Poor communication means firms are missing out on online sales

30/January/2012

Businesses may be losing out on millions in online sales by failing to respond promptly, or at all, to customer enquiries made over the internet.

According to research commissioned by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), one in ten firms fails to reply to customer enquiries, despite providing contact forms on their websites.

A large number of firms are missing out on potential sales because they lack adequate systems to deal effectively with customer enquiries.

The average company response time to a customer's online request for a brochure has got worse – from 3.6 days in 2009 to 5.4 days in 2012.

Ecommerce is now a dominant force in retail. According to recent figures published by the Interactive Media in Retail Group, 37 million UK consumers now shop online.  

Jo Varey, chair of the DMA's response management council, said: "Plenty of research shows the likelihood of a company converting a consumer enquiry into a sale declines the longer they take to reply.

"In an age of instant communication, why are companies taking more than five days to respond to someone interested in making a purchase?"

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