Lessons from Kindle

I’ve only had an Amazon Kindle eReader for about 3 months, but I have already experienced multiple examples of Kindle Customer Service that were really impressive. Here are the lessons customer service providers can glean from Kindle’s practices:

TIMELY & TARGETED COMMUNICATION: Before Kindle released its new generation Kindle, it announced that pre-sales were available. I ordered mine through a link made available on Facebook. On the release date, the new Kindle was shipped to me overnight at no additional cost.

MAKE PRODUCTS EASY TO USE: The Kindle is very user-friendly. Start-up was amazingly simple, and I downloaded books and started reading immediately.

PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL MEDIA: I “Like” Kindle on Facebook, and have received many useful tips and recommendations by monitoring their page.

APOLOGIZE FOR ISSUES & MAKE IT RIGHT: I use my Kindle a lot to play word games like Scrabble, and (to my dismay) the letters started to wear off the keyboard. I called Kindle Customer Service, and the first thing they did was to apologize. Then they arranged to send me a new Kindle via overnight delivery.

GREAT PRODUCTS HAVE GREAT SOLUTIONS: My replacement Kindle came with simple instructions for re-loading content I had already purchased. I was up and running within minutes.

MAKE LOGISTICAL ISSUES YOURS; NOT YOUR CUSTOMER’S: I needed to return my defective Kindle within 30 days, in order to avoid being charged for the replacement. Kindle made it easy. I used the new packaging to pack up the old Kindle, and printed a prepaid mailing label provided via a link in an email from Kindle.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO SMOOTH THE WAY: Just as I was wondering how to “wipe” my old Kindle before sending it back…it turned itself on, activated its wireless communication, and displayed a progress bar indicating that content was being deleted. When done, it turned itself back off – ready to be sealed up and shipped. That was a “Wow”.

The only thing that would have made the exchange with Kindle more perfect was to be reassured that they have resolved the issue with the letters on the keyboard, so that I know I won’t have the same problem with the replacement. But, time will tell.

Kindle has a new loyal customer in me, and I’ll be providing a referral to Santa for additional purchases. HO, HO, HO!