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.

Jeff and Steve Attend WordCamp 2010 in Savannah

This past weekend, Steve Wilson and myself attended WordCamp in Savannah. WordCamp is a two-day conference held all over the world for WordPress developers and designers. This past weekend we were fortunate to score a conference close enough to drive to in a location as beautiful as Savannah, so for us it was a win-win. Held at the SCAD River Club, on the banks of the Savannah River, the conference attracted speakers and attendees from around the world, including WordPress’ founder, Matt Mullenweg and several members of the core development team, the programmers and designers responsible for the software that powers both the WordPress.com website, and open source software available at WordPress.org. It was a rare opportunity to meet and interact with key people in the WordPress universe.

Since the release of version 3.0 in late June, WordPress is being used for much more than blogging. Initially little more than a blogging platform, enabling users to easily deploy a blog for their website or organization, the current release allows for a much richer environment enabling engagement and development far beyond a typical “blog site”. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see WordPress operating as a full blown CMS (Content Management System) allowing for customization and management of all aspects of a client’s web presence. Support for multiple pages, extending functionality with plugins, and modifying the look and feel with themes all work together to give large and small organizations alike the power and flexibility to quickly deploy and easily maintain even the largest stand alone website.

The conference began on Saturday morning and split into two tracks, one for developers and one for designers. The developers in attendance learned about core technologies, how to create WordPress plugins, how to implement other programming technologies, like javascript and ajax into already existing sites, and a host of other detailed technical topics.

The designers were given a first hand look “behind the curtain” and learned how themes work in WordPress; how to modify the look and feel of a theme; best practices for successful designs, and even spent some time sharing experiences, pitfalls, and triumphs associated with engaging WordPress sites.

Highlights included a showcase of some of the best and most successful WordPress sites that featured an impressive list of websites both large and small built upon the now familiar platform, including Wired Magazine, CNN, and Musicians Kanye West and Jay-Z’s official websites.

The beautiful setting of Savannah, with its remarkable city layout, gorgeous parks, and historic waterfront district provided ample opportunity to experience their famous Southern Hospitality and sample some of the more famous aspects of the “Savannah Experience”, including a trip to Paula Deen’s “Lady and Sons” restaurant. While not as impressive for two guys familiar with collard greens, black eyed-peas, fried chicken, and our moms’ home cooking, it was still fun to ride the elevator to the third floor of Ms. Deen’s “little ole restaurant”. Spirited discussions about all the possibilities of the WordPress platform were more memorable the next night, sitting on the porch of Fiddler’s Crab House people watching and enjoying fresh local seafood.

WordCamp was a great opportunity for LHWH to touch base with the WordPress community, exchange ideas, and experience firsthand how this terrific web platform can help deliver multi-functional impact in the most effective way possible. What started off as blogging software has quickly grown into the most robust, easy-to-implement and manageable software on the web today. With a wealth of plugins and themes, it helps fast track the development of an extremely robust website. Ask us how we can deploy this powerful update to WordPress for you.