In a time with an ever-changing landscape of regulations, staying ahead of legal and regulatory changes is critical to safeguarding your business's success. Vegas is a place that attracts many tourists, and hence the culture of the city itself is that of service and hospitality. P.S - We'll be publishing a bi-weekly column here on Chattermill.com presenting a brief CX analysis of thought-provoking companies and events in tech. It not only builds engagement but reaffirms your focus on delivering customer satisfaction. At Zappos Insights, Foley inspires other companies to make their work environments better and more fulfilling. Touted as the most valuable car company in the world, Tesla firmly sticks to its zero dollar marketing. A true customer service mindset isn't something that gets turned on when talking to a paying customer. What differentiates Zappos from traditional brick-and-mortar business, and even most of its online competitors, is the technological innovation culture that Zappos fosters internally. My visit with Hsieh (in theory pronounced Shay, but everybody calls him Tony)continues in this funhouse manner for the rest of my time at Zappos new headquarters. Moving to Vegas was also dictated by the fact that it is a 247 city, and the city never sleeps. The base commander told Kelli that people like her make such a difference in the soldiers lives. In the context of Zappos, a company whose stated purpose is "To Live and Deliver WOW," "wow" is typically delivered over the phone, the humble vessel that Zappos considers to be its most. Tony Hsieh ended up one by one selling off all of his apartments to fund the growth of Zappos. >> Learn More: Use Sharpen Insights to improve your interactions (not just your metrics). Here are the top 5 examples of great customer experiences by brands in March. 2. But what it does require is breathing space. Zappos crossed the $1 billion gross sales mark in 2008. 1. A lot of customers will order five different pairs of shoes, try them on with five different outfits in the comfort of their living rooms, and then send back the ones that dont fit or they simply dont like - free of charge. Without support, you're already signaling to potential customers that they'll be flying solo in the face of problems or questions. Entrepreneur and its related marks are registered trademarks of Entrepreneur Media Inc. How Zappos creates a customer-obsessed culture -- and you can, too. 4. You have the customers undivided attention for five to ten minutes, and if you get the interaction right, what weve found is that the customer remembers the experience for a very long time and tells his or her friends about it. Generous may be an understatement. Theyve done a lot of revolutionary things that customers love and achieved the feat of outdoing Amazon in terms of being the most customer-centric online company. Zappos - Hiring for Culture and the Bizarre Things They Do Zappos had to worry about short profitability and long term growth. Zappos is a trailblazer. Dominos is not a pizza delivery company. And after the call I felt moved to send her some flowersjust one of the 380 gifts of flowers you can see on the board that we sent out last year. In fact, the right customer service strategy can - and should - support your sales. By Micah Solomon. To provide the best customer service, Tony Hsieh knew the culture was paramount to success. Zappos runs at just 60 to 70 percent agent occupancy rather than following the industry norm, which is somewhere in the 80s. Zappos is certainly one of those in this category we believe. How a tire company evaluations became most coveted in the culinary industry? Embrace and drive change. We originally published this post on September 9, 2016, and we updated it on February 6, 2019. A culture book is a powerful way to focus the company on the core values. Making exceptional service a critical part of the culture of the company itself. Instead, they have everything to do with how satisfied a customer is at the end of a service interaction. Zappos is known for its company culture and customer service strategy. She got a live chat message from a customer at 4:30 a.m. Join us on our mission to build the first Unified Customer Intelligence Platform, Read the latest coverage about Chattermill in the news. Each month, every employee is able to give a coworker $50. Before Zappos, Tony Hsieh learnt a hard lesson. We focus on making sure we have a great service-focused culture. So investing in good customer service increases customer experience which in turn increases customer loyalty and CLTV, resulting in better topline and bottom line. BlackRock, the story of the worlds largest shadow bank. Unfortunately, the internet connection, ironically, is terrible, and we never get to see the full segment. Because it needs to be. We are not an average company, our service is not average, and we don't want our people to be average. 5. Photo Credit: Zappos. So how do you maintain the culture that you want as you grow? Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. How to make Millennials, Boomers and everyone in between fall in love with your business. Christa Foley Zappos customer service has one, simple goal: to deliver customer happiness. And thats actually really uncomfortable for a lot of reps that come from other call centers. Zappos stresses fun and emphasizes customer service. Companies known for their customer service, like Zappos, set a standard in service that other companies have to match now, too. How We Work | Zappos.com You should spread it around to everyone in your company. A lot of websites bury customer service numbers five links deep, and even when you find it, its a form or e-mail address that you can only contact once. Zappos loosens the reins and putsemployees closest to the customerin control of the customers fate. Consider how attractive it will look to a bean-counting leader to tighten up a generous occupancy rate in the contact center, or loosen up hiring requirements, or shorten the training period before your newly-hired purveyors of wow encounter a live customer. But Ryo didnt want me to take the wrong lesson from it. (Agent occupancy is the percentage of time that agents spendor are predicted to spendactually handling calls, as a percentage of the time they are on the clock.). . Related: I'm Buying Your Customer Experience, Not Your Product. Imagine all the efforts required for a mango tree to grow from the beginning. Technology is starting to replace many conventional human interactions, but is that a good thing? The flowers arent what mattered here most. What a lot of people dont know is that the real reason Tony and his founder ended up selling the company was because company culture had completely gone downhill. 1. Like all exceptional companies know that you cant build great products without genuinely understanding the voice of the customer. Theres the story of an agents 10-hour phone call whereservice was put before metrics. Don't quit on something promising just because of short-sighted pressure. The Zappos Customer Loyalty Team, Las Vegas. Therefore, their move to Vegas (apart from the lower tax rates) was to hire top talent for their customer service team. Discover how to build trust, encourage excellence, foster discipline and create a sense of camaraderie in your organization by applying these battle-tested principles. Through her conversation with her customer, Tommy, Kelli learned that Tommy is in the military. Agents dont use scripts and they never upsell. In the early stages of the company's history, as Zappos was growing, it was haemorrhaging money. And, her simple act of kindness boosted the morale of his entire unit. Initially named shoesite.com, it soon adopted the name Zappos derived from the Spanish word for shoes (Zapatos). He even said we should one day start Zappos Airlines.. Zappos releases a culture book every year. We expect every employee to deliver WOW. - Tony Hsieh, CEO @ Zappos. We want to distinguish the service experience for every customer, on each and every phone call, says Megan Petrini, a customer service trainer/ training facilitator for Zappos Insights, the training arm of Zappos that offers programs designed to help other companies learn the ways of Zappos, including one called, literally, School of Wow. The connection can be anything, as long as it authentically relates to the customer. Zappos has taken numerous actions to ensure the best customer service, a couple of interesting ones are listed here. Ultimately, the customer regained hope that the upcoming wedding would be other than a torture-fest, at which point, browsing together while still on the call, Madison and the customer managed to find a new, likely candidate for pain-free but dressy footwear. In his letter, the CEO summed up his thoughts: We are excited about doing this for 3 main reasons: In hindsight, its logical to assume that Amazon bought Zappos customer-centricity flywheel, which displayed the companys growth potential and its legendary customer service culture, all built by Zappos exceptional talent base. Pimped out conference rooms to set the stage for a genuine conversation rather than an interrogation? The customer service strategies behind Zappos' success that you can implement today. The new hidden asset of Zappos is Chattermills platform. Zappos considers this customer service strategy as a marketing expense towards customer acquisition and the results are visible in the overall increase in the customer lifetime value. Bad Weather Won't Ruin Your Vacation Anymore , Retirees Are Earning Up to $20,000 Per Month With. Great customer service is essential in 2022 Learn why consumers are willing to spend 17% more with companies that deliver superior customer experiences. Want to Drive Growth? Company-wide, it is a daily quest for every employee to WOW customers in new and wonderful ways. 50% of the customers shopping from Zappos do return for further purchases. Id argue, in fact, that the best way to understand Zappos and its approach to customer service is by studying the chalkboard on the wall of Zappos onsite contact center. Learn about the key takeaways from Chattermills Customer Intelligence Summit 2023 in this article, which addresses the biggest talking points in CX right now. >> Read Next: Learn to build a culture rooted in purpose and rally your agents around that shared purpose. Tony Hsieh was the CEO of the company for 20+ years, and he stepped down in August 2020 to pursue philanthropic activities but unfortunately died in a fire accident in November 2020. Very few companies are able to stick to this long-term vision. The first is to assess the candidate's technical capabilities, making sure he or she can actually do the work the position calls for. Our goal for emails is to respond in an hour.. Our busiest time at Zappos is the holiday season; during that period, all employees take at least 10 hours of customer service calls -- myself included. Zappos - Personally reply to every email; Us! But Zappos is different. Hear a dog bark, connect over pets. If you are truly focused on your customers and really, really listening to them, you'll be able to accurately guess what they'll want next. Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded. Zappos positions itself as A Service Company That Happens To Sell Shoes. The top management was not averse to the prospect of having Zappos Airline and Zappos Hotels someday. I think the main thing is just trust [the customer service reps] and let them make their own decisions. The phone is. The company's entire strategy is to create loyalty through incentivizing 'wow' moments and emotional connections. Hsieh doesnt analyze every expense of customer service or thecontact center. . They are confident that these are the touchpoints to create a positive experience for the customer leading to increased loyalty. Zappos developed a set of key values that lives at the heart of their company culture. This encourages people to leverage the advantages of online shopping and simultaneously removes the drawbacks. Chattermill uses deep learning AI to unify and analyse CX data to improve experiences, increase loyalty and retention. Speakers from Amazon, Wise, and H&M provide critical CX insights. Then what is Teslas marketing strategy? We fell down on the email response there, he tells me with some agitation. Zappos is synonym of the best customer service in the world. Definitely, check. Improve Customer Support. I'm Buying Your Customer Experience, Not Your Product. The 10-hour phone call, which has become an essential part of Zappos lore(akin to the tire-refund legend at Nordstrom, that other customer-focused company) is no joking matter to Tony, butto lighten the mood, he pulls up a Jimmy Fallon segment on his laptop where the agent on the Zappos end of themarathon call finally gets to meet the customer he was speaking with. I dont think the difference [between the appeal of Zappos and the Amazon brand] is in the UI [the website user interface]. '", Culture Adviser and Director of Insights at Zappos. Its simply an ecommerce store boasting popular, brand-name items like Adidas running shoes and Calvin Klein bags. Here's Where Average Monthly Mortgage Payments Are The Lowest in The U.S. And about that ten-hour contact center phone call weve all heard about? Zappos and its motto of Delivering Happiness seem to be on the right path in the decade ahead. After this, Kelli recruited help from her fellow Zappos agents, and they sent dozens of packages, supplies, and thank you cards to all the soldiers at Tommys base for the holidays. Since its founding in 1999, Zappos has leveraged cutting-edge technology, social media presence, and excellent customer service practices to sell its products in a way that follows the ever-changing lifestyles of its consumers. I define the Zappos/Amazon difference thus: Amazons site is set up for customers who want the fewest clicks and the most streamlined experience, while Zappos appeals to customers who enjoy a touch more backstory on the merchandise and have a bit more interest in the people who are selling it to them. Case Study: How Zappos Created a Customer-Centric Approach to Digital Tony Hsieh Reveals The Secret To Zappos' Customer Service - Forbes It lists three categories of customer interaction, each sporting a Zappos z for good measure: For each of these channels, someone has written in the number of customer inquiries received for the day (yesterday), and the average time it took for Zappos to respond. All Zapponians know that delivering amazing customer service is what's at the heart of our organization. And, with tales of surprise packages and thank you cards, you see how much agents love making a positive impact. While such wow actions do cost the company some money, as a general rule, wow customer service doesnt have to cost moneyat least not directly. Create a program where every new hire -- regardless of level, position or department -- learns about customer service and has the chance to actually practice it. Related: 5 Ways to Make Your Customers Say 'WOW'. It is not seen as just another supporting function or an operational department but is viewed as the most important team, which can greatly impact their customers. How? Jeff Bezos and Amazon were such big admirers of their culture, operating model and dedication to customer experience, they acquired the business for $1.2bn. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Nike doesnt sell shoes. The company is known and routinely recognized for its excellent customer service. Zappos developed a set of key values that lives at the heart of their company culture. What is this strategy and how Nike has used it? The benefit of customer-centricity is that it creates a flywheel. And they staff their contact centre 24/7. The cycle feeds itself - like a snowball that grows bigger and bigger. Crew, Target, L.L. This customer-centricity is extended throughout the Zappos website. They offer everyone $2,000 to quit. At his first company he sold he began to hate the culture and didnt want to get out of bed. Here are some of the reasons why they did that:-. This whole transaction set precedent of what a smart acquisition is for the rest of the market. It takes tons of training and coaching (or untraining, according to Hsieh) to empower employees to make in-the-moment decisions that benefit customers AND the company. Some time after that, she sent me a letter and a photo of her father., It was quite a story. To maintain focus on the customer, they laid a few initiatives to ensure customer service was central to what they did as they scaled. The key here is to support a strong coaching and training culture rather than on strict policies and procedures. Given below are the five most important lessons you can learn from Zappos' customer-first approach. As it turns out, on average, less than 1% of people end up taking the offer. - Tony Hseih, CEO @ Zappos. Amazon supports us in continuing to grow our vision as an independent entity, under the Zappos brand and with our unique culture. The Secrets to Zappos' Success - US News & World Report Zappos designed a 4 week program, in which they go over company history, the importance of customer service, the long term vision of the company. In Tonys words: At the time, Zappos relied on a revolving line of credit of $100 million to buy inventory. Weve actually said no to a lot of very talented people that we know can make an immediate impact on our top or bottom line. Type above and press Enter to search. Learn more about our vision,mission, and what makes us tick. In the same year, the decision to move the headquarters from San Francisco to Las Vegas was taken. Back when Zappos was still in its infancy, a lot of people said, "No way will people buy shoes online without even trying them on." June 6, 2016. As customer service standards continue to dip, delivering outstanding customer care is a truly fantastic way to differentiate your company from the rest of the herd. Here are the four KPIs they use to monitor, track and improve performance: Measuring Call Quantities Zappos's longest call on record lasted more than eight hours, and guess what? Ideally, this number has to be high. Get an overview of the Chattermill platform, and see Unified Customer Intelligence for yourself, Leverage your customer feedback to discover what your customers really think, Analyse customer support data to create retention-driving support experiences, Create product experiences your customers love, Analyse customer experiences from social media data to complete your VOC program, Master your customer feedback with deep-dive demos, Integrate your tech stack and create a truly unified view of your customers, Create better customer support experiences, Create retention-driving retail experiences, Get a unified, intelligent view of your customers. Those who choose to stay on are immersed in a culture of caring and friendship with leadership teams who treat their employees well. Check. Copyright 2023 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved. However, Zappos sale came at a time of dire straits. To develop a great culture, companies have to create aset of core company values for your company to rally around. Tony Hsieh decided they needed a bigger purpose than just making money. Cannabis Testing Emerges As Crucial Service, Generative AI: Why An AI-Enabled Workforce Is A Productivity Game Changer, Surprising Economists, Small Business Surges Across America, Yes, The Midwest Is Different: Tech, Infrastructure And Values Mark The Rise Of A Corn Belt City, The Son Of A Single Mom, He Rose From Poverty To Lead One Of The Worlds Largest Foundations, Why Change Management Skills Are Essential To Data-Driven Success, A New $500K Accelerator For Black Founders Opens In Brooklyn. Today they are worth billions of dollars, and have become one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Narrowly speaking, its true: Zappos takes the telephone experience very, very seriously. Most call centers are set up by policies and so the actual person thats answering the phone doesnt really have the ability to do anything. He did his MBA from HEC Paris with Strategy specialization and Leadership & Digital Transformation certificates. Zappos runs at 60-70% agent occupancy rather than industry norm which is somewhere in the 80s. Broadly speaking, the telephone at Zappos represents human contact, and extending rather than contracting the amount of time and resources that the company wants to spend in human-on-human connect with customers, whether it is telephone to telephone, terminal to terminal, or even asymmetrically, like when the wildly engaging employees at Zappos create their signature video demos for any and all products they have for sale on their site. It's an evergreen approach to all your interactions. Every Zappos employee we encountered seemed to be genuinely interested in helping us answer our questions . As in a funnel, the number of customers passing on to the next steps keeps reducing in every step (refer above diagram). When other companies were using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for promotion, Zappos was using these social media platforms to gather comments from customers and employees and do word-of-mouth marketing. They agreed that high-quality, empathetic customer care executives are essential to achieve this. (Good luck uncovering a phone number on the Amazon site.)