2002 Online Customer Respect Study Finds 37 Percent of Fortune 100 Offer No Reply to General Inquiries Submitted to Their Web Sites.

Business/Technology Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2002

CustomerRespect.com Concludes: Many Fortune 100 Don't Take Their

Internet Presence Seriously

CustomerRespect.com, a division of International Ventures Research, today released its 2002 Online Customer Respect Study of Fortune 100 Companies, the first such report to bring objective measure and science to the analysis of the performance of companies from an online customer's perspective. The report assigns a Customer Respect Index to each company. The Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet.

Among the findings of the study is that the Internet is not yet viewed seriously by many Fortune 100 companies. The report's author, Donal Daly, posits that some companies that have spent significant funds on developing their Web presence may view it as a necessary evil rather than an opportunity to deepen relationships with existing customers or embrace a new generation of potential customers.

On the positive side, the report notes that the online experience created for customers by some companies is excellent and shows a real deep grasp of the issues that attract online customers.

(See today's related announcement, "Freddie Mac Most, Ingram Micro Least Customer-Respectful Web Sites Among Fortune 100, According to 2002 Online Customer Respect Study.")

The 430-page report defines benchmarks for the attributes of customer respect that a company can exhibit through its Web presence. By looking at more than 100 Web sites in detail it determined 25 different attributes that combine to create the entire online customer experience. These attributes have been grouped together and measured as indicators of Privacy (respects customer privacy), Principles (values and respects customer data), Attitude (`body language' of site), Transparency (open and honest policies), Simplicity (customer-focused usable site), and Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries).

Responsiveness Lowest Ranked Attribute

While the average overall Customer Respect Index score for Fortune 100 companies is 6.5 (out of 10), the average Responsiveness Index score is only 4.8. On the positive side, some 9% of the companies featured in the report achieved perfect scores for responsiveness, with 41 companies replying to inquiries within 48 hours. The Insurance sector was the most responsive with every company offering a response and 67% responding within two working days. Drug companies were the poorest. Only two companies from this sector, Cardinal Health and Johnson and Johnson, provided a response.

According to Daly, CustomerRespect.com CEO, "It is evident that many companies have made significant investments in the development and maintenance of their Web sites. Yet, many are not using technology well to cultivate customer relationships and generate a return on their Web site investment."

In fact, the report found that 37 percent of Fortune 100 companies offered no reply to a general inquiry submitted to their Web site, despite offering either an online form or email contact details for inquiries. Some companies sent an auto-responder, but then failed to follow up with a full response.

One such company was Ford. Having invested heavily in a sophisticated automated system, the company failed to provide any further response to a general inquiry about the location of its European headquarters, despite guaranteeing a reply within 48 hours. By contrast General Motors provided an auto-response within hours, followed by a full reply within a working day.

"For many years B.E. (Before Enron), many companies lost sight of the core asset at the center of their business - the customer," said Daly. "The principles that business leaders need to adopt if they are to re-earn the trust of the public and reassert the fundamentals of good business can be encapsulated in one word - respect - for customers, investors and employees. This study is about customer respect as evidenced by a company's Web presence."

The report notes that the Internet continues to grow as a valid and valuable customer channel for a certain segment of every company's market. Whether a company's offline practices are better than its online practices are irrelevant to those customers whose primary communications interface is online. A company's Web presence needs to stand on its own merits.

Daly argues that to be successful long-term, organizations must pay more attention to these online visitors. "Customers whose predilection is toward Internet usage are likely to have a greater lifetime value to an organization because they are younger. Fortune 100 firms should live by this motto: Get them early and build brand loyalty."

Other Findings

Other overall report findings include:

-- 45% of sites force customers to opt out if they don't wish to

receive unsolicited emails from them.

-- 15% of sites sell customer data without seeking permission to

do so.

-- 83% of sites offer no auto-response function to notify

customers that their communication has been received and will

be acted upon.

How to Order

The Online Customer Respect Study of Fortune 100 Companies offers actionable items for each company covered and guidelines for competitors. It is available on a subscription basis for $10,000/ year. In addition to including a primary report (see below for description), the 2003 subscription will also include biannual industry sector-specific reports (for all Fortune 500 firms), biannual confidential company reports and best practices updates. Companies can alternatively select the once-a-year primary report. The 2002 version is available for $3,750. It includes a complete report on key research findings, a score card on each company in the study, a comprehensive description of the scientific research methodology, data analysis, individual scores, index reports on each industry and hundreds of color charts and graphs to illustrate individual and industry performance. Significant discounts are available for purchases by Nov. 15, 2002. Interested parties may contact the Web site (www.CustomerRespect.com) or the report's author at [e-mail] for more information.

About International Ventures Research and CustomerRespect.com

International Ventures (www.myiv.com) provides experienced-based strategic consulting services for high-technology companies supplemented by tactical implementation support. The founders of International Ventures have a combined 30 years' experience of growing successful international high-technology companies in the U.S. Canada, Europe and Asia. CustomerRespect.com (www.CustomerRespect.com), a division of International Ventures, is a Web-focused research firm headed by Donal Daly, author of Customer Respect, How to Build a Business Online. He is a serial entrepreneur and marketing expert now on his fourth successful enterprise. Daly has been involved in human factors interface design since the mid 1980s and has led user interface design teams on multiple software products in use in more than 500,000 locations around the world. Based in Ireland, Daly is a member of the European Executive Council, a forum for European business leaders. He is honorary lifetime member of the marketing institute of Ireland. In addition to being CEO of CustomerRespect.com, he is also executive chairman of International Ventures, chairman of an enterprise marketing automation company and sits on the board of several companies.

All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Note to Editors: Graphics files for key findings are available from [e-mail] or at www.CustomerRespect.com. A comprehensive report summary is available from [e-mail].