Psychological Influences within an Individual

Started in 1999, Zappos.com carefully designed a marketing strategy that focused on customer service. The company has created a culture and supporting systems where P-E-C (Personal Emotional Connections) with customers takes precedence over traditional effectiveness measures of operator call time tracking. Review the notes on Zappos and assemble the learning sequence.

Consumers make many decisions regarding the products and services they choose on a daily basis. This decision process is, in part, affected by psychological variables including motivation, perception, learning, attitude, and personality/lifestyle. In particular, the learning process whereby consumers form new opinions and attitudes or change existing opinions or attitudes in response to marketing driven cues are of critical importance. Review the case on Zappos and associate the psychological influence with the example from the case.

Fashion and utility. These two words explain the purchase of every pair of shoes ever sold. Those who buy for fashion are investing in personal expression and giving others a window into their personality. Those who buy for utility need their shoes to accomplish a task. While these two types of shoe customers are very different in the way they shop, Zappos has created an online shopping site that provides a rewarding and, in many cases, memorable shopping experience. Originally, the company was founded with the goal of creating a web site that offered the absolute best selection in shoes in terms of brands, styles, colors, sizes, and widths, but Zappos has become much more. The company defines itself as a "service company that happens to sell shoes, apparel, handbags, watches eyewear, and eventually anything and everything."

Zappos management learned early on that consumers can be somewhat resistant to purchasing shoes online. The primary reason for this resistance relates to fit. To overcome this resistance and to motivate consumers to actually try the Zappos online shopping experience, the company instituted a policy of "free shipping" on orders and returns. The company also has a liberal 365 day return policy. Thus, when consumers' shoes are so worn out or so out of style that new shoes are absolutely necessary, Zappos is a viable shoe shopping option due to the removal of all consumer "sticking points."

In 2008, Zappos gross sales topped $1 billion. The company's astounding 10 year growth is attributed to promotional methods that combine both traditional media (i.e., TV and magazine advertisements) and social networking media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) with a culture that focuses on customer satisfaction and service. Zappos also believes that the speed with which a customer receives an order is critical to how that customer thinks about shopping online again in the future. Online shopping has the primary drawback of a time differential between purchase and possession of a product. Realizing this, Zappos has recently enhanced is fulfillment operation through automation and robotics. The end result is that the company can prep.are an order for shipping in as little as 8 minutes. Thus, when a customer places an online order, they are more than satisfied when orders are delivered early.

In an online world where customer service is often lacking, Tony Hsieh has created a company whose sole purpose is to "WOW" customers and change their expectations and way of thinking about the online shopping experience. Outstanding customer service that consistently pleases customers, quick delivery, and an open return policy keeps customers returning time and time again.

Roll over each item to read a hint. Then, drag the item to the correct place on the chart. Outstanding Changed Fashion service expectations Brands and Worn out Online order TV ads styles Needs Wants Drives Cues Response Learning Reinforcement Reset