Amazon Exceeds Expectations Every Time
December 16, 2008 – 10:02 pm | by Daryl TayIn the last week before leaving Kingston, I’ve ordered packages from Amazon.ca thrice. I originally made one on Thursday, and was shocked with the quick delivery (it reached me on Sunday), which prompted me to make two more orders since I was fairly assured that they would reach me way before I leave.
In the current recession economy, I’m trying not only to spend less money, but make sure that I get my money’s worth when I do spend money, and I’m finding out Amazon fills that need very well. Not only are they by far the cheapest alternative (which by itself, would work perfectly in an industry of homogeneous products), but they consistently exceed my expectations.
Every single one of my packages that I’ve ordered over the last three months has arrived anywhere between one to four days before the scheduled date. It’s a classic case of over-delivering, and doing it well. They didn’t under-promise by giving me an unrealistic delivery date two weeks later and then sought to win me over by delivering it in half the time, but they did give a fairly realistic date four to seven days away, and then delivered in three.
Also, earlier when I had problems with checkout and I sent them an email, I got not only a very apologetic email, but a good attempt at getting my problem solved.
Once again, even without the recession, companies need to find new ways to secure customer loyalty and a positive shopping experience is the best way to go about it, not spending money on prehistoric means like advertising on tv.
Tags: amazon delivery times, amazon.ca, kingston, positive shopping experience, recession economy
6 Responses to “Amazon Exceeds Expectations Every Time”
By priscilla on Dec 19, 2008 | Reply
Very nice post. Makes alot of sense. I am a huge fan of Amazon. I wish i stay in US though, then i can save more on shipping fees.
Agree with not spending on TV too! i was telling one of my ex client the exact same thing. It is very true that people continue to switch channel and go to washroom when the ads on TV start.
By Jo on Dec 19, 2008 | Reply
Have a good trip home.
Yes, customer service is both a possibility and a loyalty earner.
At the end of the day, we want to do business with people we trust!
By Daryl Tay on Dec 20, 2008 | Reply
@Priscilla: I wish I did too! I spent a LOT while I was here. I think the small efforts companies can put to change people’s perceptions are a) more effective and b) cheaper, than the quick fix of turning to ads.
By Michael Henreckson on Jan 7, 2009 | Reply
There are a very few companies that seem to do just about everything right, Amazon and Google being among them. It’s companies like that which can hope to ride out recessions with minimal impact. People just like to do business with them, myself included.
Smaller companies and even individuals can learn a lot of lessons from them just by trying really hard to make things easy for the people they work with.
By Daryl Tay on Jan 7, 2009 | Reply
@Michael Henreckson: Thanks for the comment! I definitely agree that such success is by no means restricted to the big Amazons and Googles, but in some cases, the smaller companies might even be in a better position to manage such expectations and touchpoints even better than a huge company can!