A study of 100 online retailers found a decline in customer service in 4Q05 compared with 4Q04, reports InternetRetailer, citing E-Tailing Group's 8th "Annual Mystery Shopping Study." The number/percentage of sites offering a toll-free customer service telephone number - the most important service feature, according to E-Tailing Group - fell from 93 to 95. "Overall…more drill-down was required to find answers to questions on sites; contact information was not readily available; FAQs and guarantees were less visible," said president Lauren Freedman.

However, keyword search was available on 97 percent of sites in the fourth quarter, up from 95 percent in 4Q04, and 64 percent of misspelled queries delivered the correct results, up from 54 percent a year earlier.

The average response to customer emails was 30 hours in coming, compared with 26 a year earlier. It took an average of 5.3 clicks from product selection to checkout, up from 4.8 a year earlier.

Only 89 percent of sites emailed shipping confirmation, down from 97 percent. But 96 percent of sites provided online shipping status, up from 92 percent.