Freddie Mac Most, Ingram Micro Least Customer-Respectful Web Sites Among Fortune 100, According to 2002 Online Customer Respect Study.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2002 CustomerRespect.com Report First to Analyze, Rank Fortune 100 Web Sites Based on Objective Measures CustomerRespect.com, a division of International Ventures Research, today released the results of its 2002 study of Fortune 100 companies, in which Freddie Mac's Web site scored the highest (9.3 out of 10) and Ingram Micro's scored the lowest (3.1 out of 10) on its Customer Respect index. 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 Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the . The firm's 2002 Online Customer Respect Study of Fortune 100 Companies is the first report to bring objective measure and science to the analysis of online interaction performances of companies from their customers' perspective. Customer respect, as defined by this report, measures an organization's treatment of the individuals with whom it interacts. In this instance, it is solely the companies' online performance that is being measured. (See today's related announcement: "2002 Online Customer Respect Study Finds 37 Percent of Fortune 100 Offer No Reply to General Inquiries Submitted to Their Web Sites.") The research was conducted between May and August 2002. Having established the factors to be considered to measure online customer respect, 99 of the Web sites of the then current Fortune 100 companies were examined. This study was conducted subsequent to the developments at Enron Enron A U.S. energy-trading and utilities company that housed one of the biggest accounting frauds in history. Enron's executives employed accounting practices that falsely inflated the company's revenues, which, at the height of the scandal, made the firm become the seventh , which has since been excluded from the study. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the report's author, CustomerRespect.com's CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Donal Daly, "The primary goal of measuring online customer respect is to create and maintain a referenceable body of research that measures how a company treats its customers online. In creating this report, we first determined those factors that are measurable and that portray por·tray tr.v. por·trayed, por·tray·ing, por·trays 1. To depict or represent pictorially; make a picture of. 2. To depict or describe in words. 3. To represent dramatically, as on the stage. a company's attitude towards the customers it reaches through the Internet. This is critical, since pricing and feature sets are meaningless if consumers don't get a modicum mod·i·cum n. pl. mod·i·cums or mod·i·ca A small, moderate, or token amount: "England still expects a modicum of eccentricity in its artists" Ian Jack. of respect from companies." The 430-page study 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 (1) The quality of being able to see through a material. The terms transparency and translucency are often used synonymously; however, transparent would technically mean "seeing through clear glass," while translucent would mean "seeing through frosted glass." See alpha blending. (open and honest policies), Simplicity (customer-focused usable USable is a special idea contest to transfer US American ideas into practice in Germany. USable is initiated by the German Körber-Stiftung (foundation Körber). It is doted with 150,000 Euro and awarded every two years. site), and Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries). These indicators were selected because they mirror offline respect guidelines guidelines, n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. , in aggregate they comprehensively measure a company's stance on respecting its customers, and because they are understandable and identifiable as critical guiding principles. These principles, when not appropriately put into practice, create great frustration for the customer and cause damage to the company. Each element contributes to the customer experience and overall they combine to generate an environment of customer respect. Attribute Rankings Best and worst performers by attributes include: -- Privacy: Best: (tied) Lowe's and Compaq Computer; Worst: American Electric Power. -- Transparency: Best: (tied) Verizon Communications, Merrill Lynch, Dell Computer, Freddie Mac, Du Pont, Walgreen, AT&T, CVS, State Farm Insurance, McKesson, Johnson & Johnson, Prudential Financial, Walt Disney, Motorola, Dow Chemical; Worst: (tied) Alcoa and American Electric Power. -- Principles: Best: (tied) Merrill Lynch, Prudential Financial and Lowe's; Worst: J.P. Morgan Chase -- Responsiveness: Best: (tied) Freddie Mac, Costco Wholesale, Allstate, Verizon Communications, Wal-Mart Stores, Safeway, General Motors, Wachovia Corp. and Morgan Stanley; Worst: (tied) PG&E Corp. and Ford Motor. -- Simplicity: Best: (tied) Intel, IBM, J.C. Penney and ConAgra; Worst: PepsiCo. -- Attitude: Best: (tied) Costco Wholesale, Hewlett-Packard, Wal-Mart Stores and Conoco; Worst: (tied) Electronic Data Systems, AOL Time Warner, Honeywell Intl., Viacom, Caterpillar, American Express, Goldman Sachs Group and Pfizer. Among the study's other findings was that industry is an indicator of a company's Customer Respect index, but is not an arbiter. In fact, according to the report, there are five different industry groupings represented in the top ten places in the Customer Respect Index league table. Indeed, the overall winner, Freddie Mac Freddie Mac: see Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. , comes from a sector (Financial Services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. ) that ranks 8th out of twelve groups. Similarly General Motors at #23 (Automotive) and Cardinal Health <includeonly></includeonly> Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) is a premier, global healthcare company dedicated to making healthcare safer and more productive. Overview Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (Drugs) at #15 both perform well while coming from the bottom two ranking sectors. On the other hand CVS (1) (Concurrent Versions System) A version control system for Unix that was initially developed as a series of shell scripts in the mid-1980s. CVS maintains the changes between one source code version and another and stores all the changes in one file. ranks only at #77 while its peers in the Retail sector manage to push the group to the top of the industry league table. Insurance was the second highest ranked industry in the study. The Online Customer Respect Study of Fortune 100 Companies offers actionable Giving sufficient legal grounds for a lawsuit; giving rise to a Cause of Action. An act, event, or occurrence is said to be actionable when there are legal grounds for basing a lawsuit on it. 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 bi·an·nu·al adj. 1. Happening twice each year; semiannual. 2. Occurring every two years; biennial. bi·an 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 not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: 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 donal@myiv.com for more information. About International Ventures Research and CustomerRespect.com International Ventures (www.myiv.com) provides experienced-based strategic consulting services Noun 1. consulting service - service provided by a professional advisor (e.g., a lawyer or doctor or CPA etc.) service - work done by one person or group that benefits another; "budget separately for goods and 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 Serial entrepreneur Business person that successfully starts (does not kill) a number of different businesses. 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 European Executive is an British airline based in Shoreham, United Kingdom. It operates scheduled passenger flights and corporate, pleasure and freight flights. Its main base is Shoreham (Brighton City) Airport. 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 george@gccpr.com or at www.CustomerRespect.com. A comprehensive report summary is available from george@gccpr.com. |
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