the brand to utilise all potential space on a small mobile screen for offers and promotions. Contact details, store finders and help are all easily located at the bottom of the page – along with an additional keyword search box to save users having to scroll to the top if they haven’t found what they are looking for on the rest of the page.

As in previous waves, app first impressions continue to suffer overall. Complaints of limited branding, uninspiring images and pages that were slow to load were consistent of those retailers that performed poorly here.

However, Next’s app scored well with surveyors. Clear, strong images entice users in and their unique navigation layout visibly identifies what products and categories they offer, while the search bar at the bottom of the page makes browsing for specific items quick and easy.

In the early days of online shopping, Google set the standard high for online search and users came to retail sites expecting nothing less – it became crucial for retailers to integrate this type of technology into their sites to make searching their product range as simple as Google had made searching the entire internet.

Historically, sites offering multiple search modes have outperformed their competitors and today, offering both an accurate keyword search and clear navigational links is a central part of any digital offering.

Keyword search is now one of the highest rated areas of the digital customer journey. Brands who perform well in this area offer two vital components of search – speed and accuracy – coupled with additional features, such as predictive text and auto correction on spellings.

Multichannel

88.1%

Web

90.3%

Mobile

88.2%

App

85.9%

Search is one of the most difficult parts of the digital journey to get right, but it plays a fundamental role in creating a seamless experience.

Search

Key considerations

Does the keyword search produce accurate and relevant results? Can you filter results?

Is it clear how to find products?

eRetail Benchmark 2014/2015 average

Search

# Retailer Multichannel _Score Web Mob App

1 New Look 92.7% 93% 97% 88%

2 Next 92.1% 95% 88% 94%

3 Amazon 91.4% 94% 95% 85%

4 Marks and Spencer 91.4% 93% 92% 89% 5 John Lewis 91.2% 90% 94% 89% 6 Tesco 88.3% 89% 85% 91% 7 ASOS 88.2% 89% 91% 84% 8 Debenhams 87.8% 93% 87% 84% 9 Waitrose 87.3% 91% 80% 91% 10 ASDA 86.8% 88% 85% 88% 11 Sainsbury’s 85.2% 88% 91% 77% 12 Dorothy Perkins 84.3% 86% 83% 84% 13 BHS 84.2% 85% 87% 81% 14 House of Fraser 83.1% 91% 82% 77%

New Look offer a consistent keyword search experience across digital touch points and top the search league table.

Following an extensive development of their mobile site, New Look’s mobile keyword search score has climbed up the league table, with almost all our surveyors rating it as ‘excellent’.

Their mobile search facility now matches what they offer users on their main site, as well as being streamlined for use on the go – typos (a common occurrence when using a smaller screen) are automatically corrected while their intuitive predictive text is able to second guess what you are after. The higher keyword search rating on New Look’s mobile offering compared to their site suggests that users appreciate these finer details when looking for products on a smaller screen.

I like the keyword search. It was easy to find and also very easy to use – it provided swift and accurate results, even when I spelt something incorrectly, it was able to suggest and find what I had originally intended

New Look mobile surveyor

“

_“

The search facility was very easy to use and the results came back very quickly – there were plenty of filter options too

New Look mobile surveyor

“

“

Accuracy for keyword search is vital. Complicated search terms – such as ‘blue jumpsuit’ – on New Look’s mobile site return just that, with the ability to filter and sort based on a number of options.

New Look

Keyword search

Surveyors who rated particular brands low in this area often did so because sites were unable to offer the basic search functionality they now expected – particularly when it comes to speed and accuracy – showing just how important getting the basics right really is.

One of my searches returned nothing at all, and was very slow to do so

House of Fraser surveyor

“

“

Didn’t get exact matches to my search – I was given a best match

BHS surveyor

“

Navigation is key to encouraging users to explore sites. If the

homepage is the digital equivalent of a retailer’s shop window, then clear navigation is getting a customer through the shop door.

Navigation

Today, site navigation is still based around Amazon’s original model of a navigation bar at the top of the page. No longer a ‘nice to have’, a clear and consistent product navigation bar is essential in getting users to remain on the site exploring products – with the very real possibility that they will make a purchase.

When it comes to multichannel navigation, users expect to see the same navigational tools and features available to them across digital touch points. The first mobile shoppers wanted a site that was easy to use via their mobile with clear navigation links making browsing and shopping on the go as simple a process as possible. Many retailers were quick to realise this and the first generation of mobile sites focused heavily on navigation – with links, that were logical and consistent with a brand’s web offering, the main feature of their homepage.

Multichannel

88.6%

Web

91.1%

Mobile

87.8%

App

86.8%

Can you refine categories further to find what you need? Is it clear how to navigate the site?

Are product ranges arranged logically?

eRetail Benchmark 2014/2015 average

Navigation

# Retailer Multichannel _Score Web Mob App

1 John Lewis 92.9% 95% 93% 91%

2 New Look 92.2% 95% 94% 88%

3 Next 91.7% 94% 87% 95%

4 Marks and Spencer 91.5% 92% 92% 91%

5 Debenhams 89.0% 93% 86% 89% 6 Amazon 88.9% 93% 89% 85% 7 Waitrose 88.9% 91% 86% 89% 8 Dorothy Perkins 87.6% 91% 87% 85% 9 BHS 87.4% 91% 88% 84% 10 ASOS 87.3% 90% 91% 82% 11 ASDA 86.3% 89% 85% 86% 12 Tesco 86.1% 88% 82% 88% 13 House of Fraser 85.5% 89% 83% 85% 14 Sainsbury’s 84.7% 88% 89% 78%

Navigation has long been rated one of the highest areas of the mobile customer journey and remains so with the latest eRetail Benchmark results.

John Lewis offer all users the same consistent navigational experience across digital touch points – options, sub-categories and filters are constant across all three

digital channels. Unlike other retailers, they’ve managed to replicate their sites core navigation functionality successfully to both their mobile site and app. In fact one surveyor was able to find exactly that they were looking for on the John Lewis app through navigation alone without the use of keyword search.

Intuitive navigation, clear where to go to find what items I wanted

John Lewis mobile surveyor

“

“

The app provided a wide range of items and I could navigate my way around different

departments quickly and easily, as well as refine my search by filtering my product choices by prices, rating, popularity etc.

John Lewis app surveyor

“

“

John Lewis

Consistent navigational links

New Look also scored highly for their navigation features – although were unable to replicate the same experience across all three of their digital channels. However, navigating from one department to another – especially on their website and mobile site – is easy. Promotional items on New Look’s homepage take users straight

through to the product categories advertised - and quickly - while navigation tabs for various trends provide those users looking for some inspiration products to browse immediately.

The site is well organised in a very logical manner – I really like that you can search for a certain look or by collection as well by category making this a good site to browse

New Look web surveyor

“

“

New Look

Product pages need to fill customers with confidence that once they do decide to buy, they are buying a great product that lives up to the expectations set by an items product page.

Since the inception of online shopping, the core fundamentals of product pages have remained relatively the same. At a very minimum, product pages should (and for the long-run, mostly have) included:

• clear product information and pricing

• good, clear, vibrant images with the ability to zoom in and see the detail

• stock availability

• clear purchasing instructions • delivery timescales and pricing

However, despite the inclusion of these features (for the most part – there were even sites as late as 2002 who had ‘no image available’ for products), some shoppers still weren’t convinced by the information on show. To combat this, retailers started to call upon their own

Multichannel

82.2%

Web

86.6%

Mobile

81.1%

App

78.9%

Is product information clear and detailed?

Are there tools available such as alternative images to see product detail? Is there enough information to buy from the page?

Product pages are an important step in the digital customer journey. The decision whether to make a purchase is often influenced by the information made available at this point.

Product pages

eRetail Benchmark 2014/2015 average

Product pages

# Retailer Multichannel _Score Web Mob App

1 Marks and Spencer 89.5% 88% 90% 91%

2 John Lewis 89.2% 90% 93% 85% 3 Amazon 88.1% 91% 90% 84% 4 Debenhams 86.2% 89% 83% 86% 5 Next 85.1% 87% 82% 86% 6 New Look 84.9% 90% 82% 83% 7 Dorothy Perkins 84.1% 88% 83% 81% 8 House of Fraser 83.2% 83% 84% 82% 9 ASOS 81.4% 91% 80% 73% 10 BHS 80.7% 85% 84% 74% 11 Waitrose 80.1% 82% 76% 82% 12 Tesco 74.8% 86% 71% 67% 13 ASDA 72.6% 84% 67% 67% 14 Sainsbury’s 71.0% 79% 71% 64%

Marks and Spencer’s product pages score well with online surveyors – particularly those using mobile devices. Their extensive range of reviews across almost all of their products allows customers to shop with confidence.

For fashion retailers, conveying sizing and fit has often been one of the biggest

barriers to selling online. Marks and Spencer’s ‘How does it fit’ review feature means that potential customers can now better assess what size to buy – as well as lower the retailer’s return rates. All reviewers of clothing and footwear are asked how well the item fitted when it arrived – was it too big, too small, or actually is it true to size? – as well as how they rate the quality, value for money and style.

Marks & Spencer

Product page

Marks & Spencer

The site had several very good quality product images with a zoom function. I really liked the customer product reviews on offer and the fact that I was informed of relevant special offers

Marks and Spencer mobile surveyor

“

_“

A lot of relevant customer product reviews and good photos

Marks and Spencer mobile surveyor

“

“

Amazon’s product pages received top marks from surveyors. Amazon have long led the field when it comes to basic digital functionality and championed user-generated content with the introduction of extensive customer reviews. Amazon’s star rating review system is at the core of their product page success – people trust that what they are reading is fair and correct, especially when combined with their typically in-depth product descriptions.

The product pages are generally excellent with clear, detailed descriptions, good images and a wide range of user feedback – including feedback which is both good and bad as you get a real feeling for what you are buying

Amazon web surveyor

“

By about mid-2002, the benchmark revealed that traditional retailers (like John Lewis or Argos) had caught up with pure play retailers when it came to shopping basket functionality. A standard had been set – a standard which is relatively still upheld today.

A good digital shopping basket should include the following features: • descriptions and images of chosen products

• ability to add, delete or amend items

• clear navigation back to product pages to continue shopping • ability to save and return to products in the future – often

labelled as a wish list

• clear delivery pricing and information

Multichannel

82.9%

Web

87.4%

Mobile

81.5%

App

79.6%

Are delivery options and timescales clear?

Is it easy to add or remove items from the basket? Is it clear what items are in the basket?

The shopping basket is the penultimate digital stage in making a

purchase – shoppers have taken a significant step in committing to buy and retailers need to do all they can to encourage users to proceed.

Shopping Basket

eRetail Benchmark 2014/2015 average

Shopping basket

# Retailer Multichannel _Score Web Mob App

1 New Look 88.4% 91% 91% 84%

2 John Lewis 86.5% 89% 88% 82%

3 Marks and Spencer 85.4% 88% 81% 88%

4 Next 85.3% 85% 82% 88% 5 Amazon 84.8% 87% 83% 84% 6 Debenhams 84.4% 91% 83% 80% 7 House of Fraser 82.7% 87% 82% 79% 8 ASOS 82.0% 90% 86% 69% 9 Tesco 81.2% 87% 74% 82% 10 Sainsbury’s 80.7% 84% 86% 73% 11 ASDA 80.7% 86% 75% 80% 12 Dorothy Perkins 80.2% 85% 83% 73% 13 BHS 79.2% 85% 83% 70% 14 Waitrose 78.5% 88% 65% 82%

New Look’s shopping basket scores very well – especially with web and mobile

surveyors. Both sites make it clear when an item is added to the shopping basket with easy-to-follow links back to product pages or the checkout area, as well as detailed delivery information.

The shopping basket itself contains all the information it needs to - product descriptions and images are clear and it’s obvious how to add or delete items if necessary.

The shopping basket was really easy to use – I was able to make changes and it was clear exactly what I was buying, when I could expect delivery and how much it would cost

New Look mobile surveyor

“

_“

New Look

However, what surveyors really liked was New Look’s proactive attempts at

communicating delivery information. Details within the shopping basket itself notifies users if delivery to some areas is currently delayed – a particularly useful feature in the busy run-up to Christmas.

Users also rated the John Lewis shopping basket high, thanks to the retailers focus on security. Simple touches, like their ‘Continue securely’ link to checkout, reassured customers, along with prominent padlock symbols in the address bar. They make it easy for users to return to product pages, add or amend items and include delivery information and detailed stock availability.

I really liked the fact it mentioned about current delivery times being slightly longer – setting my expectation

New Look mobile surveyor

“

“

The shopping basket was very good, delivery price and timescales are clearly shown and it’s obvious that it’s secure. The is one of the best shopping baskets I have used

“

_“

Security has become an important part of purchasing online. Towards the beginning of eRetail consumers soon learned the new language of online security – URLs beginning with https, Verisign logos and padlock symbols were all introduced to help assure customers and guarantee that their details (and money) were safe.

As time went on retailers were quick to integrate registration forms into their checkouts to make future purchases quick and simple – delivery and card details could be saved for next time a customer shopped. Any feature that could potentially help speed up the online shopping journey had a positive impact on customer satisfaction. However, with the introduction of the first mobile sites, retailers failed to realise the frustration that sometimes lengthy registration processes would cause. When many brands launched their mobile

offerings, they continued to force new customers to register with their site - often irritating users by asking for information that just wasn’t necessary (such as creating a secure password of so many digits that contained at least one special character – not that easy on a small mobile device). Today, many retailers have listened to customers, realising that this strategy was

over-complicating the shopping process and slowing customers down. Guest checkouts are popping up

Multichannel

83.7%

Web

84.5%

Key considerations

Do you receive a confirmation of your order?

Is it secure?

Are instructions through the checkout clear and straightforward?

The checkout area of the online customer journey is perhaps the most important, yet customers still abandon their purchases at this stage, mainly because of poor functionality and a bad customer experience.

Purchase

eRetail Benchmark 2014/2015 average (web assessment only)

Source: eDigitalResearch eRetail Benchmark, 2014/2015

Purchase

# Retailer Multichannel _Score

1 Tesco 90.3% 2 Waitrose 88.9% 3 New Look 87.8% 4 John Lewis 87.2% 5 Sainsbury’s 86.9% 6 Amazon 86.1% 7 ASOS 82.8% 8 Next 82.5% 9 BHS 82.2%

10 Marks and Spencer 81.4%

11 ASDA 80.8%

12 House of Fraser 80.8%

13 Debenhams 79.8%

Supermarket brands Tesco and Waitrose top the league table when it comes to

completing a purchase, mainly thanks to the extensive delivery options that they offer their customers. Visitors to both sites are able to pre-select their delivery dates and times, as well as opt for in-store collection.

For many grocery sites, this is the norm. When supermarkets started selling online, they faced a logistical nightmare and opted for customers to pick their delivery slot to ensure that someone would be available to receive the perishable goods. However, as more and more consumers shop online they are starting to expect the same specific delivery options across various product ranges. While the introduction of mobile has served to increase the functionality and capacity of overall digital experiences, many retailers are still relying on the same logistics processes of old. Instead, consumers want instant gratification across the customer journey – including the delivery of their products. Supermarkets have set expectations high here – traditional retailers would do well to look to their grocer counterparts to understand how and where to improve.

The John Lewis checkout process also scored well with surveyors. John Lewis have flipped the registration process on its head and ask users after they’ve completed a purchase if they want to save their details for future use. By asking users this way, the registration process seems like the helpful feature it was originally designed to be and not a barrier to purchasing. John Lewis also display their customer service telephone number prominently at the top of the shopping basket page should a customer have a query or need any help.

I could book a delivery slot for the next day – as well as reserve a slot I wanted for busy Christmas and New Year periods. I received the order confirmation immediately and it was clear how to amend my order if needs be

Waitrose web surveyor

“

_“

The checkout process was extremely easy to use. It required only a few clicks to proceed to the end and gave purchase warnings and site security throughout

“

“

Very easy. I liked being able to select a very specific delivery slot to suit my busy schedule

Tesco web surveyor

“

Conclusion

The digital revolution shows no signs of slowing down – and with

new innovations just around the corner, such as iBeacons and

wearable technology, consumer use and confidence with digital

channels is only going to grow.

It also means that retailer investment in digital technology will also continue at apace. As more and more shoppers turn online and to new technology to fulfil their shopping and browsing needs, retailers across the globe will begin to plough more and more resource into their digital channels until eventually, all digital customer experiences will be on a par with one another (we’re already seeing minimal

differences amongst today’s leaders of the digital experience field) as more brands move to responsive sites.

With that in mind, service and fulfilment will become vital if retailers want to make their brand stand out from the competition. Getting the digital basics right is key, but the whole brand experience falls apart if retailers are unable to replicate that level of service across their entire customer journey.

Customer contact will become fundamental to the future success of retailers. With more consumers switching to digital channels to browse and buy, it’s likely that demand on customer contact channels will grow. But at the moment, too many retailers are failing to deliver a seamless customer contact experience.

Of all customer journey points measured, customer contact has continuously been one of the poorest performing areas of the eRetail Benchmark. Today, retailers are still failing to live up to consumer expectations – telephone and email customer contact score an average of just 78% and 77% respectively in the latest results, with consumers increasingly taking to social media looking for a quick response. With competition in the digital marketplace being continually squeezed, an excellent customer service experience is just one way to set brands apart from the ever-growing online retail sphere.

Customer contact

# Retailer Telephone Email Customer contact

1 John Lewis 86.3% 88.3% 87.3%

2 Marks and Spencer 86.9% 87.3% 87.1%

3 New Look 88.8% 79.9% 84.3% 4 House of Fraser 87.9% 80.4% 84.1% 5 Sainsbury’s 84.8% 82.2% 83.5% 6 Amazon 80.4% 85.6% 83.0% 7 Tesco 88.4% 77.2% 82.8% 8 Next 88.3% 77.3% 82.8% 9 Dorothy Perkins 82.1% 79.4% 80.7% 10 Waitrose 83.1% 77.0% 80.1% 11 BHS 80.0% 70.5% 75.3% 12 Debenhams 78.0% 65.0% 71.5% 13 ASDA 80.1% 60.9% 70.5% 14 ASOS 0.0% 70.7% 35.4%

Source: eDigitalResearch eRetail Benchmark, 2014/2015

Another area where retailers are able to differentiate themselves from the competition is through their fulfilment and logistics processes. It’s been well

documented in recent months the many failings of retailers to deliver online orders as promised. The overwhelming consumer response to 2014’s Black Friday sales saw a number of UK retailers underprepared – with deliveries even suspended in some cases to help those affected cope with the unprecedented number of orders. Too often, brands are still relying on the old ‘back-end’ systems of years gone by.

As Mark Lewis, Online Director of John Lewis*, explains, “Supply chain is the unsung hero of ecommerce.

“We’ve been able to take a business that not that long ago was only able to deliver product in bulk to a small number of locations for store replenishment, into a business that does that very well but also delivers products individually picked, individually wrapped, packed and sent to the individual customers in their home or to a collection point.

“Customers are telling us that convenience is really important to them and we see that they respond really well when we offer increased convenience”.

Getting the digital customer experience right is now key – a brilliant basic if you like. Fail at this hurdle and a good customer service experience means nothing. Get it right though, and good customer service means everything – truly ‘wowing’ customers at each and every stage of the customer journey is perhaps the only way in providing a fantastic overall customer experience.

*Internet Retailing, November 2014

Emerging trends

Benchmarking the digital arena for such a considerable timeframe makes identifying emerging trends within the retail sphere easier – we’re able to keep a finger on the pulse of consumer behaviour and advising the industry as to what consumers like (and perhaps more importantly), what they don’t.

Responsive design

The uptake of responsive design by retailers means that mobile sites are improving. When retailers were taking their first tentative steps into the mCommerce market, many decided to do so with a mobile optimised site.

As smartphone penetration has grown in the UK, mobile channels have become increasingly important. These days, with just as much web traffic generated from mobile devices as desktop, brands are moving towards more responsive web design built around their mobile customers – mobile first if you will. Instead of updating content for two separate sites, retailers are now able to manage both their mobile and web experience through one central account. It means that everything – from offers and deals to product pages – are consistent at all times. For perhaps the first time, retailers are now able to offer a truly seamless digital customer experience.

With the uptake of responsive design set to increase, we believe that web and mobile satisfaction will become more aligned with one another. In fact, we’re likely to see the day soon when the mobile customer experience outstrips it’s more established web counterpart.

Personalisation

Never before have brands known so much about their customers – from feedback and reviews to advanced digital analytics. Brands can (and should) be optimising their digital experience to each and every one of their customers.

Personalisation will become key. Amazon have been ahead of the curve in this arena for a number of years now, offering customers recommendations based on site browsing history, along with the introduction of their one click purchase – where Amazon mobile channels are able to store preferred payment and delivery options. But this is just the beginning. Spurred on by the innovation of developments such as Beacon technology, the opportunity now exists for retailers to personalise everything – from deals and offers to advertising. Too often, consumers are still bombarded with blanket marketing messages, or sent special offers to products which they’ve shown no previous interest in. Instead, with so much customer data at retailer’s fingertips, brands will start to offer users a shopping journey designed around their needs and preferences – personalisation is now vital.

Delivery

For too long, retailers have been relying on their old logistics processes – processes that were put into place at the very beginning of the dotcom boom. Processes that are now under increased strain from the growing number of online orders and demand. Existing processes just don’t fit with the instant gratification that consumers now expect – they want what they want, when they want it.

But delivery is perhaps the one area where the majority of future developments lie. Innovations, such as 3D printing and drone deliveries, have the ability to revolutionise the delivery experience.

Whether either come to fruition is yet to be seen. One thing is for sure though, at eDigitalResearch we will continue to monitor and measure the changing end-to-end digital customer experience – from first impressions right through to delivery and

About eDigitalResearch

eDigitalResearch was established in 1999 to help organisations assess and improve their customer experience. Today, we’ve grown to become the leading provider of digital Voice of the Customer solutions, offering a flexible and innovative toolset that can be used to gain feedback from customers across all channels.

Our proprietary SaaS technology and insight platform adapts to your needs and business model, empowering you to make critical business decisions in the

moments that matter – from marketing and customer service to product range and multichannel usability – in fact, any part of the customer experience.

Listen… Interpret… Delight

Focused insight

SaaS driven

technology

Thought leadership

At eDigitalResearch, we’re passionate about the customer experience. Not only will we help you to listen to your customers, interpret what they are saying and use that data to delight your customers – but we’ll also listen to your business needs, interpret the best solution for you and delight you with our renowned account management to ensure that your customer experience really is the very best it can be.

Our focus on actionable insight means that our clients are able to make a real difference to their customer experience. We’re not just focused on measurement, we’re

focused on outcomes. All technology we use

is our own – it means that we’re able to build a tailored and bespoke

customer insight programme that will truly empower you to make important business

decisions.

Our knowledge of the consumer is unrivalled. Having benchmarked and

tracked the developing online market since its infancy in 1999, we truly

understand the digital landscape and subsequent

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