High-tech companies generally do a good job of treating customers well online, but many still fail to adequately guard personal data, according to a new customer-respect study of computer products and services companies.
For its "Fourth Quarter 2004 Online Customer Respect Study," which was released Monday, The Customer Respect Group Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., reviewed the Web sites of 63 of the largest computer products and services firms in the U.S.
Overall, eBay Inc. scored highest among computer and data services companies, while Equifax Inc. scored lowest. Lexmark International Inc. topped the computer peripherals list, while Symbol Technologies Inc. fared worst.
Microsoft Corp. did best among computer software companies (and overall), while Siebel Systems Inc. scored lowest in that category. Hewlett-Packard Co. scored highest among computer and office equipment suppliers, while NCR Corp. scored lowest. And Avnet Inc. topped the electronics and office equipment wholesalers list, while Brightpoint Inc. came in last.
The study measured corporate performance from an online customer"s perspective. It assigns a Customer Respect Index rating to each company on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest achievable score.
"The fact is that there is quite a good result in the area of transparency and privacy in some sectors of the market," said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group.
"There is quite an interesting divide between the companies that see the Web as strong revenue or cost-reduction mechanism, such as the HPs, the Microsofts, the Symantecs, the Gateways -- the leading consumer-type brands, which have really done a good job on their transparency and on the privacy aspect.
"They have spent a lot of time thinking about the online experience of the customer and trying to drive people to the Web -- for example Dell, which had a good score," he said. "The Web is fundamental to the business, and it"s something they"ve focused the whole business around, as has Microsoft and HP.
"At the other end of our table, (there are) companies that are not getting it," Golesworthy said.
Those companies at the lower end of the spectrum aren"t doing a tremendous amount of their business on the Web. "The takeaway is the trust issue is becoming very critical," he said. "Certain companies that have taken on board the whole customer experience ... they"ve seen that customers buy from people they trust."
Golesworthy said there"s a large gap between the top and bottom companies in the area of responsiveness. "People like Microsoft, HP, Gateway, are responding very well to their customers and to their Web businesses," he said. "But on the other end of the spectrum, I think 13 of the companies really didn"t respond to anything. They didn"t deal with their customers at all.
"It"s unacceptable in any industry not to respond, but (even more so) in the computer industry," Golesworthy said.
However, when it comes to customers" personal data, some companies are still sharing some data, although they do so less in this industry than in others, he said.
The Customer Respect Group interviewed a representative sample of the adult Internet population and analyzed more than 1,000 Web sites across a spectrum of industries to determine the attributes that create an online customer experience.
These attributes include Web site simplicity (ease of navigation), responsiveness to inquiries, respect for customer privacy, attitude (the customer focus of a site), transparency (open and honest policies) and principles (value and respect for customer data). Combined, those issues are used to measure a company"s overall Customer Respect Index rating.