Online consumers are willing to give sites up to a day to respond to and resolve their requests. Immediate response is best, of course, but satisfaction with customer service and likelihood to repurchase from the site are still high as long as the issue is handled within 24 hours. The findings also stress the importance of resolving the customer service issue on the initial contact. Consumers who have their issues resolved after the first contact are twice as likely to repurchase from the site as those who have to contact customer service at least three times. Selling certain products online is more likely to prompt customer service contact than others.
Consumers shopping for high-ticket items are the most likely to contact customer service.
The reason for contacting customer service also varies by the type of product being purchased. The most frequent requests for book customers was either for a status update or to revise an order. For clothing, it was pre-sales assistance and status updates. For music and videos, billing and invoice issues were predominant. For travel sites, pre-sales assistance was most pressing.