Retail Customer Experience: Four Out of Five Frustrated with Mobile Experience
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Retail Customer Experience, a daily news portal devoted to helping retailers differentiate the shopping experience.
According to a survey conducted online by Harris Interactive, more than four in five (84 percent) consumers who have conducted a mobile transaction via smartphone or other mobile device in the past year have experienced problems.
According
to the survey commissioned by Tealeaf, of those who struggled while conducting
a transaction via their mobile devices:
- 34 percent received an error message;
- 29 percent said the app/website was difficult to navigate;
- 25 percent were unable to complete a transaction due to an endless loop;
- 23 percent had trouble logging in;
- 16 percent said they encountered insufficient, incorrect, or confusing
information.
Just how frustrating are customer struggles on a mobile device? The survey found that more adults would be extremely or very frustrated by experiencing a transaction problem on a mobile device (58 percent) than by going to the division of motor vehicles (50 percent) or being stuck in traffic (56 percent).
If they experienced
problems attempting to conduct mobile transactions, many consumers would abandon
their transactions and take their business elsewhere:
- 43 percent would abandon the mobile transaction and try later on a computer;
- 16 percent would become more likely to buy from a competitor;
- 14 percent would email or log a complaint with customer service;
- 12 percent would abandon the transaction at the app/site and try a competitor's
app/site.
Most importantly, customer struggles on a mobile device would drive consumers away from doing business with a company entirely. Sixty-three percent of all online adults said they would be less likely to buy from the same company via other purchase channels if they experienced a problem conducting a transaction on their mobile phones.
At the same time, expectations for the mobile shopping experience are very high. Eighty percent expect the mobile shopping experience to be better than or equal to in-store and 85 percent expect the experience to be better than or equal to online using a laptop or desktop computer.
"Everyone talks about the momentum in the mobile channel and customers continue to show an increasing appetite for moving transactions to these devices," said Rebecca Ward, CEO of Tealeaf. "However, mobile consumers find the convenience of transacting anywhere is often offset by unsatisfying and unproductive experiences. Just because we can pay our bills from our smartphones while riding the subway doesn't mean our expectations are reduced. Mobile consumers are no more willing to tolerate poor experiences than customers accessing websites from their desktops."