Online travel companies lag behind other e-commerce retailers and brokerages in delivering a positive consumer experience, according to a customer satisfaction survey out today.
Customer satisfaction with online travel fell 2.6% to 76, the steepest decline of all measured categories, says the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s annual e-Commerce report. A score of 80 or higher is considered solid, says Larry Freed, author of the report and CEO of the analytics firm ForeSee.
The index, founded at the University of Michigan but now run as a privately held company, measures about 70,000 customer evaluations of products and services for more than 230 companies in 47 U.S. industries, based on a 100-point scale. Satisfaction with e-commerce websites overall continues to rise, gaining 1.2% to 81.1. The improvement in the e-commerce sector, which includes online retail, brokerage, and travel categories, is driven in part by the strong performance of smaller e-retailers and e-brokerages.
The online travel industry “continues to be anyone’s game,” the survey notes, with only two points separating all measured companies. Expedia (-1%), Orbitz (no change), and the “all others” category (-4%) lead e-travel with a score of 76. Travelocity fell 5% to 75 after leading the Index last year. Although the gap between Priceline and industry leaders is the narrowest since 2002, when the travel category was first included, the company remains at the bottom of the group (down 3% to 74).
“From the average consumer’s point of view, there’s very little differentiation between online travel companies,” Freed says. “Hotels and airlines are attempting to assert more control over their relationships with their customers, fragmenting the online experience and doing more harm than good in the short term.”
Mobile is key, because “it can take you beyond search and purchase all the way to the travel experience itself. But that’s a tall order,” adds Freed. “This is an industry begging for innovation.”
Online travel companies lose ground with consumers
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