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Benchmark evaluations

The Customer Respect Group has reviewed thousands of websites across multiple industries in the US, Canada and Europe to determine how well the online customer is respected. Customer Respect benchmarks are available for major industries and custom benchmarks can be built to track your site against your core competitors or peer companies.

Using a selected list of websites, our trained researchers and analysts evaluate a wide range of objective criteria by adopting a persona with a goal that is in line with the objectives of the site. Through the use of the CRI (Customer Respect Index) methodology, we measure your site in the context of the benchmark, providing you with an unbiased view of the state of your website so you can best calibrate its performance and optimize the experience for your online visitors and customers. The Industry Benchmark evaluations and analyst reports serve as an invaluable tool for any company (whether part of the study or not) to prioritize changes that are needed to keep in line with their peers in the industry and identify emerging trends.

The Benchmark evaluation uses the CRI methodology as its foundation and highly trained analysts evaluate a wide range of objective measurements, across five categories:

• Content – Does the site provide an appropriate level of content to allow the online user to adequately research and discover? Content covers not just the traditional text-based web pages, but now extends to alternative formats such as video and rich interactive applications and tools.
• Navigation – Does the site allow intuitive navigation to help with task completion? Users who get confused or lost on a site typically leave.
• Search – How does the sites’ search functions support a more nonlinear navigation? Search is used by a large number of users as a primary navigation strategy, but patience is low with poor search functions.
• Trust – How respectful is the site in collecting and managing personal data? This area of study looks at privacy and security policies and practices, as well as the presence of tactically-placed reassurances to address natural user concerns.
• Dialog – All websites will generate questions and issues. Users who do not get questions answered will not be able to complete the research phase, which will have possible consequences. Dialog now extends to email, real-time chat, access to callbacks, central telephone numbers and local offices and agents.

The Customer Respect Benchmark Studies are designed to provide actionable performance data and intelligence through a combination of research deliverables and Customer Respect Group team expertise.

Benchmark studies and associated deliverables are designed to:

• Provide major cost savings through outsourcing of the assessment process,
• Identify specific areas for improvement on your site,
• Mine for competitive intelligence,
• Identify best and common practices across industries as they relate to online user experience,
• Identify trends and potential areas for innovation,
• Help ensure adherence to online best practices.