What Does Amazon Do Best At In Customer Service

Amazon Customer Service: half-dozen Things That Go far An Effortless Feel

Amazon is amid the nigh talked-about companies in the earth, and for skilful reason. The e-commerce giant has literally reinvented multiple industries, including:

· Bookstores

· Nearly every other retail category

· Third-party selling

· Subscription services

· On-need audio and video

· Independent publishing

· Packet commitment

· Vocalization administration

· Cloud services

· And many more than

What's remarkable is that throughout Amazon's growth story, it has never lost sight of its customers, repeatedly developing seamless user experiences and continuing to add value to its flagship Prime number program.

We often apply the word "remarkable" on theExperience This! Bear witness considering it means "worthy of talking nigh," and when other people are talking almost a visitor it is far more than credible than the company talking about itself. On the show, we've talked about our experiences with Prime Video, Alexa, Amazon Get and four-Star Stores, to proper name a few.

What'due south talked about less often is Amazon'south customer service, which can be attributed to at least 2 things:

1) For many years Amazon more than or less hid its cost-free phone number from the website, encouraging users to self-serve instead.

2) The need for customer service is so rare because the feel is consistently so expert.

Amazon'south six "Client Service Tenets" – posted throughout its offices — explicate a lot about why Amazon is so easy and pleasurable to do business concern with, and can exist used as inspiration for any visitor looking to improve its customer service.

Amazon Customer Service Tenets — Amazon's Client Service Tenets are posted in its offices.

ANONYMOUS AMAZON EMPLOYEE

The six tenets are (with my commentary):

1. "Relentlessly abet for customers."This is a truly amazing sentence because information technology demonstrates that Amazon clearly understands that many companies do not: Customers are non the enemy; they are the very reason a company exists. Without them, there is no business. To "advocate" means to be on i's side, and the fact that Amazon "relentlessly" tries to be on the client'southward side is indicative of why so many people beloved the company. In fact, past relentlessly advocating for its customers, Amazon has inspired millions of customers to advocate for Amazon!

2."Trust our customers and rely on assembly to use good sentence."When you trust your customers, they trust you lot dorsum. Yes, a modest minority of customers volition effort to take advantage of this trust, simply most will not. This trust is why my "easiest render always" was able to occur. What'due south also implied only not explicitly stated in this tenet is that Amazon trusts its associates, as well. By giving them the liberty to "use good sentence," the company frees its associates from rigid scripts and empowers them to help solve client problems. And since happy employees equal happy customers, the result of this trust is felt across just the individual associate.

3."Anticipate customer needs and care for their time and attention equally sacred."This tenet can be broken downwardly into two pieces. Anticipating customer needs in customer service means taking an educated approximate as to why someone is calling – a question about when a recent order will be delivered, for case – or even solving issues before a customer calls. For instance, Amazon has been known to proactively issue refunds for video purchases if it notices that the download speed was too slow. Similarly, Duke Energy uses social media to alert customers of potential outages due to severe weather – before they happen.

Too many companies deed like they don't care for a customer's "time and attention as sacred." Examples include long hold times on the telephone or in a checkout line, not answering emails or social media posts, and forcing customers to bound through all sorts of hoops to make a claim, become a refund, or cancel an account. Only Amazon knows that by treating their customers well and valuing their time, it will gain even more advocacy from raving fans.

four."Deliver personalized, peculiar experiences that customers love."Did that word "peculiar" surprise yous too? Everyone is trying to be "personalized" these days, but Amazon has proven time and time once more that it is non "everyone." By being simply a piffling bit peculiar – try request Alexa to beat box, for example – Amazon and its products become so much more than memorable to customers. Yous might have also noticed the word "love" and might exist thinking that no ane could "love" your business. That'southward what I though when I started working at Discover Card, until I saw countless pieces of cardmember feedback using that very give-and-take. If someone tin "love" their credit menu, then someone tin can probably love your business concern too.

5."Make it simple to notice and systematically escalate problems."This one is more operational in nature, but still contains several key words: making it "uncomplicated" means making the Client Service amanuensis's job easier and it links back to valuing a customer's time. Being able to easily "escalate" bug is critical to early identification of potential outages or major public relations bug, and links back to trusting its associates to escalate when necessary. And doing and so "systematically" means that Amazon is practicing continuous comeback, and then that it is constantly identifying and fixing issues to better the overall customer feel.

6."Eliminate customer try through this sequential and systematic approach: defect elimination, self-service, automation, and support from an expert associate."Amazon doesn't just desire to reduce customer endeavor, it wants to "eliminate" information technology! This is the real reason why Amazon is winning in then many different industries – because it creates an effortless experience for its customers. And the "sequential and systematic arroyo" makes and then much sense: The fewer problems exist, and the more customers are able to solve those problems themselves (or have them automatically solved for them), the less the visitor is going to spend on traditional Customer Service.

Many people complaining Amazon'due south success considering of the affect on local businesses. But if those local businesses had a set of Client Service Tenets like Amazon's, they'd exist far less likely to lose customers just because a product is a few dollars cheaper online. Amazon is and so great at what information technology does because it focuses on the customer experience at every touchpoint, fixes bug immediately and permanently, empowers its associates to do the right thing, and continuously improves on itself.