Customer Service = Customer Love Fest

Zappos Customer Service Brings Tears

"When I came home this last time, I had an email from Zappos asking about the shoes, since they hadn’t received them. I was just back and not ready to deal with that, so I replied that my mom had died but that I’d send the shoes as soon as I could. They emailed back that they had arranged with UPS to pick up the shoes, so I wouldn’t have to take the time to do it myself. I was so touched. That’s going against corporate policy.

Yesterday, when I came home from town, a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears. I’m a sucker for kindness, and if that isn’t one of the nicest things I’ve ever had happen to me, I don’t know what is."

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Blog Action Day

(I somehow forgot to post this on Oct 15.) Today is Blog Action Day. Bloggers the world over are blogging about the environment. I am currently reading, Cool It. This is a must-read. Cool It takes a look at the information contained in An Inconvenient Truth. It doesn't approach the matter from a right wing view, rather it approaches it from a reasonable view. The author says that global warming is occurring and we are most likely advancing the effects. So, what are some reasonable ways to handle this problem. That is the basis of the book. It does not make sense to spend a lot of money, as we currently are. In fact, many of the attempts to go green are actually hurting the environment much more than helping. It has basically become a for-profit business surrounding a hollywood created pandemonium. There are things to do that can help and that should be done, but they fly in the face of what is currently being pushed. For example, if we are really worried about the polar bear population in the artic, we should not worry about 3 or 4 polar bears that were drowned during a windstorm (which was somehow interpreted by Gore to show that water levels are rising) but instead focus on the forty bears that are hunted each year. If we are worried about greenhouse emissions, we shouldn't spend thousands extra on a hybrid vehicle (which the production of causes much more contaminants than the production of a normal vehicle) but buy a regular vehicle and invest the money in fighting hunger so that other countries can get to the point where they can worry about their greenhouse gases rather than eating. You see, nothing the US does is really going to make a big difference. The problem is going to be the development of China and India and other places like that. These are places where many people don't care at all and are just going to do what is cheapest. Our vehicles are now more fuel efficient, along with all of our appliances. If we can help those economies get to the point of being able to buy those things and even progress the technology further, we will do much more to help reduce greenhouse gases than if we spent our money on expensive but unrealistic programs here. You just have to say, "What will really make a difference?" And think of it from an economic perspective.

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Make us feel special

I know it's been awhile since Apple announced that it would give a $100 credit to the iPhone early adopters after deciding to drop it's price so quickly. I've been meaning to mention what a great marketing opportunity this would have been for Apple. I've read elsewhere that some marketers were suggesting a commemorative T-shirt or something that would have made the early adopters feel and look special. Giving $100 when someone just lost $200 is a nice gesture, but still leaves a bad taste in their mouths. When you're in such a situation, where there is very little you can do to reverse the situation, try finding a way to turn the negative into a positive. Those early adopters didn't care so much about the $200. They were willing to spend it. I mean, anyone willing to spend a lot of money on a new piece of equipment like that is doing it because the love the brand and want to set themselves apart. So, help them meet that goal. A t-shirt with a gift certificate would have left a completely different feeling afterwards. Now imagine that customer wearing a shirt that says, "I was one of the first" or something like that. That's feeling special.

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