From Amazon MD Brian McBride – ‘Information about your Christmas order’

Quite a well thought out email from the MD of Amazon, Brian McBride.

Dear Customer,

Ensuring that you receive your order in time for Christmas is our number one priority.

The recent weather conditions have resulted in backlogs across the entire UK for our delivery partners, but we are in constant communication with them and are working around the clock to make sure that orders with an estimated delivery time before December 24, arrive in time for Christmas.

We are currently experiencing an increased volume of e-mails and phone calls into our customer service centre. This is causing delays to our usual speed of response but rest assured, we are working through all enquiries in order of receipt.

There are some useful self-service links that allow you to see the details of your order and its current status. You can access these by visiting Your Account.

If your order has already been dispatched via a trackable method, please use the tracking information on your confirmation e-mail or in ‘Your Account’ to track your delivery via the relevant carrier website.

If your order was dispatched via a non-trackable method, please rest assured that your item is on its way to you now.

If your order has not yet been dispatched please check ‘Your Account’ regularly where you will find the most up-to-date information regarding dispatch dates and estimated delivery dates.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

With kind regards,
Brian McBride
Managing Director, Amazon.co.uk

An Apology Needed?

Interestingly there is no apology for the delays in the contents of the mail, maybe there is no need to ‘apologise’. If someone apologises, does it make them appear at fault or perhaps just sympathetic to the customers issue? Me, I’d rather apologise, even if it is the fault of others.

A Part of the Selling Process

Ultimately the delivery and does impact the impression of Amazon and any other company that uses a third party to despatch goods to customers. When an item arrives, the speed, cost and security of the delivery are all factors that greatly impact the overall impression of the company the product was sourced from.

Ask yourself this:

Next time you receive an item from say Amazon, eBay or where-ever, try and summarise the service in a few words, just like feedback.

Now I bet you instantly thought about the delivery part of the product, the second you went to write this, the actual item and its condition, is normally always secondary.

Understanding

I do appreciate the mail, two books I ordered are outstanding, one from Amazon and another from bookdepository, I’m not that cheesed as I’ve got plenty (11 to be precise) other books to read over the Christmas period and I can also see this delay from multiple perspectives. But normal customers really don’t give a dam and want their items NOW.

So with that in mind, nice email, but its a fail & too late.

Difference

Always a question that goes through my mind when looking at anything, What would I have done different to better what I am considering? In this case, bribery is the instant reaction, coupled with an apology.

Not wanting to linger on the apology bit too much, but the delivery part is a part of the selling process and it does form part of the ‘entire’ sale. If part of the process is failing, be a man and apologise, being humble always throws the other party off.

The inclusion of a say a £1.00 voucher would have been nice, free expedited shipping for non Amazon prime customers on an order to use in the new year would have been (here comes that bloody awful set of words) win-win for customer and company, by getting the customer to return to the site, to undo the previous possibly poor experience and get a bonus sale at the same time.