About Zappos
Zappos.com is a revolutionary e-commerce site
specializing in shoes and apparel. A company that truly understands the meaning
of the words “customer-centric,” they are known by shoe-lovers everywhere as
the company that provides free next-day shipping and a hassle-free return
policy. Famous for their superior customer service and user-friendliness, the
company managed to grow into the world’s largest online shoe dealer before
being acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009 (Wauters, 2009). Zappos did
not achieve these goals by sitting around hoping customers would stop by and
order a pair of shoes. Instead, the company took an extremely proactive
approach, carefully monitoring all of their web traffic and using this info to
make smart marketing choices that would help them achieve their “WOW” goals. “WOW is such a short, simple word, but it really
encompasses a lot of things. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which
means doing something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do
something that's above and beyond what's expected” (Zappos.com, 2014). The
website goes on to explain how the company implements WOW into their core
culture. “Our philosophy at Zappos is to WOW with service and experience, not
with anything that relates directly to monetary compensation (for example, we
don't offer blanket discounts or promotions to customers). We seek to WOW our
customers, our co-workers, our vendors, our partners, and in the long run, our
investors” (Zappos.com, 2014).
The
Goal
The track consumer
behavior, and continuously turn their big data into actionable insights that enables
them to consistently improve the customer experience.
How They Achieve Their Goal
One of the most important things to note above is that Zappos
did not take a sales or promotional approach to success, but rather an
experiential one. They wanted to make shopping on their e-commerce site such a
positive experience that customers would continue to come back. Zappos
carefully monitored the behavior of their visitors to learn how to make the
site more user-friendly. Being the largest online shoe dealer in the world
surely means there is a lot of traffic to monitor, so it is important that they
spend their time and resources analyzing important and relevant information
that they can turn into the actionable insights that will help them stay on
top.
Zappos has become more than just an ecommerce site. Remaining
consistent with their core culture of positive customer engagement, the company
also maintains several blogs and several social media sites. As such, web
analytics need to be monitored for each of these sectors to ensure maximum
customer satisfaction (Johnson, 2013).
On the main e-commerce site, Zappos monitors customer
behavior, customer engagement, keyword searches, and of course, conversions.
Monitoring this information revealed that over 75% of Zappos business comes
from repeat customers (Quesenberry, 2010). This is important, because their
marketing techniques will likely vary from repeat to new customer. According to
Darrin Shamo, Director of Direct and Online Marketing for the company, Zappos
monitors reports on what customers are looking at while on the site, and then
uses that information to create custom online advertising that they feel the
customer will find helpful (Demery, 2012). Shamo states that in order to avoid
coming across as “creepy” an ad will never feature the exact product a customer
was viewing on the site. “A shopper who showed a clear preference for a pair of
Nike “Free Run+ 3” running shoes in gray and red trim, for instance, may see a
retargeted ad for several similar products in multiple brands and styles—but
not the exact same Nike shoe she had checked out on Zappos—while later visiting
another web site” (Demery, 2012).
To test how well Zappos uses retargeting, I went onto their
site and typed “Vince Camuto Boots” into the search engine. I then clicked on a
pair of boots called Kalisi (see the boots on the top). I immediately opened a
new tab, logged onto Facebook and found an ad featuring the boots on the bottom in my newsfeed. Similar boots, but the fact that they are different did not
give me that creepy, “Zappos is watching my every move!” feeling.
Zappos also monitors off-site keywords. They use this
information to optimize their site and to help improve their PPC campaigns and
organic search results. They need to know where their traffic comes from, and
what keywords visitors searched to get there. Using the same “Vince Camuto
Boots” search query, this time in a Google search, I got the following results:
As you can see, a paid ad for Zappos pops up right on the top
and an organic result is the fourth one down on the first page. By properly
analyzing keywords, the company knows where to invest and how to optimize to
best meet the needs of their customers. “They buy both generic keywords, such
as “shoes” and brand terms, such as ‘”Clarks” on Google and other search
engines. Then they uses Web analytics tools to track the sales from each
keyword to look at which ones are the most effective” (Quesenberry, 2010).
Additional reports they are monitoring include cart abandonment, purchase funnel
issues, bounce rates, exit pages, and landing pages (Johnson, 2013). All of
this helps them pinpoint where there are issues that need to be fixed.
Aside from analytics for the ecommerce site itself, the
company also monitors email campaign efforts, blog success, and social media.
Their email campaigns include e-blast and company newsletters (Quesenberry,
2010). These things are vital because their customer base is so highly skewed
toward repeat customers. It is important that they remain engaged with their
customer base.
After spending some time on Zappos.com, it is clear that
everything they do is consistent with their goals of providing unparalleled
customer service. This is a company that does not advertise (they rely on word
of mouth), that does not offer promotional discounts (they do not want to buy
the customer), and offers their new employees $4000 to quit (they do not want
employees who are just there for a check) (Bulygo, 2013). Yet they are worth
over $1 billion! This is proof that customer service goes a long way. The site
offers customer reviews, additional items you may like based on what you are
viewing, different items that other people who viewed the same item bought.
They offer additional information and surveys to help with sizing, and of
course, free shipping on purchases and returns. After spending just a few
minutes on the site, it is easy to see that they monitor visitor behavior and work
very hard to ensure that their site is up to speed with what the customers
want. The site is fast and easy to navigate.
Zappos has such a large
product line that it can be extremely overwhelming. For instance, if you type
“black boots” into their search engine you get 3,547 results!
However, they have definitely found a balance to make
customers feel at ease without compromising their large inventory. On the left
is a toolbar to help narrow down choices. Monitoring web analytics such as
behavior and keywords likely helped the company decide which categories to
include here.
Results
Zappos set a goal—to deliver WOW though service—and
consistently operates in a manner to help them achieve this. They monitor their
analytics wisely, and use the information to help them make smart choices that
will appeal to their customers and keep them coming back for more positive
Zappos experiences. Their net worth continues to rise, and happy customers
continue to shop.
References:
Bulygo, Zach. (2013). Tony Hsieh, Zappos, and the Art of
Great Company Culture. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/zappos-art-of-culture/
Demery, Paul. (2012). How Zappos balances privacy and
targeted ads. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/10/19/how-zappos-balances-privacy-and-targeted-ads
Johnson, Erik. (2013). Zappos Uses Web Analytics to Fuel the
Marketing Engine. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 http://analyticsinsight.blogspot.com/2013/12/zappos-uses-web-analytics-to-fuel.html
Wauters, Robin. (2009). Amazon Closes Zappos Deal, Ends Up
Paying $1.2 Billion. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/amazon-closes-zappos-deal-ends-up-paying-1-2-billion/
Quesenberry, Keith A. (2010). Walk A Mile In Zappos’ New
Media Shoes. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 http://addingtonoise.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/walk-a-mile-in-zappos-new-media-shoes/
Zappos.com. (2014). Zappos Family Core Value #1. Retrieved on
February 23, 2014 from http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values/deliver-wow-through-service
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