Client Experience in the Age of Amazon
Amazon. In just over a decade, Amazon went from a low-key bookseller on the Internet to the most valuable public company and most people’s first stop when they need something. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Amazon’s growth has been incredible — and, in that growth, there are many business lessons to be learned.
You see, Amazon has become so powerful that it no longer needs to adapt to consumer behavior; it shapes it. This is what I like to call “The Amazon Effect” — it’s the way that modern buyers have been trained by the shopping experience on Amazon that it influences the way they purchase anything, including the products and services offered by small businesses.
The Amazon Effect penetrates every single thing consumers do this day. Every purchasing decision, every click, every expectation has been conditioned by Amazon’s user experience. As a result, small businesses need to take a page or two out of the Amazon handbook in order to meet consumers’ expectations.
Now, that doesn’t mean we need to aspire to be just like Amazon or adopt their business model. We can still be successful in our own unique and creative ways; we just need to understand how our customers have been conditioned so we can connect with them in similar ways.
Let’s explore a few ways Amazon’s customer experience has transformed the market’s expectations, habits, and behavior.
24-hour Delivery
Amazon really changed the game when they started offering rapid delivery. It built an expectation for instant gratification in its consumer base, while also teaching us how to plan our lives around our ability to purchase things conveniently.
Think about it this way: If I want to go to the pool this weekend, I know I need to purchase swimming goggles by midweek so it will be on my front doorstep before I go to the pool. This is an amazing innovation that has changed the way people shop online.
On the flip side, it also teaches our clients to expect the same instant gratification from service providers. They want their proverbial goggles tomorrow and get impatient if it’s not within a 24-hour window. Yet, nobody plans an event overnight and it isn’t feasible for such a high-touch business model to turn every action item over in 24 hours.
Creative businesses are about quality over quantity, which you can’t say about Amazon. We are people working with people. We don’t have the robust inventory management software or team of thousands to run your operations like clockwork like Amazon, so you need to give yourself grace. Set realistic expectations with clients and be firm about your boundaries.
However, that’s not to say you can’t provide clients with some quick wins. You don’t need to deliver the product in 24 hours, per se, but you can still help them take the next step. For example, your schedule might be filled up for the next two weeks, but you can still instantly deliver an opportunity to book a consultation through your website or a Calendly link in response to an inquiry. They may not get their meeting right away, but they get the little win of securing a date to put on their calendar to look ahead.
You want to consider: what is an immediate gratification that I can give the client that fits within my systems and boundaries in my business? The client needs to feel the thrill of an immediate win.
Shipment Tracking
Who doesn’t love the ability to obsessively track their packages while en route? This feature is so convenient, but it has pushed us to expect constant status updates. Who cares if a package is still 3 days away, somewhere in Illinois? At least we can know when it has left and is on our way to us! Much like shipment tracking, creative professionals are often subject to emails requesting status updates. People have been conditioned to want to know every little step of the process, so they expect us to keep them abreast of any progress.
As creatives, this can be exhausting — particularly when it’s a project that spans month at a time. To handle this, you need to give clients the tools to self-monitor where they are in the process. Otherwise, they’ll be filling up your inbox if they haven’t received an answer in 24 hours. Even Amazon deliveries are late sometimes, but people can check in to see that there is a delay. Simply put, we can’t let our clients chase us for answers. They have come to expect a system that guides them and sends update notifications, so we need to be one step ahead of them.
Fortunately, we have many tools available for this. The best project management tools—like Honeybook, Basecamp, and Asana—offer collaborative programs that you can invite clients to join and track their progress.
Online Comparisons
There are few things worse than being compared to your competitors, but that’s the name of the game. Do we like to be one of ten people being contacted for an event? Absolutely not. That’s a lot of pressure! However, it is what it is — that’s just how people shop.
Think about the review section on Amazon. When you want to buy something (say, goggles!), you likely read through the reviews of the top several options available. People want to get the best service for the best price and reviews are what help to make that final decision.
For small businesses, this means racking up those great Google reviews. Creating your company profile isn’t just about showing up on Google Maps; it’s also what will be at the top of the search results when someone looks for your company. Google business listings show up even higher than industry-specific sites, like The Knot and WeddingWire, so it’s essential to gather Google reviews from clients.
Additionally, take note that some of the best Amazon reviews are those with videos showing how a product looks and works in action. Video content is incredibly important for showing the value of the product or service you’re selling, so you need to start creating vide for your website and YouTube. These videos will show up on Google along with your company listing, so it will go a long way in your SEO.
Bonus: I also recommend sending an introductory video in response to inquiries to give a bit of info and demonstrate your personality without the pressure of scheduling a consultation. Nobody is really doing this right now, so it’s a refreshing and unique thing for prospects to see in their inboxes.
As service providers, the key to keeping our clients happy and delivering that stellar service they expect is simply to consider the things we like as consumers. What do we value most from a brand experience? What makes us happy when we buy something?
I’ve seen a lot of resistance to change in the industry. We don’t want to create a 24-hour expectation for deliverables. We don’t like to be compared. We don’t want to be sending progress notifications. It goes against the grain of what the industry has done for decades.
But, at the end of the day, the consumer decides what they want. We can either push back against market demands or we can adapt. There’s only one answer for a successful business. We can still provide high-touch service while incorporating these valuable Amazon lessons into our operations to service people in the way they are accustomed. No matter how you feel about Amazon, it’s clear that they’ve got the market psychology down and it’s up to the rest of us to adjust our habits and continue providing top-notch service.
Michelle Loretta is a strategist for the events industry and creator of Be Sage Consulting, formerly Sage Wedding Pros, with experience as a stationery entrepreneur herself. With a degree in accounting and a career rooted in her time at Deloitte, she dissects numbers to help level-up businesses’ earnings and has educated, coached, and consulted event pros since 2009. In 2021, Michelle launched the Sage Coaches program to match industry experts with event professionals to provide coaching in niche topics. Michelle has spoken at a number of industry conferences, including WeddingWire World, NACE Experience, and The Special Event.
