Independent Thinking » Zappos

The End of Brand Loyalty

Daria Steigman — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:04:09 +0000

Is brand loyalty dead?

One of the interesting findings in the IBM survey of CMOs ( here is is my take on the overall report) is that companies are unprepared to deal with “decreasing brand loyalty.”

They’re asking the wrong question.

Were travelers loyal to Wells Fargo?
Were households loyal to Ma Bell?
Were airline passengers loyal to Pan Am?

Customers don’t have less brand loyalty today. We have more choices.

People are fiercely loyal to companies that don’t suck. Apple isn’t the only computer maker, phone maker, or music maker. Zappos isn’t the cheapest place to buy shoes. And Disney isn’t really the happiest place on earth.

What are you doing to earn customer loyalty?

Photo by MoneyBlogNewz (Flickr).

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How To Build a Thriving Corporate Culture

Daria Steigman — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:59:44 +0000

Zappos has nothing on the Corner Parking Lot in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Just watch The Parking Lot Movie, a funny, fascinating documentary that debuted at SXSW 2010. It has everything: class-ism, culture, hiring people you trust, empowering your employees, “corporate” culture, and building your tribe.

Seriously: Find it. Watch it. It’s an instructive look at a lot of workplace concepts we talk about a lot but don’t see much in action.

Photo Credit: Attendant Corey Gross with Parking Gates, by Jon-Philip Sheridan and Alexandra Miller.

Who Else Wants Brand Evangelists?

Daria Steigman — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:57:32 +0000

I’ve talked before about how picking up the phone is a key component to customer service. But that’s really only the starting point for building customer loyalty.

If you’re lucky, your best customers are evangelists for your brand. Here are four ways to earn that loyalty:

1. Be the solution. OneWorldHosting gets that most small business owners don’t just want a place to park their Web sites. We want (and need) tech support. So when a recent service upgrade messed up access first to my WordPress dashboard and then later to my ability to upload blog photos, I could make a call and get the problems solved.

RNJ Sports is another example. While lots of stores sell running shoes, RNJ sells peace of mind. I know that after watching me walk and run that they’ll recommend a shoe that will decrease the likelihood of injuries ranging from shin splints to hip pain.

2. Make it easy. Is it easy for customers to connect with you? I’m not talking about social media per se, just whether you’re socially accessible. If I have to jump through hoops to find someone who can talk with me, I’m going somewhere else. Companies that that have made it easy for me include Eddie Bauer, Dell, and (usually) Verizon.

3. Value me. I’m very loyal to my local GNC store because the owner knows me, remembers what I purchase, and chats with me when I stop by. Ditto for my local Robeks franchise, where the owner and employees know my name.

4. Be remarkable. You don’t have to be Zappos to wow your customers. When I mentioned to Lee Watts that I’d backed off slightly on my workouts because of ligament pain in my left tricep, he cleared time on his schedule that morning to bring me into his studio to tweak my routine. This is a guy who primarily trains elite athletes, but he made time for me. Not only does this go to #3, but he also created a wow moment.

What is your business doing to get talked about today?

Photo by PD Breen (Flickr).

Zappos CEO on Passion and Happiness

Daria Steigman — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:23:09 +0000

Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness* is a good reminder that sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and follow your passion.

Part autobiography, part tale of success-wrought-from-hard-work, part customer service bible, Delivering Happiness is a good read for entrepreneurs and business owners. There are lessons leaned about business models, core competencies, and flexibility. And Zappos’ 10 core values–and how they came about–will hopefully make you pause and assess whether you have identified and articulated your core business values.

What I liked best about Hsieh’s book was the process stuff:

Zappos didn’t just identify problems (i.e., “We just don’t have the right products to offer our customers”), but took tough steps to change its business model to become profitable.
Hsieh acknowledges mistakes (i.e., “As an e-commerce company, we should have considered warehousing to be our core competency from the beginning. Outsourcing that to a third party… was one of our biggest mistakes.)
Zappos focused on three key areas (customer service, culture, and employee training and development).

If you’re looking for a dry business book, this isn’t the one to buy. But if you’re looking for a quick read, conversational style, and good takeaways, you won’t go wrong with Delivering Happiness.

Want to read Hsieh’s book? The kind Delivering Happiness book team gave me a second copy to give away to one lucky reader. Just tell me in the comments something you’ve done to wow a client or customer. The best answer (deemed by me) wins the book.

*Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for agreeing to review it and post this link–but without any restrictions on what I might say.

Social Marketing Secret #101 (Mom & Shoes)

Daria Steigman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:35:16 +0000

My mom discovered online shoe stores yesterday. And she was really excited by free delivery and return shipping, the confirmation e-mail, and the convenience of searching for her shoes without having to trek from store to store.

There’s a point here, and it’s not about shoes. It’s about customers, and how we find them.

Like many people, my mom has a couple of toes dipped into the online waters. She consumes most of her news online, watches videos on YouTube, reads blogs (at least this blog), and sends the occasional tweet. But she’s rarely purchased anything online–and doesn’t traditionally think “online” when she’s shopping.

Then there’s us–content creators, Twitter aficionados, communicators, and social media pros. We pass around case studies and point to companies that are best practice examples of social business at work. And guess what: my mom has never heard of Zappos (and the company didn’t optimize in her search). The lesson is that we’re going to miss a lot of customers if we rely only on social marketing for our engagement.

Think companies aren’t over-relying on social media? Then check out this post from Online Marketing Blog. It cites a Digital Readiness Report that finds that “18 percent of marketing decision makers have no interest whatsoever in traditional marketing.” [emphasis mine]

Are you over-relying on social media buzz? What change can you make to your marketing mix today to make sure you’re reaching more of your target audience?

Photo by mckaysavage (Flickr).