STELLAService has learned that much of the delight in customer service is in the details. For instance, we measure not only if a retailer ships items with a pre-paid return slip, but also if that slip is adhesive. We can tell you if a store has a live representative available at 2 a.m. and if they can ship overnight. We can tell consumers who delivers the fastest and who keeps customers on hold the longest.

Of course, some retailers are better than others and even top performers have hiccups in certain categories. But, we wanted to look at the overall experience.

So, STELLAService measured the entire process during the holiday period – from call, email and live chat support to product delivery, returns and refund processing. Of the 25 largest online retailers, there were five standout companies that scored consistently in the top five of several of our measured categories.

We suggest you bookmark this page for next year’s holiday shopping.

The overall top performers were: …

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After all the anticipation and waiting, you’ve finally opened your holiday gift and…of course, it’s not the right [size/color/fit/brand/model/age-group/etc]. Like many of us, you’re now faced with the ultimate question: what to do about returns, exchanges or refunds.

Since we at STELLAService knew you’d ask, we went ahead and road-tested the top 25 largest online retailers to see which ones have the most customer-friendly returns and refund processes (we tested the same 25 retailers that we evaluated in the 2011 Cyber Monday Customer Service Study).

As part of this assessment, we ordered and returned (via USPS standard ground) several products from each retailer to various parts of the country over the last few weeks (understanding it may be even tougher during the days and weeks after Christmas).  Your return and refund experience, as well as the policies you’re up against, will vary depending on where and when the gifter ordered your present.

…

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When it comes to the holidays, surprises should be left to the gifts, not the delivery speed of products you order online. That’s why we tested the top 25 Internet Retailers for standard delivery speed. These are the same 25 retailers that we studied in the 2011 Cyber Monday Customer Service Study.

We ordered several products from each of the top retailers via standard shipping to various parts of the country over the last few weeks to test how long it took for the items to arrive.

Who was the fastest, and who was the slowest?

Some key highlights from the study include:

• 8 retailers had an average standard shipping time of three days or less: Zappos.com (2 days), Newegg.com (2.3 days), HPshopping.com (2.5 days), JCPenney.com (2.7 days), Amazon.com, (2.7 days), Gap.com (2.8 days), Dell.com (2.8 days), and SonyStyle.com (2.8 days).
• 3 retailers had an average standard shipping time of over 5 days:  ToysRUs.com (5.5 days),  HSN.com (5.5 days), and Kohls.com (5 days).

Does …

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Note: this is the third in a three part series looking at the customer service performance of the top 25 online retailers during the 2011 Black Friday through Cyber Monday weekend. View Part 1 (Phone Support) and Part 2 (Email Support) for a complete view on how the largest online retailers cared for customers during the big shopping holiday.

Many online shoppers now prefer to engage with companies via live chat. It’s (supposedly) quick, easy and convenient. According to a 1,000 person consumer survey by the E-Tailing Group and Bold Software, one in five online shoppers select live chat as their preferred method of communication with a retailer. With 20% of shoppers preferring to use live chat, you’d think that most – if not all – of the largest online retailers offer this as a communication channel for shoppers.

We were curious to see which of the 25 largest online retailers offer this service channel, and here’s what we found:

First, it’s …

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Note: this is the second in a three part series looking at the customer service performance of the top 25 online retailers during the 2011 Black Friday through Cyber Monday weekend. View Part 1 (Phone Support) and Part 3 (Live Chat Support) for a complete view on how the largest online retailers cared for customers during the big shopping holiday.

According to Forrester, 55% of online shoppers use email when attempting to solve a customer service problem.  Most consumers expect relatively quick responses to email inquiries. In fact, if you’re shopping online and have a question, what’s the point of sending an email if the company doesn’t get back to you for days? The product, special deal or issue in question may no longer be relevant by the time you get a reply.

To give shoppers a better idea of which stores plan to keep you in the loop and which stores are likely to dismiss your message into the email abyss as you do your online holiday shopping, STELLAService …

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Note: this is the first in a three part series looking at the customer service performance of the top 25 online retailers during the 2011 Black Friday through Cyber Monday weekend. View Part 2 (Email Support) and Part 3 (Live Chat Support) for a complete view on how the largest online retailers cared for customers during the big shopping holiday.

Despite the many ways consumers can connect with a company for customer service, the telephone is still the most widely used customer service channel for online shoppers. According to Forrester, 69% of online consumers use the phone when seeking customer service help (followed by 55% who use email).

As a result, we think online shoppers should be especially aware of the findings from our 2011 Cyber Monday Customer Service study. For the first time, STELLAService is providing an unprecedented inside look at which stores provide joyful customer service during the holidays, and which stores are likely to deliver a full-serving of slow, …

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Traveling during Thanksgiving is stressful enough, so there’s nothing worse than the added frustration of a bad customer service experience on your flight out of town. To give you a glimpse at which airlines are going the extra mile to make things smoother and faster for travelers this week, we decided to stress test each carrier’s call support…and we found some surprising results!

STELLAService evaluated the 13 largest airlines (as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation) to uncover which were the quickest at answering customer concerns over the phone ahead of the big travel weekend.

Highlights From the Study

• Individual wait times varied from 43 seconds to over 30 minutes.
• Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines took the top two spots as the only airlines with average hold times under 2 minutes.
• American Airlines ranked as the most responsive of the five largest U.S. carriers (Delta, American, United, Southwest and Continental).
• 73% of the calls placed to …

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With the holiday shopping season about to kick into high gear on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we have evaluated the Internet’s top 25 retailers to see which ones are going the extra mile to provide shoppers with the best online shopping experience.

Retailers are providing customer service “extras” like free shipping, free gift wrapping, and 24/7 call support. Due to little differentiation among retailers when it comes to pricing and deals, these “extras” are more important than ever in helping shoppers decide where they should spend their hard-earned bucks.

The highlights, by the numbers:

Top holiday retailers included in this analysis

Retailers with free shipping on all orders: Apple.com, BestBuy.com, Dell.com, HPshopping.com, LLBean.com, NewEgg.com, Nordstrom.com, Walmart.com, and Zappos.com

Sites that allow in-store pick up for items purchased online: BestBuy.com, ToysRus.com, Walmart.com, Target.com, Apple.com, LLBean.com, Nordstrom.com, Sears.com, …

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