We had the opportunity of ‘virtually’ sitting down with Zappos Social Engagement Scientist Graham Kahr. Graham gives us some insight into the Zappos brand, how they are using social CRM, and advice to other businesses currently trying to merge social media with CRM.
How did you get started at Zappos? Tell us a bit about your history with the company.
I was hired to join the Zappos Family as a customer loyalty representative. At the time, I was a magazine editor and looking for a change of scene. Hearing about the progression plans for employees, I couldn’t help but feel that I would be able to chase my passions. I worked as a phone rep for four months before joining the Resource Desk (the team that handles the @zappos_service Twitter account while assisting the entire CLT team on the floor with difficult situations). After five months, I joined the Zappos Blogs Team as a blog copywriter where I was able to lend my journalism talent to Zappos and six months later joined the Brand Marketing team as the Social Engagement Scientist. My primary role is inspiring engagement on our social channels around fashion, culture, customer service and our community efforts.
Love the title, Social Engagement Scientist! From what you’ve seen, how do you think social media has helped evolve the Zappos brand over the years?
We really view all of these channels as a means for communication. Social channels have enabled our customers to communicate with us in new ways and listening to our customers helps us deliver WOW through service (our #1 core value). Beyond improving communication between our customers and our brand, we have really enjoyed using mediums like Twitter to communicate with each other. You can see the Zapponians who tweet at twitter.zappos.com.
Great! We’ll start following the Zapponians! Speaking of social media, how does Zappos use customer relationship management currently paired with social media? Do they tend to work well together?
We deliver the same world-class service in social media that customers would receive on the phone, live chat, email, etc. While we sometimes help customers on Twitter and Facebook, it’s a very small part of interactions on those channels. Most of the conversation revolves around sharing positive experiences and totally random conversations (video games, food, Internet celebrities – seriously, follow @zappos_service). Our Customer Loyalty Team doesn’t use any scripts on the phone and we avoid them in social as well. Every customer deserves their own experience and social media has been a great place to tailor positive experience.
We want to thank Graham for his answers. Lots of great information to share with our readers. Please tell us your thoughts after reading, in the comments below and look for the 2nd part of this interview tomorrow!
