The Impact of Inaccurate Color on Customer Retention and CRM

The number of Internet purchases continues to increase, making customer relationship management even more critical in today’s Internet marketplace. Keeping existing customers satisfied is much more cost effective than acquiring new customers. However, the Internet has been plagued by inaccurate color representation since the advent of e-commerce. Color inaccuracy has many negative consequences, the most important of which is customer defections. This paper communicates the findings of a survey conducted to assess consumer opinions about Internet purchases. Results indicate that consumers are aware of color inaccuracies and that their reactions will negatively impact the marketer. Over 55% of the consumers surveyed indicate that they will not make future purchases from an online merchant that delivered an item in a color that did not match their expectations. With customer retention being one of the goals of customer relationship management, it is apparent that this issue must be acknowledged and acted upon.