More coverage on the Customer Respect Group's study of how customers are treated online (including some findings from Jupiter Research). I covered this a few days ago in "Customers are getting no respect online", just thought I'd add a few more tips to reward my regular readers.
Have a strong clearly written privacy policy. Let visitors know exactly how all collected information will be used. Cover issues of how information collected offline is used -- truly integrate your website with the rest of your communications channels.
Use data collected to benefit the visitor. Your web visitors give you information about themselves because they want something of value from you, but often companies don't deliver. Don't collect anything you're not going to use.
Respond to all inquires to your company within 24 hours. Whether the request comes by phone, the web, or any other communications channel, you must get back with the individual in a reasonable amount of time. Why? Because it shows you respect the interests of the individual.
Be responsive even if it's an informative auto-responder. This bears repeating, at least acknowledge incoming requests with an informative note automatically generated -- provide useful information to help the visitor while you are getting back to them. Smart systems are available that respond by keyword, but at least let them know a time frame you expect to get back with them.
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