Why Zappos remains customer-centric after 25 years

Zappos has built its reputation around being customer-focused. During the pandemic, for example, the online retailer created a customer service hotline just so lonely consumers could have someone to talk to during the lockdown. Now, Zappos, which is owned by Amazon, is taking that mission even further with upcoming campaigns and marketing strategies, according to Chief Marketing Officer Joe Cano, an e-commerce veteran who joined the company two years ago. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, check us out on Spotify and hear us on Stitcher. This is our RSS feed. Tell a friend! “Customer obsession is like the lifeline of what we actually are at Zappos,” he said, speaking on the latest episode of the Marketer’s Brief podcast. “I think we’ve lost some of that human touch, especially in this digital age.” He added that Zappos wants to focus on being an authentic brand that creates a “wow experience” for its shoppers. Much of that involves highly personalized marketing that takes the friction out of the retail experience and makes shopping easier for customers. For example, Zappos will send reminder emails to its customers when the brand expects a child to outgrow shoes. “We want to make it super easy for her,” said Cano. “She’s screaming, ‘Mom, my shoes don't fit,’ and you're like, ‘We gotta go to school, throw them on,’ and we’re going to send you an email saying, ‘Hey, you need to actually upsize your shoes’ so that your child actually has the right-fitting shoe as they’re going into school again. On the podcast, Cano also discusses Zappos’ recent inclusive running campaign “Start Where You Are,” which incorporated real customers into its marketing. “We want to make sure that people understand that we don’t just have this high-touch glossy models here, we have real-life people,” he said. This July, Zappos will turn 25 years old. Ahead of the anniversary, the retailer is rolling out monthly promotions and exclusives with brands such as Brooks Running and Sam Edelman. Zappos is also partnering with celebrity cake artists from the popular game show “Is It Cake?” for an initiative called “Is It Cake Or Is It Kicks?”

Why Zappos remains customer-centric after 25 years

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