iPerceptions - Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Consumer electronics sites see task completion fall to nearly 50% on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2009

New York, NY – December 17, 2008 – iPerceptions Inc. (TSX.V:IPE), a leading provider of web-focused Voice of Customer analytics, today released new data on how well websites are serving visitors in the challenging Holiday 2008 season. iPerceptions’ 4Q survey data collected from over 300,000 website visitors in November and December 2008 shows that task completion rates were low at heavily-trafficked consumer electronics sites. According to the data, aggregate task completion rates at consumer electronics sites was 60% for the holiday season to date, with 4 out of 10 customers unable to achieve the primary purpose that brought them to the site. Task completion rates plummeted to 52% on Black Friday and 54% on Cyber Monday.

An analysis of visitors to consumer electronics sites in November found that 62% of the leading barriers to task completion were product-level, while only 13% were due to price. This is consistent with recent efforts by online retailers of all types to heavily discount merchandise in order to move inventory. Consumers’ chief product-level concerns included the lack of detailed information (33%); items not in stock (30%); poor variety / selection (14%); and inadequate customizability (11%).

“In a challenging holiday season, consumer electronics retailers saw nearly 1 out of every 2 site visitors leave their site without completing their primary purpose of visit,” said Jonathan Levitt, vice president of marketing at iPerceptions. “This wasn’t due to pricing concerns, in fact it was primarily a function of inadequate information and inventory. Our report indicates that a few simple fixes, such as adding ratings and reviews, could have tremendous impact on the bottom line in the final days of the holiday season.”

Improvements in task completion yield significant benefits to website operators. Site visitors who are able to complete their primary purpose of visit are twice as likely to make a repeat visit, while 67% of visitors who complete their primary purpose report enhanced brand opinion (vs. only 18% for those who do not). Additionally, 60% report a higher future likelihood to purchase either online or offline (vs. only 14% for those who do not).

About 4Q
Based on a fusion of web analytics author Avinash Kaushik’s well known model of the perfect survey questions and iPerceptions’ proven survey methodology, 4Q is a completely free permission-based exit survey application that solves the most pressing of challenges in the web analytics space: the need and desire to understand why visitors behave the way they do on the websites they visit. 4Q greatly improves interactive marketers’ understanding of their visitors by enabling them to understand each visitor’s purpose of visit, task completion rates, customer satisfaction, and, perhaps most importantly, why website visitors are unable to complete their tasks. 4Q permits site owners to gain the following insights from their website visitors:

• How satisfied are my visitors?
• What are my visitors at my website to do?
• Are they completing what they set out to do?
• If not, why not?
• If yes, what did they like best about the online experience?
    
Website owners can create and deploy a 4Q survey immediately by going to http://www.4qsurvey.com.

About iPerceptions
iPerceptions is one of North America's leading web-focused Voice of Customer analytics providers. Its webValidator Continuous Listening solution and Proprietary iPerceptions Satisfaction Index (iPSI) turn thousands of data points into easy-to-understand strategic and tactical decision support for website marketers. iPerceptions' clients include such well known brands as InterContinental Hotels, General Motors, Dell Computers, Hyundai, LG Electronics, Choice Hotels International, BMW and Monster Worldwide. iPerceptions has offices in New York, Toronto, Montreal and London.