The Interplay of Brand and Customer Experience with Amazon.com

Have you ever received a package in error for a person you didn’t know? What did you do with it? Did you deliver it, simply state, “I received your package in error,” and leave? Did you return to sender? Or did you (gasp) keep it? 

This decision awaited me one December evening.

I had returned from my Thanksgiving break with two errant Amazon packages at my doorstep. My natural inclination was to deliver them as mentioned above. But then my mischievous side took over. (I spent the whole previous week with my brother. Can you blame me?) 

What if I was an Amazon associate for a minute and represented their company? What if I delivered that package with Amazon excellence so that the recipient didn’t even know there was a delivery mistake? What if I turned this into an opportunity to make someone smile as big as the Amazon logo itself? 

What would happen? 

After unpacking my car, I picked up the packages and searched for the right address. I found the door and confronted the moment of truth. Ringing the doorbell, I put the biggest smile I could plaster across my face as I heard scuffling inside the home. A man opened the door. 

“Hello?” 

“Merry Christmas from Amazon!” I exclaimed as I extended the packages toward the man. 

“Oh…thank you,” the surprised man stated as he plucked the packages from my arms. Then, after a couple more seconds, he looked at me a second time as if this situation finally registered. 

“Thank you!” he said with a little more conviction and exclamation. He closed the door behind him. And I walked on my merry way back home. 

The Amazon Experience

That was an experience in line with the Amazon principles and brand image. By taking ownership in acting for Amazon, I successfully bridged the gap from poor customer experience to seamlessly positive customer experience. And if you know anything about Amazon, their customer obsession is legendary. In fact, it’s the first listed element of their most important values and leadership principles. The complete list, in order, can be found at this link (or, for convenience, below): 

  • Customer Obsession
  • Ownership
  • Invent and Simplify
  • Are Right, A Lot
  • Learn and Be Curious
  • Hire and Develop the Best
  • Insist on the Highest Standards
  • Think Big
  • Bias for Action
  • Frugality
  • Earn Trust
  • Dive Deep
  • Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

You’ll note that six of those tenants are in bold font. Not every action will represent more than one corporate value. However, I believe I reached a significant six for Amazon by pushing against normality to try to make an exceptional moment for this stranger. Did I take ownership of the package, insisting on high standards? What about the ownership of the customer experience and commitment to action? Was I interested in what would happen in this little experiment? Was I thinking big through this small gesture of goodwill?

I would argue yes. It was a “Think Big” moment for me where I thought differently and created that signature Amazon experience (or at least remedied a rare poor Amazon experience).

Brand and Customer Experience

When companies craft their brand, customer experience now feeds into that process. Both are an outpouring of a company’s values. But they all also feed off each other, creating a highly interconnected web. It’s been fascinating over the past few years as brand and customer experience became evermore intertwined. How a consumer feels when they interact with a brand impacts the future trajectory of that relationship. The experiences transcend a mere stop at a store or a purchase on a Website and include such traditionally non-service elements as how brand advertising and social media are experienced. Optimally, all of the dynamic, varied experiences work together in a positive way to move a person from prospect to customer to loyal customer. If you aren’t coordinating across these three facets of your company, you are missing the bigger picture. (And probably a lot of revenue and loyal customers too!)

Amazon has mastered a lot of their experience process. (Though, in true Amazon fashion, I think many Amazonians would disagree and say they aren’t even close.) I’m just glad I was able to participate in providing a small piece of that experience puzzle. Even if it was for just a moment, the slightly bewildered happiness from the recipient was more than worth the short life detour.