All they did was give me $2.50

Here’s the text of the email (with the order information stripped out):

Greetings from Amazon.com.

During a recent review of your order, we noticed that we now offer a
lower price on “[Product]” than at the time you
placed your order.

We value your business and have requested a refund of $2.50 to your
credit card.  This amount reflects the difference between the price
you were charged and the current, lower price.  The refund should be
processed in the next few days and should appear as a credit on your
next billing statement.

You may view returns and refunds by clicking the “Your Account” link
at the top of our web site, then clicking “Go!” next to “open and
recently shipped orders.”  Completed refunds will appear at the bottom
of an individual order’s summary page.

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com — we hope you will visit us
again soon.

Many web sites and stores have “low price guarantees” where if you see the price of the item lower within 30 days you can go back to the store and request a refund.  Those stores bank on you *not* requesting the refund – they load all of the benefit of the risk reversal statement into the front end.

Amazon has totally flipped this around.  Instead of making me see a lower price, get annoyed enough to call a customer service rep, and feel like I’ve got to jump through hoops to get a couple of bucks back, Amazon took the initiative.  They showed that the value me as a customer and value our “relationship” enough to invest that $2.50 in me.  What they’ve done is spend $2.50 on a customer loyalty program.

Amazon already had a good place in my mind – they ship fast and the prices are decent.  Maybe I could get something for a couple of dollars cheaper at another site, but my buying experience has always been good.  Now they are way at the top of my list because they showed that they are looking out for me and will work for me proactively.

So, they took what could be a customer service hassle and part of the “cost center” and flipped it into a marketing and customer loyalty/retention expense investment.

I’ve been inspired and am already looking for ways to surprise and delight my customers with proactive, customer-centric programs.

Would this work for you?  How can you apply it in your business?  (Please leave a comment to let me know.)