The Zappos Effect

Have you noticed that customer service reps are friendlier and a little more helpful these days?

I have. At first I thought it was just the economy that was forcing companies to re-think customer service. The I saw an interview with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. One of his examples of delivering a great customer experience hit home with me. Zappos makes it easy for a customer to call them. Their phone number isn't buried in their web site, in fact, not only do they welcome the phone call but they actually keep customers on the phone until they are certain that they have been genuinely helpful.

I recently had to call my cable provider to inquire about an issue with my home cable service. I was dreading the call. The last time I called them was a nightmare. On hold for what seemed like an eternity, customer service reps who sounded almost miserable, handed off to several people in the phone chain, not to mention actually being cut off only to have to call back and re-state my issue. Well I'm pleased to say that this latest call was perfectly painless. When I hung up having had my problem addressed by a friendly person who scheduled a service call at my convenience, I wondered, is it possible that other companies are taking their customer service cues from Zappos? If so, I applaud them for doing so. Let's hope it sticks.