Majority of Brands Knowingly Failing Their Online Customers With Sub-Standard User Experience

LONDON, February 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

A recent WhatUsersDo global research survey has found that a majority of brands are knowingly failing their online customers.

In the User Experience Survey Report, published by Econsultancy in partnership with WhatUsersDo, over 60% of brand owners freely admitted they offered their online users only an average or below-average digital experience.

Although aware of the benefits of placing customer experience central to their digital marketing strategies, only 18% of brands surveyed admitted to being "seriously" committed to delivering the best possible online user experience (UX).

This level of commitment may not seem overwhelming but it is still an encouraging sign for the whole field of UX, and especially for consumers who have been faced with unnecessarily difficult-to-use sites, apps or QR codes on mobiles, tablets or desktops. The findings might indicate that although brands accept the conversion benefits of improving user experience it is still not perceived as an "absolute necessity" for keeping ahead of competitors and the ever-evolving needs of the consumer.

There is no doubt that in a multichannel sales environment, customers now expect a seamless customer journey regardless of whether they interact with brands via their digital channels such as mobile, social media or more traditional methods such as phone or in-store.

With this in mind, it was still a surprise to see that only 7% of respondents believed they offered highly consistent user experience across digital channels with 37% rating their current user experience as good or excellent.

Lee Duddell, Head of User Experience and Founder of user testing company WhatUsersDo, said: "The digital landscape is changing faster than it ever has and is becoming more complex. Companies are grappling with not only how they can improve user experience, but how they find the budget, get board buy-in, embed it into their processes and prove the ROI."

Although companies say they are committed to the best possible user experience, many are failing to test their web properties systematically and are reliant on hunches.

When asked about what informed their decisions to make user experience enhancements, the most commonly cited factors were customer feedback (75%), data driven from web stats package (67%) and 'own hunches and instinct' (62%).  

About WhatUsersDo

Founded three years ago by Head of UX, Lee Duddell, WhatUsersDo is an online User Experience Testing Service. WhatUsersDo is for ecommerce, marketing, customer insight and digital people who want to bring change to how they make digital decisions. We help you remove your hunches and act with greater confidence through user driven actionable proof. Join us in shaking off your internal focus with greater "user centric" insight. We urge you to improve your digital assets with our "why" based analysis and insight that compliments your existing "what" based analytics.

Get this report or for more information about this report, contact:

Joseline Macdonald, Marketing Manager, WhatUsersDo, Joseline AT whatusersdo.com, +44(0)20-7036-1954, Web: http://www.whatusersdo.com

Or

Andrew Warren-Payne, Senior Research Analyst, Econsultancy, andrew.warren-payne AT econsultancy.com

SOURCE WhatUsersDo