Jeff Bennett's Blog

The big buzz last week was that Twitter would start charging businesses that use the service.  Twitter has been after a business model – it should tread carefully on this though.  Reason?  I believe many companies have started to use Twitter but they are only scratching the surface.  If Twitter starts to charge and does not thread the needle on the “value” of these fees for businesses they might actually reduce business activity.

As all companies look at Twitter as a potential platform – they need to look at Zappos and the way they use it.   Every company is different and I am not saying that this is a one size fits all approach for Twitter, however, there is a lot to be learned from looking at Zappos.

The reason why Zappos stands out on Twitter is because of their ability to bring the company to life. The Zappos CEO Hsieh has lent his personality to the company brand, a personality that is friendly, helpful, funny, and trustworthy. They use Twitter to highlight interesting facts, and to talk to their consumers. Talking to Zappos is like talking to a friend that happens to sell shoes. You can check out the Zappos Twitter Profile here, there are over 80,000 followers (people connected) of Zappos.

According to Hsieh, the ultimate aim of the Zappos brand is to be the very best when it comes to customer service and consumer experience. “Our hope is in 10 years people won’t even realize we started out selling shoes online,” he explains, “we sell clothing and handbags, accessories – even electronics and house wares.” He also points out that it doesn’t necessarily need to be online. “20 – 30 years from now, I wouldn’t rule out Zappos Airlines,” he said.

Great customer service is not something offered by the majority of companies and Hsieh suspects a lot of people are frustrated by this. “In the long run, customer service is just good business,” he says. “The problem, however, is that the payoff is usually two or three years down the line.”

The idea of micro-blogging and the sense of exceptional customer service is ingrained in the corporate culture. Most Zappos employees have an active Twitter account, and the Zappos site has a page that aggregates all the streams. Not all of the info that is being “twittered” is official Zappos communications.  In fact much if it is conversation on what is happening right now.  All of this communication allows a direct connection between Zappos with it’s followers.  The network effect of the Zappos and Zappos employee Twitter accounts allow for the connection to millions of people every day.

Zappos made over a billion dollars in gross merchandise sales in 2008 after starting with almost nothing in 1999, and that repeat customers and word of mouth were the main drivers of that growth.  A key for Zappos is fostering a business culture that embodies customer communication in a friendly manner all the time.  This is a key cornerstone in building a company in a fast paced market.  It is also a demonstration of how this can be accomplished in this connected social media world.