E-commerce Service Tips
Zappos.com is an e-commerce site selling shoes and clothing, and it is combating this problem. Known for its loyalty business model and relationship marketing, Zappos.com prides itself on exceptional customer service. Its call center employees are trained to make an emotional connection with the consumer, and they are expected to spend at least 80 percent of their time in customer-facing interactions.
In one interaction, a Zappos employee mailed a flower delivery to a customer who returned a pair of boots after her husband died. The employee billed the company and sent the flowers without supervisor approval. Zappos employees go above and beyond traditional customer service, allowing the company to become one of the world’s largest online shoe stores. In general, e-commerce merchants can provide great customer service by offering multichannel support, listening to social media, tracking customer interactions, and focusing on timely responses. Delivering exceptional customer service can be a huge differentiator, as in the case of Zappos.com.
I love Zappos and have always admired their customer service. I had no idea how much effort they put into it…I guess I thought I was just lucky to get a “good” service person every time I called. I know it sounds silly, but reading that story about sending flowers to the recently bereaved customer touched my heart;it’s not something you expect from a big company. This increased my loyalty to Zappos, even though I already have more shores than I can store!
This company seems to really have their act together when it comes to customer service. I mean, what other company would mail out flowers to one of their customers after the passing of a spouse? Great customer service like this can really make a company stand out from among the rest.
The key point I take away from the Zappos business model is that they hire the right people to begin with. When you have the right people in the right positions, you can then trust them to do their jobs with integrity.
Connecting with your customers is always a good thing. Showing them personal care and concern not only builds rapport, it builds humanity.
Ah, i see. Well that’s not too tricky at all!