Return Rates and Customer Satisfaction

• 50.1% of online shoppers who placed items in their shopping carts did not go on to place an order. (Core Metrics, March 2009)

• 94% of UK shoppers leave sites w/ inadequate customer service. (Econsultancy, July 2009)

• 45% of UK online shoppers will leave a site if they don't find what they want on the first page. (Retail Bulletin, September 2009)

• With the use of customer Q&A, JC Whitney experienced a 23% decrease in product return rates on average. (JC Whitney, 2008)

• During the 2007 holiday season, consumers who recalled seeing customer reviews on a Web site reported 9% higher customer satisfaction levels, were 9% more likely to make a purchase and 8% more likely to purchase the next time they came to that site. (ForeSee Results, January 2008)

• Satisfaction for those who recalled customer reviews on the retailers' site is 10% higher than those who said there were no reviews offered. Loyalty increases, too: 7% higher likelihood to purchase online, 8% greater likelihood to purchase from the retailer next time they're buying similar merchandise and 11% greater likelihood to recommend the site to others. (30 UK Online Retail Satisfaction Index, ForeSee Results, January 2008)

• Online UK retailers reported improved customer retention and loyalty by 73% once they implemented consumer-generated rating and reviews. (eMarketer, 2007)

• Products with reviews have a 20.4% lower return rate than those without reviews. (Bazaarvoice PETCO Case Study, 2007)

• Products with 50+ reviews have a return rate of 65% of those with fewer than five reviews. (Bazaarvoice PETCO Case Study, 2007)