Oct

16

Zappos knows how to make the customer happy

Filed Under Branding, Misc 

Here are a few things many businesses can learn from Zappos, a large online shoe retailer. Zappos has doubled its sales every year since 1999 and is on track to hit $600 million in revenue this year.

1. Realize the power of fast, free shipping and easy returns.

Sure it is very costly to the company, but this has to be the most important factor that contributed to the success of Zappos. Many company’s offer returns on orders placed online, but not many offer free and easy return shipping. By offering these services, customers are left to ask themselves, “Why shouldn’t I order online”? Buying shoes online without actually trying them on can be very tricky since not all sizing and fit is the same across different brands. Zappos clearly understood this from the beginning and knew that this factor alone could make or break the company so they made sure returning and exchanging the shoes was easy. Some people may still find many reason not to shop online, but the positives should outweigh the negatives in most cases, such as not having to go through the hassle of searching for shoes at brick and mortar stores.

Some other company’s that I love which also offer similar services are Amazon and Netflix. Besides great pricing, free shipping (on orders over $25) is the main reason I buy so much off Amazon. Being able to send out a DVD and get a new one 2 days later without having to leave my house or pay any shipping costs is why I subscribe to Netflix.

2. Post customer feedback for customers to read.

The customer testimonial page at Zappos is located here and it is very easy to find. This is a great way to give prospective customers assurance that they should not worry when placing an order. Sure, they can see on the website that there is free shipping, free return shipping, etc., but all that does not mean anything unless it is believable that the company will honor it. As an added benefit, feedback from past customers can even answer questions that customers may have about the ordering or return process.

3. Handle each customer issue until it’s clearly resolved.

You can’t really train employees to handle every scenario they will encounter. But you can give them the power to do the right thing without having to ask. I could imagine Zappos customer service employees have the power to make price adjustments, give refunds, and all that good stuff without having to consult with a supervisor. Besides that, it seems like they are smart enough to make the right decisions when handling every situation, which is most likely a result of proper training. This makes everyone’s job easier and should also result in higher employee satisfaction on the job.

4. Sacrifice marketing costs for better customer service.

This is something they openly admit to practicing. Zappos would rather spend their revenue on all these things I am pointing out rather than spending big bucks for TV or Internet advertising. It is unclear what is more effective, but no one would doubt that the Zappos way will result in a larger number of very satisfied customers.

5. Go above and beyond.

There are a lot of company’s out there trying very hard to create word-of-mouth campaigns with little success. Some even hire outside companies such as BzzAgent to create these campaigns. Those methods could be successful, but why go through all that work when it can be as simple as just focusing on customer service through some of these obervations. Just like someones horrible customer service experience can spread quickly, a great experience like this one can also spread just as fast. I agree with Seth Godin, examples like this are clearly because the company’s employee genuinely wanted to make the customer happy, and not because they knew it would be good PR.

There are many other companies who’s customers have shared similar “above and beyond” stories such as Apple and Amazon. At some point as the company grows, it will become harder to satisfy every customer. For example, there has been a lot of articles recently about Apple customer service slipping due to their rapid growth. I think this is inevitably because any company will always here more complaints as they grow. Those complaints sometimes have a tendency to surface and spread faster on the internet. But at the same time, great stories of happy customers also spread very fast. Larger numbers of happy customers will also leave reviews that can be read by anyone on popular sites like Judy’s Book and Yahoo.

In Conclusion…

They say they are “a service company that happens to sell shoes”. So essentially, Zappos is providing a great service to help people buy the shoes they want with no hassles while hopefully saving them money at the same time. I think there is no better way to run a company.

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Comments

  • Nice article about zappos footwear company, it is true that zappos providing outstanding services in footwear deal and it's coustomer feedback form made it different from other shoe companies, thank you for writing such a nice article.
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