The document discusses best practices for improving online customer experience, highlighting the current state of online interactions, the lack of focus on customer needs by companies, and the importance of aligning user and business goals. It details various metrics, tools, and methodologies for evaluating and enhancing web experiences, emphasizing the necessity of customer feedback. The content underscores the need for ongoing validation of digital experiences to avoid costly mistakes and prepare for future online engagement.

1. Megan Burns – Principal Analyst, Forrester Research Inc.
Matt Poepsel – VP Performance Strategies, Problems with PC
audio?
Compuware Gomez Dial-in: 866-900-5706
Passcode: 2813729

2. 2 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

3. Best Practices For Improving Online Customer
Experience
Megan Burns, Principal Analyst
December 9, 2010
3 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
2009

4. Agenda
What is the state of online customer experience today?
Why are today’s online experiences the way they are?
What should online customer experience professionals do
improve the experiences they deliver?
4 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

5. Agenda
What is the state of online customer experience today?
Why are today’s online experiences the way they are?
What should online customer experience professionals do
improve the experiences they deliver?
5 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

6. How customers feel about their
6
interactions with your organization
© 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

7. Web site satisfaction levels can vary dramatically
7 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

8. In 2010 there were big increases and big descreases
Percentage-point change
Company Industry
since 2008
Cox Communications TV Service Provider + 16
Sprint Wireless service provider + 15
AAA Insurance provider + 13
Cox Communications Internet service provider + 11
Old Navy Retailer +10
JCPenney Retailer -7
Allstate Insurance Insurance provider -7
Citibank Bank -9
Washington Mutual Bank -11
America Online (AOL) Internet service provider - 13
8 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

9. Distribution of Web Site User Experience Review scores
(November 1999 – October 2010)
Number of sites
All external uses of this deliverable are subject to Forrester's prior approval.
This is consistent with our Citation Policy which can be found on Forrester's Web site, www.forrester.com.
9 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

10. When it comes to online
customer experience, there’s
plenty of room for improvement.
10 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

11. Agenda
What is the state of online customer experience today?
Why are today’s online experiences the way they are?
What should online customer experience professionals do
improve the experiences they deliver?
11 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

12. Companies aren’t focused on their customers
Percentage of respondents who agree with the following statements
Our company has a clearly defined set of
target customer segments
60%
Primary research is used to fully
understand the needs and behaviors of 43%
target customers
The quality of interactions with target
customers is closely monitored
31%
Decision making processes systematically
incorporate the needs of target customers
30%
Employees across the company share a
consistent and vivid image of target 24%
customers
Base: 141 customer experience decision makers at large North American firms
Source: February 19, 2010, “The State of Customer Experience, 2010” Forrester report
12 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
2009

13. What functionality should we offer? What user goals do we need to support?
I don’t like the way this is written. Joan (our target persona) wouldn’t
understand this product description.
How can we sell more product? How can we help Joan find and buy
more of what she needs?
We need to convey more of our To build our brand we must satisfy
brand messaging. Joan’s needs.
13 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

14. It’s easy to ignore customer experience fundamentals
How enjoyable was it to accomplish
your goal on the site?
Enjoyable
How easy was it to accomplish
your goal on the site?
Usable
Were you able to accomplish
what you came to the site to do?
Useful
14 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

15. It’s easy to ignore customer experience fundamentals
MIT Media Lab “Sixth Sense”
15 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

16. Agenda
What is the state of online customer experience today?
Why are today’s online experiences the way they are?
What should online customer experience professionals do
improve the experiences they deliver?
16 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

17. Find the overlap between user and business goals
What users What businesses
want to do want them to do
17 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

18. Find the overlap between user and business goals
18 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

19. Make sure key user goals are supported before you
allow anything else on the site
1. What did you come to the site to do today?
2. Were you able to accomplish that goal?
 Yes
 No
 I’m not sure
3. If not, why not? What could we do to make the
experience easier?
19 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

20. 20 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

21. Know what customers consider a good experience
21 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

22. August 2009 “Persona Best Practices Of Interactive Agencies”
Whittmanhart’s Persona For A Pharmaceutical Company
22 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

23. Leverage a full portfolio of tools to evalute your
online customer experience – BEFORE it goes live!
Type Good For… Common Pitfalls
Surveys Measuring satisfaction Opinion based
and user perception
Web Analytics Locating trouble spots Tells you where but not
what or why
Focus groups Testing concepts Opinion based
Small numbers
Expert reviews Identifying specific Only finds previously
problems known problems
Usability labs Identifying specific Poor price performer
problems
23 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

24. Start planning now for digital experiences of the future
C ustomized
C
A ggregated
A
R elevant
R
S ocial
S
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25. 25 Weather.com
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CARS

26. 26 Weather.com
© 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
CARS

27. 27 Weather.com
© 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
CARS

28. Recommendations
1. Achieve your business goals by supporting related customer goals.
– It's easier!
2. Focus on the fundamentals – usefulness, useability, and enjoyability.
– They'll never go away.
3. Leverage custmer feedback and primary research to understand what
customers want from online experiences beyond the basics.
– Many companies won't bother. Those that do will differentiate.
4. Validate new experiences early and often against customer criteria to
avoid launching something that customers won't like.
– You can't afford to waste money on stuff that isn't going to work.
5. Prepare yourselves now for the online experiences of the future.
– The future is already here…it’s just not evenly distributed.
28 © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

29. Thank you
Megan Burns
+1 617.613.6294
mburns@forrester.com
www.forrester.com
© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

30. Best Practices for Improving Online
Experiences
Matt Poepsel, VP of Performance Strategies, Compuware Gomez

31. Web & Mobile Site Performance Impacts Business Results
Abandonment Rate Across 200+ Sites/177+ Million Page Views
All Browsers vs. iPhone Safari
30
25
Abandonment Rate (%)
20 Abandonment Rate -
All Browsers
15
Abandonment Rate -
iPhone Safari
10
5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Page Load Time Band (sec.)
Source: Gomez real user monitoring

32. The Challenge of Delivering Web Applications
Systems …user is
management NOT happy
tools: “OK”
The Web Application Delivery Chain
3rd Party/ Browsers
Load Cloud Services Local ISP and devices Users
Balancers
Web
Servers
Mobile
Components
App
Servers Internet
DB Major
Servers ISP
Storage
Mainframe
Network Content Delivery Mobile
Networks Carrier
Traditional zone
of control

33. Users Access The Web On A Variety Of Devices
Morgan Stanley predicts mobile users will outnumber desktop
internet users within 4 years
Source: Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley

34. Users Access The Web With A Variety Of Browsers
Browser market share across 200+ sites with 117+ million page views
from Nov 16 to 23, 2010
iPhone iPad Safari
Safari Other
Safari 5
IE6 IE8
Chrome 7 FF 3.x
Safari 4
IE8 IE7
Chrome 7
IE7 IE6
Safari 5
iPhone Safari
Safari 4 iPad Safari
FF 3.x Other
Source: Gomez Real User Monitoring

35. Significant Performance Differences Across Browsers & Devices
Load Time Perceived Render
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Source: Gomez Real-User Monitoring (October 2010)
Real users around the world 526 million page measurements
Broadband & wireless connections only 200+ sites

36. Content is Distributed Across Geographies
How many cities does content come from to form the average
transaction?
Distribution of host cities by test
(measured from multiple locations)
>30
21-30 8%
7%
1 1
27%
2-5
11-20
12% 6-10
11-20
6-10 21-30
15% 2-5 >30
31%
Source: Gomez Active Backbone Monitoring
Sample of 12,000 transactions
Multiple runs over 24 hours

37. And, So Are Users
Chicago
4.1 Seconds
San Francisco New York
8.2 Seconds 2.7 Seconds
Dallas
4.3 Seconds
Los Angeles
6.8 Seconds Atlanta
3.4 Seconds

38. The Browser Is Becoming The Integration Platform
Number of hosts accessed directly by the browser,
per user transaction, averaged across 3,000 companies 10.5

39. Gomez: Ensuring Quality Web Experiences
Find and fix issues across the entire Web Application Delivery Chain
Data Center Backbone Virtual Test Bed Last Mile Real User
• Internal monitoring • Monitoring • Cross-browser • Monitoring • Monitoring
• EMS integration • Load testing testing • Load testing
3rd Party/ Browsers
Load Cloud Services Local ISP and devices Users
Balancers
100,000+
Web consumer-
grade
Servers desktops
500+
Mobile combos
Components of 168+
Private browsers
agents & 100+ countries
enterprise- and O/S
App peers Your
Servers grade real
Data center nodes & Internet 2,500+ users
event data ISPs
DB
transponder
Major centers
Servers ISP 5,000+
supported Major
Storage mobile mobile
devices carriers
Mainframe around
the globe
Network Content Delivery Mobile
Networks Carrier
Your zone of control with Gomez

40. Questions
Gomez Customers Enjoy
Measurable Benefits
Increased conversions 10%
Reduced homepage load time from
11.3 seconds to 3.4 seconds
Improved page load times 23%
Saved 50%+ in staff and fees
Reduced seven-step
transaction time by 50%
Reduced downtime 45%
Achieved under 3 second
response time and 99%+
availability
Validated decision to consolidate
three data centers
For more information visit Gomez.com or contact us at +1 781.778.2700