Zappos’s case study overview

Zappos, an online shoe and clothing retailer, is an e-commerce business that wants to deliver happiness to their customers. With that in mind, the company has used their social media platforms to interact with their customers in order to provide excellent customer service. Using the information from social media, the company gathered customer feedback and broadcast the company’s commitment to customer service. While other businesses use their social media platform to simply promote their products, Zappos uses theirs to get comments from customers and employees in order to provide “word-of-mouth” marketing.  The company has a unique customer service focused on culture. In Mr. Tony Hsieh’s own words, he said, our whole belief is that if we get the culture right, then most of the other stuff, like delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring brand, will happen naturally on its own.“

Our philosophy is to hire the right employees (employees whose personal values match our corporate core values), make sure everyone understands the long-terms vision, provide ongoing training and development opportunities, and then trust our employees to do the right thing.”

Here is an example of how Zappos use social media (twitter) in treating their customer right:

Zappos defined its corporate culture with its ten core values. The HR and management systems developed, employee job descriptions, the hiring process, on-the-job training, and the day-to-day work environment remind and reinforce these values with employees, visitors, customers, and partners:

• Deliver WOW Through Service
• Embrace and Drive Change
• Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
• Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
• Pursue Growth and Learning
• Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
• Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
• Do More with Less
• Be Passionate and Determined
• Be Humble

These Zappos’s core values are implemented in their social media platforms and is the very reason that the company is superb in customer satisfaction.