It’s no secret that I love pretty much everything Amazon.com does. You may think that this is just because they named their Kindle book reader after me, but it’s really because they do such a damn good job of focusing on the customer.
Case in point: A month ago, as soon as the new Portal 2 game was available for pre-order on Amazon.com, I placed and order (using my Prime member ship which gets me free shipping). At that time the PC version of Portal 2 was listed for $44.99. I had a promotion for $20 off.
Portal 2 showed up this week (and I’ve already played about half way though. I loved the original and am totally digging this version as well) via FedEx as expected.
This morning I got an email from Amazon.com that says “You saved $10.00 with Amazon.com’s Pre-order Price Guarantee!”. The price changed between when I ordered Portal 2 and yesterday to $34.99. My total cost (not including tax) for Portal 2 was $14.99.
If you combine the following…
- Amazon Prime, which for $79 a year gets you free 2-day shipping on the majority of what Amazon.com sells. Just last week I bought 12 quarts of Brad Penn 20W-50 oil for my Porsche. 2-day shipping FREE. Earlier this year I bought an Optima car battery (40 lbs) and it was shipped free. You can use your Prime membership across multiple accounts in your family too!
- Pre-order Price Guarantee, as above.
- The amazing Amazon Kindle book reader which is still my favorite gadget ever, and I have a LOT of gadgets.
- Recommendations that actually work and are useful.
- Their huge catalog.
- Their phenomenal return policy.
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The ability to subscriptions to frequently bought items. I love Clif Peanut Toffee Buzz bars for breakfast. We go though a 24 pack of them about every 2 months. I’m “subscribed” to these with Amazon.com and every 2 months FedEx shows up with another box of 24. I get my Prime discount (10%) plus an additional 5% off for subscribing. And free shipping.
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Low-friction affiliates program (Amazon Associates). Amazon makes it very easy to get paid for referring people to buy products on Amazon.com. (Yes, full disclosure: Part of my motivation for posting to my blog is to drive more traffic to my website resulting in more referrals.) It’s not a ton of money, but they can pay you in Amazon.com gift credit on your account. If a few people buy Amazon Kindles after visiting my site those Clif bars are paid for! It took me probably 10 minutes to sign up.
- Great customer support. I am regularly shocked at how easy they make it to speak to a real human who knows their sh** on the phone.
… you get what I call Shockingly Great Customer Service.
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