Lawrence Gee | Marketing, Internet, Creativity, Strategy

The Customer Service Cycle

I came across a great article today on ClickZ on how Zappos is using customer service to create Word of Mouth advertising.  The main idea is that by creating great service, customers are happy.  Happy customers become evangelists for your company and products.  Evangelists tell their friends about how great your company or product is, which in turn creates new customers.  Your new customers also become happy through your great service and the cycle continues on and on.

The benefits of creating great interaction points with your consumers is not only repeat business but the ability to spend less on advertising and other promotions to gain awareness or trial. The premise is simple but many companies overlook how important being customer focused is in all aspects of their business.  It’s not only about having a great service staff but also having the customer focused attitude and beliefs throughout your organization.

My former company, Aplia, did a great job of using customer service to its full advantage.  We believed in giving 24/7 support for our professors (customers) and students (users).  Our internal goal was to reply to each support email within 1 hour. Often we replied back to our users within minutes. It wasn’t only our support teams that had our customers in mind.  Our product development process was always customer focused.  Our goal wasn’t just to produce a great product but how we could support the needs of our users better.  We spent alot of time using customer feedback, usability studies, and sales force intelligence to gain insight.  We took the time to listen and our customers loved us for it.  We always overdelivered as an organization and it became a competitive advantage for us. 

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Will You Be Reading This Post On An Amazon Kindle Someday?

The Amazon Kindle is another big company foray into the world of e-books.   Similar to the Sony Reader, Amazon is trying to capitalize on the belief that people are willing to forego the paper version of books and convert to an all digital solution.  There was a time when the publishing industry was extremely worried about their business model dissolving and were thinking about ways to offer digital solutions.  Even my company before business school, Aplia, incorporated digital versions of Economic textbooks into our product offerings.  However we didn’t see them as a full replacement for a physical textbook.  Rather, we treated the online version as a lower cost alternative for students. We certainly didn’t see digital books as transforming publishing as much as the major publishers did.  And as of now, the fear of people throwing away their paper based books have certainly not been realized.

There are several problems that people have generally had with reading text digitally - it’s usually the complaint of eye strain/fatigue, readability and the scannability of digital text, and portability. Amazon’s Kindle seems to have gotten rid of most of the common complaints of digital text.  It has a paper-like screen that acts and feels like you are reading a real book.  The screen is not backlit and actually uses real ink (just displays the ink particles electronically).  There are different font sizes for your reading preference and has an ergonomic design and shape that’s similar to holding a book.  Plus since it’s a stand alone reader that weighs only 10.3 pounds, you can bring it anywhere.  If you watch the video demonstration of the Kindle, it looks pretty impressive.  Definitely much better than I initially thought it would be.

The only issue right now I have with the Kindle is it’s price point.  The reader itself costs $399 with Kindle formatted books for $9.99 each.  Subscriptions to newspapers like the NY Times and The Wall Street Journal range from $9.99 to $14.99.  Magazines cost $2-3 an issue.

I think the price of the Kindle itself is prohibitive to the mass market and mass acceptance.  While early adopters will gobble up the Kindle (as evidenced by the fact it’s already on backorder), I think in the long run Amazon will need to take a “razor and blades “or “cell phone and service” model.  This means essentially giving the Kindle away with a large subsidy or as close to free as possible.  Where they will make their money is on the books, magazines, and newspapers that I presume they get a cut of due to Kindle’s proprietary format and specific networks. 

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About Me

Originally hailing from Long Island, I currently reside in Los Angeles, California.  I am an experienced marketer with a diverse professional background.  I have a BS in Business Management and Marketing from Cornell University and currently I am finishing up my MBA at USC Marshall School of Business. 

Prior to business school, I started off my marketing career in consumer products as a Field Marketer for Newell Rubbermaid, managing in-store relationships and merchandising for products such as Rubbermaid, Levolor, and Sharpie. 

I have always been fascinated by technology and the Internet.  In fact, several college internships were spent dealing with web design rather than Marketing.  It was only fitting that after Newell Rubbermaid, I spent four years at an online educational software startup called Aplia.  As Marketing Manager, I helped grow Aplia from a beta product to having over 450,000 students and 500 institutions use the software.  My role required me to develop integrated marketing campaigns, plan sales demos and events at higher education conferences, dive headfirst into CRM and database management, deal with shoe-string budgets, and build up word of mouth marketing.

At USC Marshall , I’ve had the opportunity to explore my personal development, continue lifelong education, and realign my career goals.  In 2006, I investigated the world of Brand Management and was selected to attend the prestigious Procter & Gamble Summer Marketing MBA Camp as well as the Johnson & Johnson Brand Mini Camp.

While traditional CPG was interesting, my explorations made me realize that I enjoy working in smaller more technology focused environments.  This Summer and Fall, I interned at LAMPS PLUS, an Internet Retailer Top 500 Retail Web Site, where my focus was on Internet Marketing and Strategy.  I was able to learn from top Internet Marketers and was heavily involved in developing and maintaining paid search campaigns, evaluating and managing vendor realtionships, and offered strategic recommendations for usability, design, and marketing.

Currently, I am exploring potential opportunities for my post-MBA career and also working on several pet projects dealing primarily with affiliate marketing, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing.  The purpose of this blog is to offer an outlet to collect my thoughts on marketing, strategy, and technology.

On the personal side, I am getting married in July 2007.  There’s much planning to be done and my marketing experience is being put to good use. In my free time, I am an avid sports fan (Yankees, Knicks, Dodgers, Lakers) and enjoy outdoor activities such as running, hiking, and triathlons.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.  Please feel free to comment on any postings or drop me a note at larry@lawrencegee.com.

–Larry

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