Retail sector ranks first in customer service in multi-industry “mystery shopping” customer experience research from eGain

Retail is also the only sector to improve in multichannel customer experience among industries included in 2009 and 2010 research, nearly doubling its score

Mountain View, Calif. (March 10, 2010) - eGain Communications Corporation (OTC BB: EGAN.OB), the leading provider of multichannel customer service and knowledge management software for on-site and on-demand deployment, today announced that the North American retail sector ranked first overall in customer service in eGain’s latest research. Overall performance for the sector increased significantly from a score of 1.8 (“below average”) out of 4.0 in 2009 to 2.3 (“above average”) in 2010, highest among all sectors evaluated. Cross-channel customer experience, while still slightly “below average,” was still the highest among all sectors included in the research.

eGain’s 2010 State of Customer Service Study evaluated multiple aspects of web self-service and contact center customer service of 175 leading enterprises in the U.S. and Canada. These companies are equally distributed across eight sectors: financial services, retail, communications, consumer goods manufacturing, insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Retail companies evaluated in the study include both click-and-mortar and pure-play e-tailers.

Analysts used a “mystery shopping” approach. Customer service performance was measured along multiple dimensions: choice of communication channels, email response, web self-service, cross-channel consistency, single-channel (phone) cross-agent consistency, and phone customer service*. Scores in these metrics were then abstracted to an overall Service Quotient (SQ) on a scale of 0.0 to 4.0, for each of the companies that were assessed, as well as for each industry sector and the overall market.

The numeric scores map to the following ratings:
Poor (<1.0)
Below average (>=1.0 and <2.0)
Above average (>=2.0 and <3.0)
Exceptional (3.0 to 4.0)

2009-2010 Performance Comparison

Overall performance of the sector improved from a score of 1.8 (“below average”) in 2009 to 2.3 (“above average”) in 2010.

Email customer service improved from 2.5 to 3.0 (both “above average”).

Web self-service improved from 1.9 (“below average”) to 2.4 (“above average”).

Cross-channel customer experience improved significantly from 0.9 (“poor”) to 1.9 (slightly “below average”).

Cross-agent (phone) consistency dropped slightly from an average of score of 2.0 to 1.9 (slightly “below average”).

"Retail sector performance was a bright spot in this year’s “mystery shopping” customer service research,” said Anand Subramaniam, VP of Marketing for eGain. “However, channel silos still remain across knowledge, policy, and process. Retailers that break down these silos through a Customer Interaction Hub (CIH) strategy will be better positioned to grow revenues, improve margins, and lead their markets.”
Details of findings can be obtained by sending an email request to info@egain.com.

* Telephone customer service included criteria such as the number of transfers and hold time.

About eGain
eGain (OTC BB: EGAN.OB) is the leading provider of multichannel customer service and knowledge management software for on-site or on-demand deployment. For over a decade, hundreds of the world's largest companies have relied on eGain to transform their traditional call centers, help desks, and web customer service operations into multichannel customer interaction hubs (CIHs). Based on the Power of One™, the concept of one unified platform for multichannel customer interaction and knowledge management, eGain solutions improve customer experience, optimize service processes end to end, increase sales, and enhance contact center performance.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, eGain has operating presence in North America, EMEA and APAC. To learn more about us, visit www.eGain.com or call our offices: +1-800-821-4358 (US), +44-(0)-1753-464646 (EMEA), or +91-(0)-20-6608-9200 (APAC). Also, follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/egain) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/egain).

eGain, the eGain logo, and all other eGain product names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of eGain Communications Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names and products mentioned in this release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies.