UK Telecoms Companies Fall Short in Web Site Privacy

The Customer Respect Group is reporting that UK network operators are asking for a lot more personal details via their websites than their US or Canadian counterparts. The study found that respect for the privacy of personal data is lower in the U.K. than in either Canada or the United States. Balancing that, U.K. Web sites are well ahead of those in North America regarding support for users with visual or mobility disabilities, the criterion known as accessibility.

The sectors covered in the study were telecommunications (traditional land lines), cable, wireless/mobile and MVNOs. The most highly rated sector in the U.K. was traditional telecommunications companies, which overtook wireless companies for the first time in two years in both the U.K. and North America. The best scoring companies in the U.K. were O2 and Virgin Mobile. Canadian companies beat out both their U.S. and U.K. counterparts.

Usability

Site simplicity remains the highest scoring area, with eight of the 13 U.K. sites scoring "very good". This shows a steady improvement in usability for telecommunications companies. Overall usability also needs to include the broad range of users, including those with visual or mobility disabilities, which accounts for as much as 10 per cent of Web users. In this area, the U.K. excelled compared to the U.S. and Canada.

U.K. companies scored 6.9 on a 10-point Attitude scale compared to 5.1 in North America. The U.K., rating is higher than any U.S. industry group scored in the last 24 months and demonstrates the lead the U.K. currently holds. As an example, 85 per cent of U.K. sites use cascading style sheets (CSS) to format pages (a requirement for screen readers) compared to just 38 per cent in the U.S. and 25 per cent in Canada. In addition, six companies on the top 10 global accessibility list were from the U.K. Kingston Communications and O2 led the way for attitude in the U.K., and both were in the top three on the global list.

Privacy

The U.K. industry, however, performed much worse in privacy. Telecom firms, especially in the U.K., ask for more personal data than companies in other industries. This data is often unconnected to the request being made by the customer.

U.K. sites are generally unclear about data sharing practices, with 23 per cent judged to be explicit compared to 69 per cent in the U.S. Clarity in this area has made steady gains in the U.S. in the past 12 months, but the U.K. has shown no significant change.

It is not only clarity that fails in the U.K., but also the actual practices in place. Eleven of the 13 sites routinely share personal data with other internal groups, business partners or third parties without explicit permission. This compared poorly with the U.S., where 40 per cent share in the same way. The best performing site with regards to privacy in the U.K. was O2.

Communications

Communications measures how well companies respond to questions from Web site users. In general, the global industry does well, and just 8 per cent of e-mail inquiries were ignored entirely, much better than the overall industry average of 24 per cent and an improvement from the 13 per cent in the last report. The U.K. firms are generally in line with the global statistics, but the timing of responses tends to be slower than with U.S. and Canadian firms. Virgin Mobile was especially strong in communications. One area in which the U.K. is not keeping current is growth in the use of online chat as a step between a telephone call and an e-mail. Twenty-five per cent of North American telecommunication firms now use chat, up from 5 per cent a year ago. In the U.K., no sites employ online chat.

The best-rated telecommunications companies in the UK

According to Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group, "The telecommunications industry is in a state of flux and churn, and we see major changes disguised in the overall numbers. As companies reach across traditional business lines to gain new customers, we see a race to capture customer data to perform new campaigns. This results in some positive and negative aspects for the customer with the increased use of electronic marketing. Companies need to make sure they do not cross a line that might damage their overall brand reputations"."

Posted to the site on 7th March 2007