US Top 100 Ranked for Online Customer Respect

The Customer Respect Group has released results from its Summer 2004 Online Customer Respect Study of the USA's largest 100 companies. In this third annual study, Microsoft scored highest with an index score of 8.7 out of 10, while the mean score was 6.2.

The study attempts to bring an objective measure to the analysis of corporate performance from an online customer's perspective by assigning a Customer Respect Index (CRI) rating to each company on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest achievable score. The CRI is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet.

The attributes measured are grouped into six main areas: Simplicity (ease of navigation), Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries), Privacy (respects customer privacy), Attitude (customer-focus of site), Transparency (open and honest policies) and Principles (values and respects customer data). The company has recently expanded this list to include respect for individuals with disabilities.

Surveyed firms receive the best overall rating (CRI: 7.3) for Simplicity and the worst (CRI: 4.4) for Responsiveness. Some 12% do not respond to any online enquiries, while at the other end of the scale a respectable 40% respond to all enquiries in less than a day, and 20% respond to all enquiries but take more than one day.

Eighty-five percent of companies provide email forms for online enquiries, and 14 percent provide email addresses. Only one percent only provide offline contact information.

Ninety-three of the 100 companies provide a privacy policy that states how they use personal data, but the policies differ widely. Of the 93:

• 30% use personal data only for the purposes provided or for internal marketing purposes
• 35% share data with affiliates or subsidiaries
• 23% share data with business partners
• 12% 'need to be more explicit about personal data usage'.

Almost half (47%) are not clear about their opt-in/opt-out policy. On the new measure, fully 84% were deemed to provide forms that could not be easily used by those with disabilities.

Roger Fairchild, president of The Customer Respect Group, says that over the three studies, many firms have made positive improvements to their sites, but 'too many still aren't taking the Web seriously enough from a business perspective or aren't knowledgeable about best practices. For example, about one-third still aren't responding to all Web site inquiries. And more than one half of firms share submitted customer data with subsidiaries, affiliates or business partners without seeking permission to do so. Moreover, more than three-fourths provide forms that can't be easily used by those with disabilities. Our research indicates that 20 percent of the time, individuals click directly to a competitor's site after an undesirable experience. So firms must pay more attention to how they treat customers online or risk losing them'.

The rankings are as follows:

Company Name	URL	Overall CRI
Microsoft Corporation	www.microsoft.com	8.7
Hewlett-Packard Company	www.hp.com	8.6
International Business Machines Corporation	www.ibm.com	8.5
Bank of America Corporation	www.bankofamerica.com	8.2
Medco Health Solutions	www.medcohealth.com	8.1
Intel	www.intel.com	7.9
Albertson's Inc.	www.albertsons.com	7.8
Kmart Corporation	www.kmart.com	7.8
Walgreen Co.	www.walgreens.com	7.8
United Parcel Service Inc.	www.ups.com	7.7
AT&T	www.att.com	7.6
Wachovia Corp.	www.wachovia.com	7.6
Duke Energy Corporation	www.duke-energy.com	7.5
General Motors Corporation	www.gm.com	7.5
The Home Depot Inc.	www.homedepot.com	7.5
Alcoa Inc.	www.alcoa.com	7.4
J.C. Penney Company Inc.	www.jcpenney.com	7.4
Johnson & Johnson	www.jnj.com	7.4
Sprint Corporation	www.sprint.com	7.4
Wells Fargo & Co.	www.wellsfargo.com	7.4
Best Buy Co. Inc.	www.bestbuy.com	7.3
ChevronTexaco Corporation	www.chevron.com	7.2
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.	www.walmart.com	7.2
CVS Corporation	www.cvs.com	7.1
Electronic Data Systems Corporation	www.eds.com	7.1
General Electric Company	www.ge.com	7.1
Sears Roebuck and Company	www.sears.com	7.1
Abbott Laboratories	www.abbott.com	7.0
Costco Wholesale Corporation	www.costco.com	7.0
Cisco Systems Inc	www.cisco.com	6.9
Lowe's Companies Inc.	www.lowes.com	6.9
The Procter & Gamble Company	www.pg.com	6.9
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company	www.bms.com	6.8
United Technologies Corporation	www.carrier.com	6.8
Berkshire Hathaway	www.benbridge.com	6.7
Dell Computer Corporation	www.dell.com	6.7
E.I. du Pont de Nemours	www.dupont.com	6.7
Fannie Mae	www.fanniemae.com	6.7
The Dow Chemical Company	www.dow.com	6.7
The Kroger Company	www.kroger.com	6.7
The Walt Disney Company	www.disney.com	6.7
American Express Company	www.americanexpress.com	6.6
Target Corporation	www.target.com	6.6
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement	www.tiaa-cref.org	6.6
Citigroup Inc.	www.citi.com	6.5
FedEx Corporation	www.fedex.com	6.5
New York Life Insurance Company	www.newyorklife.com	6.5
Verizon Communications Inc.	www.verizon.com	6.5
Cardinal Health Inc.	www.cardinal.com	6.4
Comcast Corporation	www.comcast.com	6.4
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.	www.chase.com	6.3
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.	www.ml.com	6.3
Bank One Corporation	www.bankone.com	6.2
HCA Inc	www.hcahealthcare.com	6.2
Motorola Inc.	www.motorola.com	6.2
Ford Motor Company	www.ford.com	6.1
Georgia-Pacific Corporation	www.gp.com	6.1
MetLife Inc.	www.metlife.com	6.1
Viacom Inc.	www.blockbuster.com	6.1
Altria Group Inc.	www.altria.com	6.0
AmerisourceBergen Corp.	www.amerisourcebergen.net	6.0
State Farm Insurance Cos.	www.statefarm.com	6.0
The Allstate Corporation	www.allstate.com	6.0
Tyson Foods Inc.	www.tyson.com	6.0
Ingram Micro Inc.	www.ingrammicro.com	5.9
SBC Communications Inc.	www.sbc.com	5.9
Archer Daniels Midland Company	www.admworld.com	5.8
American International Group Inc.	www.aig.com	5.6
Caterpillar Inc.	www.cat.com	5.6
Delphi	www.delphi.com	5.6
AutoNation Inc.	www.autonation.com	5.5
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.	www.gs.com	5.5
BellSouth Corporation	www.bellsouth.com	5.4
Merck & Co. Inc.	www.merck.com	5.4
ConocoPhillips	www.76.com	5.3
Safeway Inc.	www.safeway.com	5.3
International Paper Company	www.ipaper.com	5.2
McKesson Corporation	www.mckessonautomation.com	5.2
Exxon Mobil Corporation	www.exxon.com	5.1
Honeywell International Inc.	www.honeywell.com	5.1
The Coca-Cola Company	www.coca-cola.com	5.1
Time Warner http://www.hbo.com 5.1	www.hbo.com	5.1
Valero Energy Corp	www.valero.com	5.1
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company	www.massmutual.com	4.9
The Williams Companies Inc.	www.williams.com	4.9
WellPoint Health Networks Inc.	www.bluecrossca.com	4.9
Marathon Oil Corporation	www.marathon.com	4.7
ConAgra Foods Incorporated	www.conagra.com	4.5
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated	www.acngroup.com	4.5
PepsiCo Inc.	www.pepsico.com	4.4
Northrop Grumman Corporation	www.northropgrumman.com	4.2
Morgan Stanley	www.morganstanley.com	4.1
Prudential Financial Inc.	www.prudential.com	3.9
The Boeing Company	www.boeing.com	3.9
Lockheed Martin Corporation	www.lockheedmartin.com	3.7
Sysco Corporation	www.sysco.com	3.7
Pfizer Inc.	www.pfizer.com	3.6
Weyerhaeuser Company	www.weyerhaeuser.com	3.5
Johnson Controls Inc.	www.johnsoncontrols.com	3.2
Supervalu Inc.	www.supervalu.com	2.7
Industry Average		6.2

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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