Customer Connectivity Contrast: Are You More Like Google or Zappos?

If you have ever interacted with Google as a customer, it is unlikely that you have ever had a live conversation with a real person. From the book, it is clear that Google’s founders believe in that line from Field of Dreams; If you build it, they will come. Through their technical superiority they’ve succeeded in becoming a verb in the search world and monetizing their free search service with ads and other services.  But they’ve always had unpublished phone numbers and still do. Here’s their contact page, sans phone numbers.  They have an unwritten contract with their customers: Don’t call us. We won’t call you. As a consumer of both their Adwords and Checkout payment services, I’ve painfully experienced their cumbersome troubleshooting systems that arrogantly ignore the possibility that my problems could exist or that I would want them resolved in less than 48 hours.  So much for either instant gratification or crisis remediation. If you consider the tortuous path of today’s corporate phone menu systems (dial 1 for English) perhaps we’re better off without trying to use the phone. In contrast, Zappos, the on-line footwear retailer, is not your ordinary internet company. Not only can you call them, they actually call their customers to gain insight and rapport.  Superior Customer relations is a Zappos differentiator. Based on the success of both Google and Zappos, it’s fair to say that either approach can work.  That is, if you choose your approach and assure that it works for your customers. In addition to being web based businesses, the two have one other common trait.  Both made the top 20 of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.  Google is #1, Zappos is #11. Happy employees remain a key to delighting customers whether you can have a phone conversation or not.