The Basics Perfect or Engendering Loyalty? or Both?

Bijan shared this great, real-world experience of how getting the basics perfect is, in fact, a loyalty driver: his experience? — with Amazon.com Customer Service.

In his words,

Two weeks ago I bought an item on Amazon. It was a toaster oven.

In my haste I shipped it to my brother instead of my home address.

Even worse, it was my brother’s old address so the product was shipped to the wrong house and I don’t know the owner. Even worse, that new owner signed and accepted the shipment.

I called Amazon and told them the whole story. The customer service rep put me on hold for 2 minutes. Then he came back on and told me that they would like to send me the item to my home address w/out an additional charge. I said thanks very much. Two minutes later I received a confirmation email.

Amazing customer service.

Amazon rules.

Then, In the comments section, a reader asked:

They improved, they were not like this before. I remember when you could not call them and email response took days.

And, Bijan, responded — no — he defended, Amazon.com Customer Service:

Actually calling them by phone was very easy. They use click-to-call so I just punched in my phone number, the service calls me immediately and then I’m connected to customer service.

Bijan’s experience with Amazon.com Customer Service was an act of the simple basics, in my opinion.  But, it is a clear example of how getting the basics right can lead to loyalty, as evidenced in Bijan’s praise for Amazon and also in his later defense of Amazon.com Customer Service in the comment section of his blog.

The Amazon.com Core Values

The Amazon Core Values are realized in the way they treat the customer — also, they are hard-core in every Amazonian.  Specifically, the Amazon Core Values are:

• Customer Obsession: We start with the customer and work backwards.
• Innovation: If you don’t listen to your customers you will fail. But if you only listen to your customers you will also fail.
• Bias for Action: We live in a time of unheralded revolution and insurmountable opportunity provided we make every minute count.
• Ownership: Ownership matters when you’re building a great company. Owners think long-term, plead passionately for their projects and ideas, and are empowered to respectfully challenge decisions.
• High Hiring Bar: When making a hiring decision we ask ourselves: Will I admire this person? Will I learn from this person? Is this person a superstar?
• Frugality: We spend money on things that really matter and believe that frugality breeds resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention!

Indeed, Customer Obsession — we see it and hear about it, over and over again.  It’s true: getting the basics perfect can lead to customer loyalty.

disclosure: I was previously employed by Amazon.com and am still a shareholder in the company.  To this day, I remain a fanboy of Amazon but also know about its warts and issues.