A recent survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, an infoUSA company (NASDAQ:IUSA), fielded by international data collection and panel specialists Research Now, revealed that Smartphones (excluding iPhone and RIM Blackberry) were the most returned electronic technology products of the holiday season, with slightly more than one-fifth (21%) of Smartphone buyers returning their purchase to the retailer.
“The inability to understand the product setup process was cited as the primary reason consumers returned their Smartphone,” said Kevin Wood, VP and Senior Technology Analyst with Opinion Research Corporation.
“Electronics technology continues to be a very popular choice among holiday shoppers, with 34% of the US population above the age of 16 claiming to have purchased and/or received an electronic technology product during the holiday season,” said Manuel Flores, Director of Opinion Research Corporation’s Information Technology and Telecommunications practice. “With technology getting more sophisticated, the pressure is on customer experience managers, product managers and product marketing personnel to design products that are ready for consumers to use out-of-the-box.”
“Irreparable damage to a brand’s reputation and perception of the company itself is at stake when a product is not easy to setup and use,” Wood added. “Nearly 16% of the respondents we surveyed indicated that their poor setup experience significantly worsened their perception of the company that manufactured the product.”
Opinion Research Corporation (ORC), in partnership with Market Basics LLC, will be hosting a roundtable discussion with a panel of ORC’s global technology experts in March 2008 on the implications of poor customer experience with set-up or installation and the impact this has on product and/or brand consideration and preference.”
Notes to editors:
An online survey of 2,000 respondents was carried out from January 11 to 16, 2008 with a representative sample provided by international online data collection and panel specialists Research Now. The margin of error is +/- 2.18%.
About Opinion Research Corporation
Opinion Research Corporation, an infoUSA company, has offered innovative solutions to the toughest market research challenges of clients worldwide since 1938. The firm has been conducting national, speech reaction, state and flash/overnight polls for CNN since April 2006. To learn more, visit www.opinionresearch.com.
About Research Now
Research Now is the leading international online data collection and panel specialist, with 28 proprietary online panels across North, Central and South America, Europe and Australia, comprising more than 2.2 million active panelists globally. The firm’s online panels are used by leading research agencies and some of the world’s best known companies.
About infoUSA
infoUSA (www.infoUSA.com), founded in 1972, is the leading provider of business and consumer databases for sales leads & mailing lists, database marketing services, data processing services and sales and marketing solutions. Content is the essential ingredient in every marketing program, and infoUSA has the most comprehensive data in the industry, and is the only company to own 12 proprietary databases under one roof. The infoUSA database powers the directory services of the top Internet traffic-generating sites. Nearly 4 million customers use infoUSA's products and services to find new customers, grow their sales, and for other direct marketing, telemarketing, customer analysis and credit reference purposes. infoUSA headquarters are located at 5711 S. 86th Circle, Omaha, NE 68127 and can be contacted at (402) 593-4500. To know more about Sales Leads, click www.infousa.com.