Zappos bring call center agents into foreground, by way of puppets

I wrote last week that demonstrating that your call center provides exceptional customer service is the single best way to combat the stigma that can be attached to the industry when you only tend to hear about customers who have a poor experience. When, like us, you invest a great deal of time recruiting, training, monitoring and using score based assessments to ensure your client’s customers are receiving the best in service and care with each customer contact it makes good sense to highlight the consistently positive service provided. Knowing your customer relationship agents are equipped and willing to provide a high level of service leads to renewed business and provides the pedigree to obtain new clients.

Online shoe giant Zappos today launch a marketing campaign that does just that; as it highlights the actual customer service calls and the level of customer service and care provided by their staff. Making that into a video might not sound like the most exciting proposition visually until they brought a new level of creativity to their strategy which they’ve done by using actual calls and showing the contact take place with the aid of puppets!

Zappos have grown at a remarkable rate at least partially due to their reputation for customer service which makes it easy to order or return merchandise. I know a number of people who are fiercely loyal to the website and they cite selection, pricing and service as the reasons why. The commercials focus on nothing but the customer interaction and will appear both on television and via social media such as Facebook and Youtube. In addition the campaign includes print advertising and display ads throughout North America. Recognizing the importance of the customer service team in the call center was the focal point of the campaign and its a strong idea as you’ll see in the video beneath.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJOpWDR8MZ0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

The campaign was awarded to Mullen in Boston from over 150 contenders for the advertising award and a budget of about $7 million has been quoted. Zappos were keen to include their key slogans ‘powered by service’ and ‘happy to help 24/7’. Another strategic place you’ll perhaps see the campaign is the one place we are all obliged to handle our footwear outside the comfort of the home, you’ll see the adverts on the plastic bins used on airport security lines.

For the short films the Zappos employees are transformed into puppets who in many cases are modeled upon real Zappos people who handle your inbound calls. Mullen weren’t just handed recordings of calls and got to work, they spent time at the call center in Nevada to observe the staff at work and feel the culture of the company. They shared headphones with them to hear the actual calls and immerse themselves in the customer focused culture that they promote.  Speaking of the employees a Mullen director said:

“They would stay on the line for as long as you wanted to talk. They would talk about anything. The goal is when you see the ads, in TV, print or digital, you’ll say,’That’s the Zappos I know,’ or ‘That’s a company I want to do business with’ ”

In a commitment to authenticity none of the staff were aware that the calls were being recorded as part of the ad campaign. Though the callers were actors posing as customers with ‘unique’ situations featuring less than normal requests. In one call the customer wants to exchange her newly received workout clothes for a deep fryer and the customer relationship agent is more than helpful in helping her pick the best way to fry up some onion rings. The puppets in the commercials were built by Randy Carfagno and designed by Lizzi Akana and Aaron Duffy. Duffy also worked as director for the commercials by a New York company. The video below shows more about how the commercials were made.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b0gXXORWvo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Fully understanding that not everyone has the budget for such commercials it is however a great reminder that being able to demonstrate superior customer service holds great value.