Five Customer Service Lessons From Zappos.com

Go to http://www.Hyken.com to learn more about Shep Hyken, customer service speaker and expert.

Professional keynote and customer service speaker and New York Times bestselling author, Shep Hyken shares five tips from Zappos.com.

So, let’s get right into it. Here are five things that Zappos is doing right. I’m sure at least one of them, if not all five, might be appropriate for you and your business.

1. Wow Your Customers
Zappos regularly exceeds expectations. Their testimonial pages are full of people amazed and in awe of the speedy delivery. I experienced this as well. I placed an order on a Wednesday, and later than night I received an email stating... “Although you originally ordered Standard shipping and handling, 4 to 5 business days, we have given your order special priority processing in our warehouse and are upgrading the shipping and delivery time frame for your order. Your order will ship out today and be given a special priority shipping status so that you can receive your order even faster than we originally promised! Please note that this is being done at no additional cost to you. It is simply our way of saying thank you for being our customer.” They WOWED me by exceeding my expectations. And, they let me know it. When you find a way to dramatically exceed your customer’s expectations, even exploit it. Make sure they know it! It’s a Moment of Magic you don’t want them to miss!

2. Never Argue About Returns
Depending on your business, you may or may not have typical returns like a retailer. Still, pay attention to how Zappos treats a return. They have a 100 percent satisfaction guaranteed return policy. The company will never object about a return. In fact, Zappos actually encourages their customers to order several products, and return what they don’t want. This sort of return policy will give your customers confidence, which creates trust, and trust creates loyalty.

3. Culture Fit
Zappos hires purely for a cultural fit. During the interview process they test the potential employee for their alignment to each and every one of their company values. They don’t care if you’re passionate about shoes – they care if you’re passionate about service! Once hired, every employee goes through their training program, and once completed, Zappos will offer a two thousand dollar “quitting bonus” to those employees that want to leave if they feel they aren’t a fit for the Zappos culture.

4. Customer-Centric Approach
The goal of every Zappos employee is to make customers happy. They make a point to treat every customer like an individual. They strive to make every experience positive, and that every interaction is a chance to wow the customer. Especially since Zappos is an online retailer, a phone call may only happen once with a customer, so it’s all the more reason to ensure that every experience is a powerful and positive one.

5. The Culture Book
Zappos is all about creating WOW – for both customers and employees. And, these WOW moments are documented in their culture book that they publish each year. The book includes submissions written by Zappos employees that answers the question, “What does the Zappos culture mean to you?” Giving employees the opportunity to contribute to these types of projects is fun and empowering.

Shep Hyken, professional keynote and customer service speaker, customer service trainer, and New York Times best-selling author, shares his customer service tips. These tips are your how to guide to customer complaints, delivering amazing customer service, customer loyalty, customer service training, customer trust, company culture, customer experiences, sales tactics, and employee retention.

To hear more customer service tips, listen to interviews, read his blog and learn about The Amazement Revolution go to http://www.hyken.com. Shep is a customer service expert and the Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) of Shepard Presentations. As a professional speaker and author, Shep helps companies build loyal relationships with their customers and employees.

For information about customer service training go to http://www.TheCustomerFocus.com.

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This video will answer:
How to wow your customers.
What can I learn from Zappos about customer service?
How should I handle customer returns?

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