Have you heard of Amazon.com? I think it is a stupid question to ask. I wonder if there is ANYONE on earth that has never heard of Amazon before. In fact, Amazon.com, Inc. is the world’s largest e-commerce retailer today with more than 43,200 people in 18 U.S sates and 14 international locations. Products available for purchase ranges from books, movies, and electronics to sportswear, automotive parts and garden items. Amazon’s wide range of product offerings well captures its mission statement – the company is working towards becoming “earth’s most customer-centric company where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online.”
I came across an interesting article that illustrates how Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive officer, responds to customers’ email complaints. When unhappy customers complain to Bezos’ public e-mail address, jeff@amazon.com, he reads many of the complaints himself, and also forwards them to the relevant Amazon department, with a question mark.
When Amazon employees receive this panicking e-mail with a question mark from their employer, they are expected to react instantly to resolve the issue and provide Bezos with a thorough explanation. These e-mails are known as Bezos’s “way of ensuring that the customer’s voice is constantly heard inside the company.”
Bezos’s method of dealing with customer complaints has contributed to Amazon’s outstanding customer service which certainly helped to bring the company to the current level of success and scale. However, one Amazon employee raised a question, “why are entire teams required to drop everything on a dime to respond to a question mark escalation?” In my opinion, it might not be the best way to manage your employees – as these kinds of fire drills certainly frighten Amazon employees, but it is impressive in a way because it really shows customers that the company truly cares and values every one of them.
What do you think about Bezos’ way of responding to customers’ complaints? Are there better ways to manage this? What would you do if you were Bezos?
J
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