If you said, “Amazon” twenty years ago, most people thought of a rain forest. Today, say it and the most-trusted company in America comes to mind — mostly because it was built on incredible customer service.
Amazon raised the bar on customer service quickly in its two-decade existence. It was just named the most trusted company in a Harris Interactive Poll.
So why is Amazon’s service so good?
“Amazon continually reinvests its profits to improve communication with customers, speed up service and find innovative delivery methods,” says David Rekuc, marketing expert and director at the digital agency Ripen eCommerce. “By focusing on long-term growth over immediate profitability, Amazon has gained an extremely loyal customer base.”
Here are four ways Amazon is different from most companies — and how you can follow its lead:
1. Be ever-present
Amazon gives customers access to help at any time — anyone can call the contact center at any time. But product reviews, chat rooms and blogs are constantly available, too, giving customers immediate access to valuable information from people just like them.
Offer customers access to other customers who share an interest in the same products and services. If you set up chats and blogs on your site, they’ll come and help each other more than you ever imagined.
2. Get personal
Amazon is probably the online pioneer in complementary selling. Sure, salespeople have been doing it since the Stone Ages — suggesting products that customers might like based on things they’ve already bought or perused. Amazon continually works at perfecting the tailored shopping experience by reviewing what customers buy or look at, then using that data to find products that complement customers’ interests and making them prominent in customer searches. It’s not intrusive, and it is effective.
What’s more, they’re preparing for that order. In some cases, Amazon stocks warehouse shelves near customers’ delivery areas based on what they might buy.
Whether it’s a formal or informal process, you want to capture customers’ preferences and make suggestions based on them.
3. Make it easy
Because Amazon made buying even easier with one-click ordering, customers likely buy more and, in turn, like the company even more.
Once you’ve captured customers’ vital information (full name, address, etc.), you don’t want to ever have to ask for it again. It’s a hassle for customers and a waste of resources for you. Give customers the option of saving their information for faster service.
4. Be kind
Amazon puts customers’ best interest at the forefront of every purchase by making it easy to return an item or cancel a service. It scarcely asks a question when customers want to return an item because the company doesn’t want to make it a hassle, and it recognizes that customers know what’s best for them. (They do ask one question just to determine if the product was defective or not.)
When it comes to letting customers decide what’s best, err to the side of Amazon. Being kind and understanding when customers want to return helps build the kind of trust Amazon is famous for.
