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BELLEVUE, WA - US-based logistics service providers could greatly increase their business by being more responsive to customer inquiries, according to the results of the Summer 2003 Online Customer Respect Study compiled by The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online.

The critical study of the country's transportation, distribution and logistics firms concluded that more than 30 of the 100 logistics companies appraised don't even respond to inquiries made through their websites.
 
By looking at more than 1000 Web sites across a spectrum of industries in detail, The Customer Respect Group has determined 25 different attributes that combine to create the entire online customer experience.
 
The attributes were grouped together and were measured as indicators of privacy (respects customer privacy); principles (values and respects customer data); attitude (customer-focus of site); transparency (open and honest policies); simplicity (ease of navigation); and responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries).

Combined they measure a company's overall customer respect.
 
While some 32% of the companies studied don't respond to online inquiries, of those that do respond, 41% do so within 48 hours, 6% respond within 72 hours and 53%  respond after 72 hours.
Only 12% of these "sector" firms use so-called auto-responder technology, in which emails are automatically sent back to users to confirm the receipt of their inquiry and let them know when they should expect a response. Of these, 67% followed with a full response.

In addition, some 41% of the companies provide email forms for online inquiries, while 52% provide email addresses, and only 7% provide only offline contact information such as telephone numbers or postal addresses.
 
Only 26% provide a keyword search function on their site and 67% of sector firms have privacy policies on their sites explaining how customers' personal data is being used; 33% use cookies, but 30% of these don't explain how they can be disabled.
 
The US Postal Service ranked No. 1 in the survey, followed in order by FedEx, J.B. Hunt Transportation, Ryder System, The Pittston Company; Yellow Corp.; Amerco; Alexander & Baldwin; C.H. Robinson & Company; and UPS. 

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