Seeking a competitive edge for your Web site? Then read andrespond quickly to e-mail requests and inquiries from customers andprospects.

Obvious, right? Well, listen up: A November 1998 report byJupiter Communications found 42 percent of Web sites do a lousy jobof responding to customer inquiries–125 top-ranked Web siteseither took longer than five days to reply to customer e-mails,never replied at all or were completely inaccessible by e-mail.According to the study, Web sites “are ignoring theopportunity to communicate with existing and potential customers,discouraging brand loyalty, and opting out of a user-initiated,one-to-one relationship.”

Travel sites are among the worst offenders: Nineteen percenttook at least three days to respond to inquiries or never respondedat all. (Retail shopping sites did better-54 percent of themresponded in less than one day.)

The moral of the story? The most responsive sites havehappier–and returning–customers. If you can’t respondimmediately to e-mail inquiries, build some kind of automaticacknowledgment feature into your site, to let customers know theirrequest was received and how long it will take for you torespond.

Cool Study: Big Guys That Finish Last

How do the big companies stack up when it comes tocommunicating? Software company Brightware Inc. put Fortune 100companies to the test, e-mailing them with a simple request for theaddress of their corporate headquarters. Though some repliedrapidly (Texaco Inc. took four minutes; Albertson’s Inc. andCostco Cos. took five), fewer than 15 percent responded withinthree hours. Four companies took at least a week to reply, withHewlett-Packard Co. responding an embarrassing 23 days and twohours later. Ten companies didn’t respond at all.

The study also found 26 companies, including General Motors andPepsiCo, either didn’t accept e-mail or made e-mailing sodifficult, most people would give up. Twelve companies requesteddetailed personal information before complying with the request fora corporate address–Intel even required e-mailers to complete asurvey.

Bronwyn Fryer writes about technology for Newsweek, C/NET andother publications from her office in Santa Cruz,California.