Zap to it

This happened a while ago, and I just posted this on my friend Nat's blog, but I though it worth mentioning on my own.
Nat has a post about the philosophy of looking after your customers and they'll look after you (although not mutually exclusive), and one of the commentors noted a story someone posted about their experience with shoe merchant Zappos.com. While mine pales in comparison to this one, here's my own personal tale of dealing with Zappos:


I ordered shoes through them on a weekday evening from home, and received the shoes- no lie - at work, before noon, THE NEXT DAY.

Unfortunately, they fit bigger than anticipated. On their site, the only option is to return the shoes and purchase another pair - not to do an even exchange. I emailed them before returning the shoes to see if an even exchange was even possible - they responded super-promptly and said they’d be happy to exchange the shoes once they received the originals. I sent them back the same day I received them and…drumroll please…received the new pair the next morning. It usually takes twice as long just to place an order anywhere else.

Early the next week, I received a card at work. When I opened it, it was a HANDWRITTEN Thank-you note from Zappos that read, “Hi Claire, It was my pleasure assisting you with your exchange order with Zappos.com. Fitzwell shoes are always great! And I hope the size 8 fits perfectly for you! :) Feel free to contact us anytime with any questions! Have a wonderful day! -Allyson”

Well, blow me over.

They certainly didn’t need to send me a thank you card - particularly a handwritten one - as they already had me at one-day-turnaround. This personal touch, however, is what keeps me shopping at Zappos, even if I find a better price somewhere else.

Additionally, after showing the card to my co-workers, they were so impressed that you can now see new boxes from Zappos in my department on an almost monthly basis. :)