Friday, November 28, 2008

To Website Or Not

“You should receive a response by email within 24 hours. If you do not receive a response, please try sending your message again and make sure you enter your correct email address”.

Response to an email complaint I sent to my bank. I tried to call them and ran right into the business norm today: layers and layers of number pressing to try and reach the right department and then hope to get a live person.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) has 6 million individual customers. In 2007, the bank had a profit of 3.3 billion dollar. With all that money you think they could get a better IT department (try sending email again!).

How well does your website perform? According to Statistics Canada, more than 8.4 million Canadians aged 16 and over made an online purchase in 2007. 43% of Canadians logged on to do research on products, and 64% reported that they had subsequently made a purchase directly from a store. The most popular items for browsing were consumer electronics, such as cameras and VCRs; housewares, such as large appliances and furniture; and clothing, jewelery and accessories.

Give your website daily care. Have checks and balances in place to immediately respond to any feedback you receive. The competition is fierce to begin with, add a little recession and being good, isn’t good enough.




Tony Mariani

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