Here is an excellent example of getting personal, and creating an emotional bond with your customer.
Hats off to 800-CEO-READ, and thanks to Hello World for pointing us to them.
Always Give Your Customer A Little More Than They Expect
These guys are doing exactly that...performing beyond expectation. This is a recently received e-mail from Zappos regarding a status of my wife's order.
Happy
holidays from Zappos.com! We have some
good news!
Although
you originally ordered Standard (4 to 5 business days) shipping and handling,
we have given your order special priority processing in our
warehouse so that your order will ship out today, and you should receive
your order in 2 Business Days (from today) instead.
Thursday,
December 30th 2004
The
above order has already been packed and we will be emailing you your UPS
We
are constantly striving to improve our service. If there is anything that we
can do to help improve your experience, please don't hesitate to let us know.
If you've enjoyed your experience with us, please tell your friends and family
about Zappos.com!
Thank
you for helping make Zappos.com the Web's Most Popular Shoe Store!
--------------------------------
Zappos.com
Customer Loyalty Team
cs@zappos.com
Airlines Have Hope
Yeah!!!! Finally an airline employee who gets it. American....promote this guy to President, or something....
American pilot goes extra mile for passengers during long delay in Dallas - 03 Jul 03:00
American pilot goes extra mile for passengers during long delay in DallasBy Bryon Okada, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jul. 3--Flight delays can frustrate travelers, but Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is still buzzing about a pilot who used the extra time to provide for his passengers.
On June 2, 56 passengers sitting aboard Oakland-bound American Airlines Flight 1463 had to wait 108 minutes. It was a beverage-only flight.
"And it became clear after about an hour of sitting there that people were getting hungry and this was going to be a pretty long night," Capt. Stephen Phelps recalls.
It was late, but Phelps went looking for food. He's a D/FW regular, so he knew about DFW TravelMart. (Store philosophy: "As long as there are passengers, we stay open.")
Phelps hustled from Terminal A to Terminal C, where store workers had his order of gourmet sandwiches and doughnuts ready.
Then the storm let up.
"I hailed down a golf cart, put all the sandwiches in the back and high-tailed it over to Terminal A," Phelps says.
The weather cooperated and the flight took off safely.
And that's how a two-hour delay became a customer-service sparkler.