HP Gets R-E-S-P-E-C-T

HP has taken the top slot among the top 100 US companies, in a survey of online customer experience carried out by research consultants The Customer Respect Group. HP received a mean ranking of 9.7 out of a possible 10, and beat technology rivals Dell and IBM.

The 2003 Online Customer Respect study examined more than 1,000 Web sites in detail, looking at 25 relevant attributes. The resulting Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet.

According to Terri McNulty, CEO of The Customer Respect Group, 'HP displays a customer-centric attitude by responding quickly and thoroughly to online inquiries, and provides a sound privacy policy and an easy-to-navigate site... core ingredients of online customer respect'. Marius Haas, vice president, worldwide e-Business, HP, lists the 'areas that mean the most to consumers' as 'online privacy, data collection policies, customer-focus and engagement, simplicity, and responsiveness', and points out that the company has achieved this within a year of merging two of the technology industry's largest and most complex Web sites (HP was bought by Compaq).

HP.com hosts more than 1.2 million unique visitors a day. The company's revenue for the last four quarters totalled $70.4 billion.

More information about The Customer Respect Group ranking is available at www.customerrespect.com

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

• The Customer Respect Group
• All news