Stick to Your Values: Amazing Customer Service from Zappos
June 1, 2010The internet is laden with examples of bad customer service. When customers are dissatisfied, they immediately take to their blogs and Twitter accounts to let everyone know how they were wronged. Last week, however, there was an amazing customer service story buzzing around on the internet. An internet site run by Zappos, a Las Vegas company started in 1999 had made a huge error. A glitch caused every item on 6pm.com to sell at $49.95 last Sunday morning. Even items that normally cost thousands of dollars were selling at $49.95, which netted a huge loss for Zappos. Instead of taking out their mistake on the customer’s in the face of their loss, Zappos decided to turn it around. They publicly acknowledged their error and allowed all sales to stand.
To witness such great customer service is rare, but those who have purchased items from Zappos were not surprised. During a time where companies try to curb customer service expenses, Zappos embraces it. Their call center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They offer “surprise” overnight shipping for several lucky customers a day. Their warehouse operates 24 hours a day which increases turnaround time for orders. They don’t list an item for sale that isn’t available in their warehouse, so there’s no chance of being surprised when you discover (post-purchase) that the item you want is out of stock.
Zappos considers excellent customer service to be important to their brand and this extreme example has solidified it. The company will be forever associated with excellent customer service. Though they lost money with their error, they used it as an opportunity to prove that they are consistent with their values. This will ultimately be reflected in their bottom line figures, which are sure to grow along with customer loyalty and confidence.