Shoes, not the most exciting product category, right? Trytelling that to Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay), CEO of Zappos.com. Inless than a decade, Hsieh has built Zappos into a billion dollarbusiness through delivering a vast selection of shoes, clothing,handbags and other products (over three million items available)and unsurpassed customer service. The company was acquired byAmazon in 2009 and operates as an independent entity. Mr. Hsieh isa self-professed scholar of “happiness” and, as part of his visionto create the world’s most customer-centric online company, aims todeliver “Happiness in a Box.” This three-part formula is to: 1)meet expectations by delivering the right items, 2) meet desiresthrough free shipping, free return shipping when necessary and a365 day return policy and 3) often delight customers via surpriseupgrades to overnight shipping (four to five day shipping isstandard).
The Zappos customer experience (obsession) is all aboutdeveloping relationships, emotional connections and high-touch“WOW” customer service. The Zappos program for customer service issummarized below:
> Make customer service a priority for the whole company, notjust a department
> Make WOW a verb part of your company’s everydayvocabulary
> Empower and trust your customer service reps
> Don’t measure call times, upsell or use scripts
> Don’t hide your 1-800 number
> View each call as an investment in building a brand
> Celebrate (company-wide) great service
> Find people passionate about customer service
> Give great service to everyone: customers, employees andvendors.
To Discuss: (Answer 2 of the 5 questions below and reply to 2 ormore comments by classmates)
1. What prevents other companies from adopting customer servicebest practices (review the
nine guidelines)?
2. How can the Zappos philosophy of creating exceptional value beadopted by your company?
