Zappos - Delivering WOW to customers

In this episode of the Hello Customer Podcast, Espree interviews Rob Siefker, the Senior Director of the Customer Loyalty Team at Zappos. He is based at the Zappos’ campus in downtown Las Vegas. The Customer Loyalty Team (CLT) at Zappos is a team of 650+ employees who handle customer calls, answer emails and live chats and provide other kinds of support for customers.

Zappos is a service company
Rob talks about how Zappos is a service company at the core even though they sell apparel, shoes and handbags. For the CLT, each interaction with a customer is about creating a personal connection with the customer and not about a transaction. Rob shares a great story about how on his second day, he was assigned a desk and told to ‘just wow the customer’.

Key Takeaways:

• Zappos is primarily a service company dedicated to wowing the
  customer.
• The CLT aims to create a personal connection with customers.
• The ten core values of Zappos have greatly impacted their company
  culture and customer service.
• The CLT can stay on the call indefinitely.
• If an employee wants to do something for a customer because they
  believe it's the right thing to do, they can do it.
• Zappos has an internal chat service for employees to ask each for
  help if they are stuck.
• 3 Actionable Points for anyone looking to start or improve a call
  center: write your core values; create a fun environment; and be
  thoughtful while hiring.
• Hire people that are going to be a good fit for your company and end
  up making a positive impact.
• While hiring, Zappos looks for good people who are positive, social,
  proactive, articulate and independent thinkers with a bias towards
  action.