Canadian Telecom Firms Mostly Fall Short in How They Treat Online Customers

Overall, Rogers Communications scored highest, while Aliant scored lowest. The findings also reveal that on average Canadian telecommunications firms rank behind U.S. telecoms in how they treat online customers. The study is the only to bring objective measure to the analysis of corporate performance from an online customers perspective. It assigns a Customer Respect Index (CRI) rating to each company on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest achievable score. The Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customers online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet. By looking at more than 1000 Web sites across a spectrum of industries in detail, The Customer Respect Group has determined 50+ different attributes that combine to create the entire online customer experience. These attributes have been grouped together and measured as indicators of Simplicity (ease of navigation), Privacy (respects customer privacy), Attitude (customer-focus of site), Transparency (open and honest policies), Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries) and Principles (values and respects customer data). Combined they measure a companys overall Customer Respect. Comparisons With U.S. Telecom Firms The Customer Respect Group studied U.S. telecoms in the summer of 2003 (while the Canadian study was conducted in the fall). While Canadian firms averaged a CRI rating of 6.0, their U.S. counterparts averaged 7.0. Both U.S. and Canadian firms scored highest for Simplicity (U.S. firms averaged 8.0 while Canadian firms averaged 6.9). Likewise, both scored lowest for Principles (U.S. firms averaged 6.0 while Canadian firms averaged 5.1. The sectors fall 2003 ranking is as follows: Canadian Telecom FirmOverall ---------------------------------------- Rogers Communications Inc. 9.0 Bell Canada 8.0 Microcell Solutions Inc. 6.8 Cogeco Cable Inc. 6.2 TELUS Corporation 5.7 Allstream Corporation 5.5 360networks Corporation 5.2 Shaw Communications 4.9 Videotron Ltee 4.7 Aliant Inc. 3.5 Industry Average6.0 Other findings for sector firms include the following: -- Surveyed firms receive the best overall rating (CRI: 6.9) for Simplicity and the worst (CRI: 5.1) for Principles. -- 18 percent of firms did not respond to any online inquiries. -- 18 percent of firms responded to half of the inquiries received. Of these, 50 percent responded within 48 hours and 50 percent responded after four days. -- 64 percent responded to all inquiries. Of these, 86 percent responded within 48 hours and 14 percent responded within 72 hours. -- Only 40 percent of these firms use Autoresponder technology, in which emails are automatically sent back to users to confirm the receipt of their inquiry and let them know when they should expect a response. Of these, 50 percent followed with a full response, 50 percent followed up half of their Autoresponses with a reply. -- Some 64 percent of companies provide email forms for online inquiries. -- 36 percent provide email addresses. -- Some 67 percent provide a keyword search function on their site. -- 73 percent of sector firms have privacy policies on their sites explaining how customers personal data is being used. O