Sorry to start the week with bad news, but this one is important. A recent survey found that email response rates among online companies leave a lot to be desired, and that gives all of us a bad name.
Of the 227 U.S. companies that were surveyed by Jupiter Research in August, only 38% responded to customer email within 6 hours, and almost a quarter
(23%) of the companies took three days or longer, or didn't respond at all.
Overall, of course, this is an improvement. In December 2001, only 22% responded within 6 hours and a whopping 46% took
three days or longer, or didn't respond at all.
Some industries were more response-capable than others, according to Jupiter. The travel industry showed the most progress, raising the email
response capability rate to 50% in August 2002 from 21% in December 2001 (no wonder they’re doing so well compared to everyone else in this market.)
Also, 65% of music sites passed the response
test this time around, as opposed to 50% last December, while health (39%,) retail (28%), finance (33%) and consumer package goods (21%) sites didn’t fare quite as well.
The auto industry, Jupiter
found, actually decreased their interest in responding to their customers – 26% responded to email in August 2002, down from December 2001's figure of 31%.