Mobile companies need to learn how to become online retailers to be able to sell mobile broadband online, according to a new study.
Global Reviews has been benchmarking the customer experience of mobile websites for the last 10 years.
In a recent study it assessed five leading mobile broadband websites including Vodafone, O2, T Mobile, Three and Orange against more than 800 criteria including; the information available to prospective customer, customer support, and general site usability.
The criteria are set using independent research into what customers say they want from a mobile broadband website, and global online best practice.
The study found that the overall level of customer experience offered by the mobile broadband industry in the UK is low.
Vodafone leads the way with a score of 48%, followed by O2 47%, T Mobile 38%, Three 36% and Orange 35%.
However providers need to score 55% to meet customer expectations and 69% to exceed them.
Whilst there is a lot of room for improvement, for a new industry they are actually doing a good job of educating consumers about the product. This area received the highest scores with an industry average of 54%.
However, once educated the industry is finding it difficult to sell online. It scored an average of only 15% for the ability to find the relevant product, 25% for the ability to select products, 35% for the ability to save those selections for when a user returns to the website, and 46% for the quality of the purchase process.
Harvind Bhatti, Global Reviews General Manager, said, “Smart phones and mobile broadband are exciting products, but as they need a lot of explanation, they can be difficult to sell online. The study highlights the need for mobile companies to offer a stronger guided shopping process on their websites to help users to make decisions and purchase mobile broadband. There are some fantastic online retailers out there, so I urge operators to look to other industries to find best practice.”
The study was carried out in Q3 2010.
www.globalreviews.co.uk