Online Holiday Shopping at 2 SigmaMetrics are business, product and process specific performance measurements. We can learn a tremendous amount from benchmarking similar processes of different businesses - but they must be interpreted for your purposes.
Below is a short list of customer CTQs (Critical To Quality attributes) with a sample measurement framework. Remember, the key is a metric system that reflects what is truly important to your customer. Not every business should have the exact same metrics.
| Measure | Opportunity | Defect | | Web site availability | Every minute between October 31 and December 25 | One minute of downtime | | Order status availability | A customer need or request for status through phone, Web, online chat, email or other channel | An order status not provided, missing or unavailable | | Product delivery performance | Each item purchased with the customer's expectation of delivery before the holidays | A purchase delivered after the holidays | | Customer service response time (email) | A customer inquiry for information | A return response reaching the customer in excess of 4 hours | | Customer service response time (online chat) | A customer inquiry for information | A customer waiting more than 5 seconds for a representative to begin a chat |
|
|
|
Also remember that while all processes should be measured to ensure control, many customer experiences can be mistake proofed (Poka Yoke). The metric on-time delivery, for instance, has next business day delivery limitations. Customers can't order products on a Sunday evening at 10 p.m. and expect delivery on Monday. The online customer experience, however, can mistake proof the situation by asking for a required delivery date and verifying the possibility with suppliers before allowing the customer to place the order. It can also present the option of customer pick-up at a local brick-and-morter store.
Will this year 2000 holiday season bring a higher level of quality and customer service to customers? We can only wait and see, but rest assured that iSixSigma will be there charting the evolutionary progress.
First Page > Customer Expectations for Online Holiday Shopping
