Optimised turnaround times, enhanced support, structured dispute management. Everything is in place. And yet, satisfaction scores are stagnating. On a marketplace, the customer experience isn’t determined by any one factor alone. It passes through the hands of three key players: the platform, sellers and buyers; and it is precisely in these gaps that satisfaction slips away.
The marketplace: a promise born of the meeting of supply and demand
A marketplace is based on a promise that appears simple: to bring together qualified demand with a supply broad enough to meet it. Its strength lies in the depth of its product range, which it achieves through its sellers. It is they who provide the diversity, specialisation and availability that the platform could not offer on its own.
But this wealth of choice also comes with a responsibility. An incomplete product listing, a poor translation, a poorly managed delivery timeframe or substandard after-sales service do not merely undermine a seller’s performance: they affect the overall perception of the platform. In the eyes of the buyer, the experience is a single, indivisible whole.
This is why the quality of the in-app offering, its operational delivery and its long-term monitoring are becoming key factors. For it is precisely these sticking points that determine customer feedback, public reviews and, ultimately, the marketplace’s reputation.
The Expert’s Eye · Benoît Chabanon
The most mature marketplaces do not merely focus on buyer satisfaction; they also implement a balanced approach to managing the seller experience. In practical terms, this means monitoring metrics that go beyond sales volume: the quality and completeness of product listings, dispute rates per seller, adherence to dispatch deadlines, and responsiveness to customer support enquiries.
Management becomes truly effective when it combines transactional data with relational signals. It is not just the incidents themselves that matter, but their recurrence and their concentration amongst certain sales staff or in certain categories.
The platforms that perform well are those that move away from ad hoc monitoring towards a proactive approach: identifying vulnerabilities before they turn into a flood of complaints or downgraded public ratings.
Product feedback: your platform’s emotional barometer
In France, the average return rate for e-commerce stood at 24 per cent in 2023–2024, according to FEVAD (the Federation of E-commerce and Distance Selling), rising to over 30 per cent in the ready-to-wear sector. This is a persistent trend across Europe.
For a high-volume marketplace, this amounts to hundreds of thousands of interactions a year. Each one occurs at a time when the buyer is already disappointed. What they expect is clarity, speed and a sense that their needs are being looked after.
What he often ends up with: a process shared between the platform and the seller, with no clearly identified point of contact.
85 per cent of consumers say they would no longer shop on a platform where the returns process was complicated. Conversely, a smooth returns process increases conversion rates by 30 to 40 per cent. This isn’t just about logistics. It’s a loyalty driver that most platforms fail to capitalise on.
Sources: FEVAD Barometers 2023–2024; NRF Consumer Returns Report 2024; ReadyCloud E-commerce Returns 2024.
The Expert’s Eye · Benoît Chabanon
A dispute is not a flaw in the marketplace model: it is a normal part of large-scale commerce. Non-compliant products, delayed deliveries, logistical errors — the online shopper accepts these. What they do not accept, however, is a lack of response or a lack of transparency.
A return or a complaint handled well — quickly, clearly and without unnecessary friction — becomes a moment of truth. This is where the platform demonstrates its ability to protect the buyer and bring structure to its sellers.
The most successful marketplaces do not seek to reduce disputes at any cost; they seek to manage them effectively. This is because effective resolution turns a disappointed customer into a reassured one — and into a long-term advocate for the platform.
One negative public review is worth a thousand support tickets
On a marketplace, customer satisfaction is not an internal metric. It is publicly displayed.
80 per cent of consumers trust online reviews just as much as they trust a personal recommendation. A string of poor ratings for a seller – even if temporary, or linked to an isolated incident – can cause their ranking on the platform to plummet and set off a downward spiral that is difficult to reverse.
The sheer volume of data magnifies everything. Tens of thousands of interactions a day, hundreds of sales staff, multiple channels. It’s impossible to assess manually what’s really going on. We only spot crises once they’re already evident in the notes. Never before.
The platforms that are improving their scores have made a simple shift: they have moved from a reactive approach to a proactive one. Detecting weak signals before they become public knowledge. This is what approaches combining AI and operational expertise now make possible.
Source: Frontiers in Communication, 2024 — Reviews, trust and customer experience in online marketplaces (quantitative study, 326 respondents).
The Expert’s Eye · Benoît Chabanon
In a seamless customer journey, the buyer says little. Silent satisfaction rarely generates enthusiastic reviews. On the other hand, even the slightest friction prompts people to speak out publicly.
A negative review is therefore not merely an assessment of a product; it is an expression of an emotion linked to the way the situation was handled. What the customer is judging is not the initial incident, but the response to it.
Marketplaces that are building their reputation do not focus solely on removing negative reviews. They analyse comments as indicators of customer experience and use every sensitive interaction as an opportunity to demonstrate their reliability. This is how a point of tension can become a source of credibility.
Taking back control: three practical decisions
Managing the CX on a marketplace isn’t just about adding a dashboard. It’s about deciding who is responsible for what — and ensuring that no one leaves another to carry the load alone.
First decision: measure the seller’s experience with the same rigour as the buyer’s experience. Response times from seller support, dispute resolution rates, quality of logistics. This data is available; we just need to know how to make the most of it.
Second decision: identify systemic issues rather than dealing with incidents one by one. One in two responses taking more than 72 hours is not an isolated problem. It is a malfunction that occurs silently thousands of times a month.
Third decision: supplement NPS and CSAT with predictive indicators. The Customer Effort Score (CES) is 40 per cent more accurate than CSAT at predicting customer loyalty. 96 per cent of shoppers who have experienced a difficult interaction go on to become disloyal. In an ecosystem where every point of friction becomes a public review, this indicator shifts priorities.
Source: Gartner — Customer Effort Score research (CEB/Gartner). Reproduced by the Harvard Business Review.
A high-performing marketplace is not one where everything runs perfectly, but one that knows how to structure, monitor and improve the end-to-end experience for all stakeholders in its ecosystem.
Would you like to know where your real CX blind spots lie? Armatis offers a customer experience maturity assessment tailored to marketplace players – on both the buyer and seller sides – across the entire post-purchase journey. Let’s have a chat.
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How can you improve the customer experience on a marketplace?
On a marketplace, the customer experience hinges on three key areas: the quality of sellers and their product listings, the handling of returns and disputes, and the management of public reviews. The most successful platforms establish a balanced buyer/seller management approach and shift from a reactive to a proactive approach.
What is the Customer Effort Score (CES) and why is it useful in e-commerce?
The Customer Effort Score measures the effort required by the customer to resolve a problem or complete a task. According to Gartner (CEB), it is 40 per cent more accurate than CSAT at predicting customer loyalty. On a marketplace where every point of friction can result in a public review, this predictive indicator usefully complements NPS and CSAT.
Why are product returns strategic for a marketplace?
In France, the e-commerce return rate stood at 24 per cent in 2023–2024 (FEVAD). For a high-volume marketplace, this represents hundreds of thousands of interactions each year at a time of disappointment. A well-handled return increases conversion rates by 30 to 40 per cent and is a key driver of customer loyalty.
How do negative reviews affect a marketplace?
80 per cent of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust a personal recommendation (Frontiers in Communication, 2024). A string of poor ratings, even if only temporary, can cause a seller’s ranking on the platform to plummet and set off a downward spiral that is difficult to reverse. Review management is therefore a fundamental reputational issue.
