Terragni Consulting has come out with its ‘EAS- Friction Score’ - a report on consumer perception of ease and effort in their experience of services. The report looks at the four large consumer sectors in India namely, retail, ecommerce, banking and insurance. The report basically explores if the digital drive has eased the customer journey with their service providers. It points out that across the four sectors, consumers experience higher stress on account of iterations, ineffective messaging, lack of visibility, and an overall sense of lack of control.One of the insights thrown up by the  study is that  in a digital world, customers have lower tolerance levels and even small delays can impact how they perceive a brand. It also shows that in retail, in-store support seems to take a lot of effort, and that getting store representatives to understand requirements is reportedly high.

Over 35% of the surveyed customers feel that it takes a much longer time than they anticipate to spend in the store, the report says and adds however that in a store, consumers experience better control and informed decision making because of being able to see the products. The study mapped customer perceptions of effort needed in retail across the pre-purchase, purchase and post purchase stages and shows the purchase stage to be the most stressful and time consuming.