Less-Than-Rapid Responses

Though it takes just seconds for an E-mail message to zip from a customer's PC to a company's customer-care center, it take substantially longer for the response to find its way back--if one is ever sent at all.

More than one-third of customers who fire off E-mail messages to retailers with Internet storefronts have to wait two or more days to receive a response, according to studies conducted by eGain Communications, Hewson Consulting, and Jupiter Communications.

Of these responses, one-quarter only partially answer customer questions, while 9% of responses have no relation at all to the questions asked. And a full one-quarter of E-mail sent to retailers' customer-care centers apparently enter a black hole, never to be responded to at all.

Listening to 40 minutes of elevator music while waiting for a live customer-care rep to pick up the phone is looking more appealing than ever.