Put Buyers First? What a Concept describes the way Amazon bailed out a reporter after he realized his son’s PlayStation gift had been stolen after being signed for.
The Amazon customer service guy didn’t blink. After assuring himself that I had never actually touched or seen the PlayStation, he had a replacement on the way before the day was out. It arrived on Christmas Eve. Amazon didn’t even charge me for the shipping. My son was very happy. So, of course, was I.
The article goes on to discuss how taking care of customers can be the best way to build a lasting business, even if it comes at the expense of short-term results.
But I couldn’t help wondering if maybe there wasn’t something else at play here, something Wall Street never seems to take very seriously. Maybe, just maybe, taking care of customers is something worth doing when you are trying to create a lasting company. Maybe, in fact, it’s the best way to build a real business — even if it comes at the expense of short-term results.
It is almost impossible to read or see an interview with Mr. Bezos in which he doesn’t, at some point, begin to wax on about what he likes to call “the customer experience.” Just a few months ago, for instance, he appeared on Charlie Rose’s talk show to tout Amazon’s new e-book device, the Kindle. Toward the end of the program, Mr. Rose asked the chief executive an open-ended question about how he spent his time, and Mr. Bezos responded with a soliloquy about his “obsession” with customers.
“They care about having the lowest prices, having vast selection, so they have choice, and getting the products to customers fast,” he said. “And the reason I’m so obsessed with these drivers of the customer experience is that I believe that the success we have had over the past 12 years has been driven exclusively by that customer experience. We are not great advertisers. So we start with customers, figure out what they want, and figure out how to get it to them.”
Anybody who has spent any time around Mr. Bezos knows that this is not just some line he throws out for public consumption. It has been the guiding principle behind Amazon since it began. “Jeff has been focused on the customer since Day 1,” said Suresh Kotha, a management professor at the University of Washington business school who has written several case studies about Amazon. Mr. Miller noted that Amazon has really had only one stated goal since it began: to be the most customer-centric company in the world.
According to the article, Bezos’ obsession with customers has paid off too…
But Mr. Bezos refused to give in. “He was spending his time on long-term value creation,” Mr. Miller said. There aren’t many chief executives who can so easily ignore the entreaties of the investment community, but Mr. Bezos turned out to be one of them. Of course it helps that he owns over 100 million shares of the stock — and is the company’s single largest shareholder…
There is simply no question that Mr. Bezos’s obsession with his customers — and the long term — has paid off, even if he had to take some hits to the stock price along the way. Surely, it was worth it. As for me, the $500 favor the company did for me this Christmas will surely rebound in additional business down the line. Why would I ever shop anywhere else online? Then again, there may be another reason good customer service makes sense. “Jeff used to say that if you did something good for one customer, they would tell 100 customers,” Mr. Kotha said.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in 37signals.
Steffen Christensen
on 23 Jan 08Another by-product of such an attitude is probably happier employees. Wouldn’t you rather work as a service representative for a company where you get to do such nice things for the customers? (Frankly, in many other places the policy is to squeeze every last penny from even very unsatisfied customers.)
An online reseller
on 23 Jan 08Amazon does this because they can. It is a very nice gesture.
I don’t know the circumstances, but I don’t know how you can sign for something and never see it or touch it. If someone did sign for it, they should be responsible for it.
But really, this kind of gesture also hurts smaller resellers …who in my opinion do a far better job with customer service than the larger resellers. People have come to expect free shipping, free returns, and requests above and beyond what was mentioned in this post. We call this “competition” and some of it justified, but it’s becoming more common that people expect that and a lot more out of ALL resellers. The small guys can’t do this…and they shouldn’t.
Take for example a customer of ours who recently ordered a product and didn’t like it (actually, did not like the way it fit). She/he wanted us to refund her order (no problem), but then wanted us to refund her/his shipping and pay return shipping on the item too. Compare that if I went to a store and bought a pair of jeans, got home, tried them on and didn’t like the way they looked on me. I would NEVER expect or request the retailer to refund me the cost of my fuel to get there and back. But that is basically what people do these days.
People have come to expect too much and go to whoever they can to make up for their lack of responsibility or poor decisions.
Don’t get me wrong, we do go above and beyond for a lot of customers, but just as you fire clients, sometimes it makes sense to fire a customer too.
fitzage
on 23 Jan 08Stuff like this is exactly why I became an Amazon Prime customer and why I buy so much stuff from Amazon, even in cases where they aren’t necessarily the cheapest option. I’ve always been treated well, even when they make the occassional mistake.
Christian
on 23 Jan 08Interesting. Amazon does make a great person-to-person experience (for example, the Prime service is brilliant, and worth every penny based on how much I shop with Amazon).
But the website user experience leaves something to be desired. I’d like an easier way to kill items that are being recommended to me. My wish list is buried in menus. Little usability things like that pile up.
I would also like for Amazon to stop truncating my name to Christ… It’s been happening for over five years now, and you think that someone would have figured out by now that it’s an annoying (but humorous) thing to be greeted with.
Bryce
on 23 Jan 08I’ve had a couple not-so-great experiences with Amazon customer service. There have been two times when I ordered something before the “Delivery by December 24th” guarantee, only to have it not show up on time. Obviously this is a stressful situation and all I wanted was some sort of compensation for me believing their “guarantee” and then having them not deliver. I went back and forth a couple times with a customer service rep and never got anything more than a “Sorry, but sometimes things happen” type response.
So, most of my experiences have been okay, but I was NOT impressed when it came to enforcing their holiday delivery guarantee.
An online reseller
on 23 Jan 08...I did not mean to insinuate that this particular customer in the post should be “fired.”
You have to evaluate the cost/benefit of retaining or firing a customer. Sometimes that is really difficult to determine.
Dennis
on 23 Jan 08Amazon makes it very easy to buy stuff; I haven’t cared for all the UI transitions they’ve gone through (sometimes it seemed like every visit involved a little bit of searching) but it has gotten better over time. Thankfully I’ve never had a problem yet but it’s good to hear that they take care of their customers.
Don Schenck
on 23 Jan 08“Fanboy alert!!”
:-)
A woman I met in our neighborhood told the story of purchasing a blouse at Nordstrom’s, some 50 miles south of us.
When she got home, she realized the security ink tag was still attached.
She called the store—an hour later a guy from Nordstrom’s is at her front door to remove the tag!
YEAH BABY!
Erik
on 23 Jan 08Personally, I am sick of this Amazon lovefest. You’re taking advantage of this channel to pimp out your investor and, frankly, it looks really bad.
The Kindle was pretty much universally derided as being a terrible device. The fact that you guys won’t own up to the fact that it completely fails every design standard you claim to hold is very, very telling.
ML
on 23 Jan 08Personally, I am sick of this Amazon lovefest. You’re taking advantage of this channel to pimp out your investor and, frankly, it looks really bad.
Jeff Bezos’ investment is not the reason we post about Amazon. We posted frequently about Amazon long before we had any involvement with Bezos. We post about Amazon for the same reason we post about Apple, Audi, Dyson, or other companies we respect and/or learn from.
The Kindle was pretty much universally derided as being a terrible device. The fact that you guys won’t own up to the fact that it completely fails every design standard you claim to hold is very, very telling.
I don’t have a Kindle so I can’t comment on it. Mark does and he wrote a review about it giving his opinion. The only thing that review is “very, very telling” of is how Mark feels about his Kindle vs. his Sony Reader. Anything else you want to read into it reveals more about how you think than it does about how we think.
JD
on 23 Jan 08Frankly, I agree with Erik.
Jeff Bezos’ investment is not the reason we post about Amazon. We posted frequently about Amazon long before we had any involvement with Bezos.
But now you do have involvement. And regardless of whether you SAY his investment isn’t the reason for these posts, it creates the appearance of bias. You acknowledge this perception by placing a disclosure at the end.
Rather than pretending that perception doesn’t exist, why not avoid it altogether by leaving the Amazon/Bezos reviews to others?
Kevin
on 23 Jan 08Personally, Amazon love fest or not, I totally agree with the article. Treating customers and employees with integrity and compassion is so rarely celebrated and I like hearing the stories of how successful people buck Wall Street to do so. There was a recent article on the Costco chairman and how he pays his employees much higher than Wall Street prefers because that is how he wants to be treated. I had a recent issue with Verizon. I accidently washed my cell phone and wanted to buy a replacement. I went into three Verizon outlets and got three different stories and still don’t have a new cell phone because their employees aren’t given free reign to please their customers. I’m not looking for a freebee, I simply want to replace my phone and Verizon won’t let me. So, regardless of 37Signals connection with Amazon, getting stories like these out in the open is of much higher benefit to me that someone’s perceived notions about their motive.
ML
on 23 Jan 08Rather than pretending that perception doesn’t exist, why not avoid it altogether by leaving the Amazon/Bezos reviews to others?
Two reasons: 1) We think readers here are interested in these posts. 2) We don’t want to surrender to your misguided paranoia.
According to your logic, Time magazine should never cover AOL because there’s a connection between the two. That seems a bit silly (and it’s not how it works).
We put the disclosure statement on our Amazon posts. Readers can decide for themselves whether we’re secretly pushing some agenda or speaking from the heart.
DLW
on 23 Jan 08Great article, but one sentence stuck out to me: “I shudder to think how this entreaty would have gone over at, say, Apple, where customer service is an oxymoron.” Of all the companies one could choose to pick on in this sentence… Apple? I, and most people I know, have only had good experiences with Apple. Perhaps not replacing-stolen-$500-Christmas-gift-good experiences, but they’d probably make my top 10 of companies that I’d prefer to have a problem with.
lss
on 23 Jan 08“Readers can decide for themselves whether we’re secretly pushing some agenda or speaking from the heart.”
Fair enough. And people are now saying we’ve done that for a while and that it’s starting to feel like you’re pushing an agenda which changes how the blog feels.
Be thankful that you have a loyal following that will take the time to tell you these things rather than just walk away. The irony is this post is about obsession with customers, and your immediate response is to tell us that you won’t listen to our ‘misguided paranoia”.
Maybe you can’t see it from the inside, but the lovefest is pretty intense from out here and it’s changing the mood of the blog.
Adam
on 23 Jan 08I have to agree with others who have mentioned disapproval of continued posts about Amazon and Bezos. Granted, they have done great things, but the number of times I’ve opened my SvN feed and seen an entry about them in the past couple months has been off-putting. Not only do you make people feel as if you’re pushing your investor’s interest, you also begin to lose your credibility in regards to discussing their successes, even if what you say is true.
I’m a loyal 37signals customer and I appreciate the insight into successful customer service, but in the interest of your readers, please make the posting of things with the “disclaimer” addendum a rarity.
fitzage
on 23 Jan 08Wow. Some pissy people up in here.
For the record, if you look on the entire front page of the svn blog, there are two articles that talk about Amazon that I can tell. One is a review of the Kindle, and one is this article about their customer service.
That’s two out of (I think) 25. I wouldn’t exactly call that a “lovefest.”
Tom G
on 23 Jan 08OK, so you’re biased towards your invester…
What of it. It’s your forum – say what you like. If people don’t like it, they don’t have to read what you write. Criticising it is actually laughable. It’s not as though your opinion is some kind of public trust to be protected. It’s the opinion of some people. What 37Signals represents isn’t for everybody and you state that openly.
Don’t get me wrong, if you say “XYZ” is great, I’ll take it at face value. You are obviously biased. If I had deep pocketed investors who believed in me, I would certainly be biased myself.
Like it or not, 37Signals is in some way part of the Amazon world. It’s only natural for you to share your opinion from your perspective in that world. You have every right to share the good things you see in that world.
While I find the vitriolic backlash at any mention of Amazon amusing to read and comment on you have touched on what I believe in:
Having your customer’s best interest in mind with a product they need at a fair price is a primary key to success in business.
Tom G
on 23 Jan 08By the way; did the customer service guy know he was speaking to the press?
JD
on 23 Jan 08According to your logic, Time magazine should never cover AOL because there’s a connection between the two. That seems a bit silly (and it’s not how it works).
If that’s what you interpret as my logic, then I’ve failed at communicating my point.
A better example would be that Time magazine should never cover AOL and pretend to be objective about it in a review because there’s a connection between the two.
As a customer/reader, I’ve found that 37s has interesting things to say about plenty of other topics. For that matter, I’ve been an Amazon Prime customer since the start and love that service. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
But, as Adam suggests, why not simply avoid posts that require the disclaimer?
Tom G
on 23 Jan 08Oh and also by the way…
Jason, do you use your Kindle or is another one of those gadgets laying around after the initial excitement was sated?
Stephen James
on 23 Jan 08I don’t know how it is now, but in the past Amazon has been known to make their customer support phone number hard to find. Just google Amazon 1-800
Tom G.
on 23 Jan 08Kevin – Verizon sells an insurance package to cover replacement of phones regardless of how they were damaged. I would be broke if I hadn’t gotten this for my children’s phones…
Tom G
on 23 Jan 08OK I had to look. It appears that Amazon may refund up to 50% of the purchase price for goods damaged in a way outside Amazon’s control.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=901926
This is certainly better than Verizon but probably worse than Nordstroms… See the customer service part here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordstrom I have a friend who swears this is a true story.
ML
on 23 Jan 08A better example would be that Time magazine should never cover AOL and pretend to be objective about it in a review because there’s a connection between the two.
Er, this happens all the time. Are you suggesting that Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly (both owned by Time Warner) should cease to review movies from Warner Bros. because there’s a connection between the two?
Manuel Martensen
on 23 Jan 08The disclosure works fine for me. But i don’t make use of it.
I come here because of the clever and smart stuff, just like the most of us. I trust in the sources who come up with these clever and smart articles to not fuck it up when it comes to bias.
JD
on 23 Jan 08Er, this happens all the time. Are you suggesting that Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly (both owned by Time Warner) should cease to review movies from Warner Bros. because there’s a connection between the two?
No, I’m suggesting that the reviewer doesn’t follow-up in the comments of the review and deny the perception of bias.
I think you’re choosing not to see my point and I’m not all that interested in beating on the issue.
Have a good day.
J
on 23 Jan 08Putting aside the argument of how consistent Amazon is with the “customer first” credo, the point still stands. As someone else mentioned, Nordstrom is well-known for service above and beyond what a customer should reasonably expect and it’s paid off for them.
Zappo’s has an ugly site with lousy navigation, but none of their slicker competitors can touch them because they’ve already established a reputation of excellent customer service.
Anonymous Coward
on 24 Jan 08these pussy baby whiners are the cancer that is ruining the Internet
Jeff
on 24 Jan 08The disclaimer is appropriate and enough. The suggestion that 37s should avoid the topic of Amazon? Nuts.
That said, I find Amazon less than great from a customer service standpoint. They consistently lie to me about how soon they can ship a product, when they’ve shipped a product, and when I can expect that product to arrive. I go with a competitor whenever possible.
Amazon Prime is awesome, though…
cek
on 24 Jan 08Well, the question is not whether Amazon deserves to be reviewed on this blog—it certainly does. However, what I find appalling is the way the 37signals staff responds to honest enquiries by its readers.
As someone who follows the blog regularly, I don’t see why 37sshould call someone’s apprehensions “misguided paranoia”.
I haven’t had any remarkable experience with Amazon, but I wonder how it’s like to be a 37signals customer. Maybe they mail you back saying “We’re not going to help you fix your problem ‘cause you’re too retarded/tech-phobiac/paranoid not to use Safari.”
DaveA
on 24 Jan 08@ An online reseller:
You seem to be saying that exemplary customer service hurts small resellers, but I suggest that that’s a “small” perspective. Bezos understands a couple of fundamental truths about the Internet generation: it is far, far easier for customers to influence one another (as the original article, this blog post and all of the comments here attest); and it is far easier for customers to “walk” to the next online reseller if they decide to do so. In short, reputation matters deeply, and reputation is built one transaction at a time.
That being the case, it is simply a matter of changing one’s perspective about exemplary customer service. It’s no longer accounted for as COGS, instead, it’s an investment in Marketing, used to build positive reputation. Thinking of it that way, any business has far fewer customers with big problems than those who do the normal transactions. When issues arise, give people more than they expect and some of them will tell their friends; some may even write highly trafficked blogs. But all of them will have good will towards you.
NOTE: To insure that you’re not taken advantage of, you’ll need to use CRM systems to red flag bad actors, but a good CRM system is necessary for providing normal levels of service anyway.
If one continues to think of such expenditures as “they’re taking my money” instead of a Marketing investment, then who will be excited to tell their friends about your company?
Add to this what Steffen Christensen said about happier employees, and it’s a win-win-win.
Chris S
on 24 Jan 08The only person in this story who should have been fired is the delivery guy who left the package with someone who I have to assume was not authorized to sign for the package.
Of course, Amazon should be commended for going the extra mile, then they should have gotten on the phone to the delivery company and gotten reimbursed.
Serge Lescouarnec
on 24 Jan 08I also mentioned this article on Serge the Concierge .
This is the kind of piece that makes you realize that a lot of companies have lost touch with what great customer service is.
Serge
Paul
on 25 Jan 08I used to work at Nordstrom, and they have had this approach for years and years. They will pretty much do anything for a customer. The result is lifelong loyalty to the company. Like the author says, why would I shop anywhere else when I’m always happy.
Brian
on 27 Jan 08The only time I had a problem with an Amazon product, Amazon shipped me out a new one post-haste. There wasn’t anything even really wrong with the product, it just didn’t come with a cardboard cover that fit in with all the other DVDs in a box set. I mentioned that there was nothing in the information on the product that indicated that that one (out of ten total) and only that one did not come with a cardboard slipcover. They mailed me a new one, and it had the cover. :-)
This discussion is closed.