L.L. Bean Inc., No. 32 in the Internet Retailer 2014 Top 500 Guide, ranked first overall for customer service in July, based on results of daily evaluations of web retailers conducted by StellaService—the third time the retailer has topped the list in 2014.
In July, the retailer was sixth in phone support, 12th in e-mail response time, seventh in chat response, 16th in shipping and sixth in returns, as reported in the StellaService Benchmarks Top 25 report, available free to consumers and merchants. The retailer was the only one that ranked in the top 25 for all service areas measured.
The monthly rankings are culled from data gathered on all 138 of the top web retailers in the U.S. that StellaService tracks. Stella Benchmarks is based on daily customer service evaluations and four orders per month. StellaService offers a competitive analysis of retailers’ competitors, for which its charges clients.
Other top performers in the July measuring period are listed below:
- Phone support: RevZilla. Motorcycle gear and parts seller RevZilla connected customers to a live agent in less than a minute on average and resolved issues in 96% of interactions. The average total time to a live agent was 50 seconds.
- E-mail support: LuLuLemon. LuLuLemon responded to 100% of the e-mail inquiries sent to it by StellaService. The average e-mail response time for the top 25 in July was 5.6 hours.
- Chat: Adidas. The retailer connected consumers to an agent in an average of 15 seconds and had resolved issues in 98% of interactions. The average total time it took for a StellaService “shopper” to reach a live customer service agent for the top 25 performers was 26 seconds in May.
- Shipping: Dell. Dell delivered to StellaService analysts in an average of 2.3 days in July, more than a full day faster than the average for the top 25. The top 25 performers averaged 3.6 days.
- Returns and refunds: HSN. HSN had the fastest refund processing time, averaging 5.8 days. The top 25 performers together averaged 7.7 days in July.