Question

What was the example that tony gave of excellent customer service that seems counter-intuitive because it was so costly for the company?

Answer 1

Answer:

One of the examples that Tony gave that looked unreasonable because of the cost involved is the cost related to shipping both ways.

Explanation:

Tony Hsieh is the former CEO of Zappos. Speaking about the company's marketing strategy, they had positioned themselves as the best online shoe and clothing business and one of the ways to make that statement was to adopt an unconventional customer care strategy.

An example of their customer service offerings that seemed expensive to maintain was one that involved a two-way shipping offer.

This means that if a client bought a pair of shoes for instance and they had genuine reasons to return it, the cost of shipping it back to Zappo was to be borne by Zappo.

According to Tony, they at Zappo didn't view this as an expense item. They viewed it as money expended on their marketing strategy rather than money spent on advertisements.

The business growth path flowing from such a strategy naturally gravitates from word of mouth strategy.

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