Three percent cited blogs, while two percent named both shopping comparison websites and product review websites.
The survey of more than 10,000 online shoppers was part of its annual E-Retail Satisfaction Index.
Asked how they preferred to hear about sales and promotions from retailers, social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) also came in low, with only eight percent preferring this method of communication. First was promotional e-mails (64 percent), followed by postal mail (25 percent), the company's website (21 percent), and TV (11 percent). Ten percent "don't want communications" with retailers. Scoring even lower than social media was mobile phone text messages or alerts (5 percent) and radio (3 percent).
Though only eight percent said social media was their preferred way to hear from retailers, more than half seem to be willing to connect with retailers in some way on social media. When asked which social media site would be their first choice, 40 percent chose Facebook, followed by Twitter (4 percent), LinkedIn, MySpace, and "another website not listed"(all at 2 percent), and Flickr (1 percent). Still, forty seven percent ranked "none" as the first choice of communications via social media.
More encouraging for social media, when asked to rate the Facebook presence of the Top 40 retailers (by sales volume), the average score was 80. That's higher than the average rating of 78 given to those retailers' websites and also well above the rating of 64 given to Facebook itself.
"This is a bit confusing, but basically, people are more satisfied with retailers' Facebook pages than they are with the retail websites themselves or with Facebook itself," wrote Mr. Freed. "This information could mean that while Facebook stumbles as a website, it provides retailers with a valuable customer touchpoint that can actually be very satisfying."
Mr. Freed concluded that the retail industry "shouldn't give short shrift to tried-and-true online marketing tactics in favor of newer media." Indeed, he said "serious thought" should be taken to see if social media is worth the investment.
"If the answer is yes, they need to make the most of it by making sure that interactions on social media meet the needs and expectations of customers. Otherwise, the effort is wasted and could even be detrimental to the business," he said.