The Gist
- Customer obsession is still Amazon’s north star. Everything the company builds — from AI chips to drone delivery — starts with the question: “Why can’t this be better for the customer?”
- AI isn’t just hype — it’s Amazon’s CX transformation engine. From personalized shopping to Alexa+, Amazon is placing over 1,000 bets on GenAI to reinvent customer experiences.
- Amazon’s cultural model is the real disruptor. The company’s internal norms, like writing narratives and reverse press releases, are designed to make CX a first principle — not an afterthought.
Andy Jassy didn’t bury the lede, as we say in the journalism biz.
In the first few paragraphs of Amazon’s 2024 shareholder letter published today, the Amazon CEO makes this clear: financial growth matters, but meaningfully improving customer experience is the company’s ultimate scoreboard.
“Apart from the financial results, we made our customers’ lives meaningfully better and easier,” Jassy wrote.
From a (married) guy who constantly picks up Amazon packages in front of the side door — and constantly returns them when someone in the house changes her mind — this couldn’t be more spot on.
Amazon makes things better. Amazon makes things easier. So easy to buy. So easy to search on desktop, mobile, mobile app, wherever. So easy — and free — to return. No rules. Just punch a few buttons and head on down to the nearest Whole Foods or elsewhere to return that product, packaged or not.
Amazon’s got you. The customer loyalty is a masterclass. $387 billion yearly revenue in North America alone tells you something.
Sure, I sound like a ringing endorsement for the company. But I’m not speaking as an Amazon influencer (wait, what? GREAT idea?). I’m speaking as an editor who delivers content to the best customer experience leaders around – and Jassy’s shareholder letter today is littered with customer experience soundbites.
Table of Contents
Amazon’s the GOAT of Customer Experience — Because it Asks ‘Why?’
And how does Amazon unlock those better experiences? With one powerful, persistent question: “Why can’t this be better?”
Jassy calls Amazon a “Why company” — a culture built on relentlessly questioning the status quo. Why can’t pharmacy pricing be more transparent? Why should Prime delivery be slower for rural towns? Why can’t a personal assistant actually do things?
“We ask why, and why not, constantly,” Jassy wrote. “It helps us deconstruct problems, get to root causes, understand blockers, and unlock doors that might have previously seemed impenetrable. Amazon has an unusually high quotient of this WhyQ (let’s call it “YQ”), and it frames the way we think about everything that we do.”
For CX leaders, this is a powerful reminder: The question that should keep you up at night isn’t, “What’s our roadmap?” but rather “Why does the experience still fall short?”
Related Article: Why We Need to Evolve From Customer Experience to Customer Obsession
Generative AI: The Next Great CX Unlock
You can’t talk about Amazon’s customer experience without talking about AI — and Jassy did, at length. He declared that every customer experience we know is about to be reinvented by AI.
Amazon is currently building over 1,000 generative AI applications across its ecosystem — not just to automate or reduce costs, but to create entirely new customer experiences in shopping, healthcare, entertainment and personal productivity.
“If your customer experiences aren’t planning to leverage these intelligent models, their ability to query giant corpuses of data and quickly find your needle in the haystack, their ability to keep getting smarter with more feedback and data, and their future agentic capabilities, you will not be competitive,” Jassy wrote. “How soon? It won’t all happen in a year or two, but, it won’t take 10, either. It’s moving faster than almost anything technology has ever seen.”
If your mission is to make customers’ lives better and easier every day, Jassy continued, and you believe every customer experience will be reinvented by AI, “you’re going to invest deeply and broadly in AI.”
CX leaders are on notice: AI is no longer the shiny object — it’s the infrastructure behind the next generation of emotional, contextual and personalized experiences.
Key Customer Experience Transformations Driven by Generative AI
Amazon’s investments in AI are targeted at specific customer touchpoints that define modern digital experiences.
| CX Area | AI Enhancement | Customer Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Voice assistants (Alexa+) | Action-oriented natural language models | Automated tasks, reservations, personalized recommendations |
| Ecommerce discovery | AI-enhanced search, personalization and recommendations | Faster, more relevant shopping journeys |
| Pharmacy services | Transparent pricing models and automated fulfillment | Reduced effort and confusion for prescription purchases |
Speed Still Matters in CX. Maybe More Than Ever
For years, Amazon has set the bar on delivery logistics. But if you think the brand is coasting on two-day Prime, think again. Jassy reported that same-day delivery is expanding rapidly — including in rural zip codes most competitors have written off.
Ok, let’s not forget Amazon’s had its share of criticism and regulatory interventions for poor customer experience when it comes to its products and return practices, but it’s steadfast that is has the customer on the mind at all times.
“When we promise faster delivery times, customers complete purchases at a meaningfully higher rate and shop with us more frequently,” Jassy said. “Amazon Prime started with unlimited, free, two-day delivery for a million products; it’s now grown to over 300 million items, with tens of millions available in one day (or better). An increasing number of deliveries happen same day. This speed improvement is primarily due to our regionalization redesign of our fulfillment network, our new placement algorithms, and the introduction of our innovative same-day fulfillment centers. Although we’ve set speed records for two consecutive years, we’re still honing these innovations, and have others planned. And, don’t forget Prime Air, our drones that will get items to customers inside an hour. We are not done improving speed.”
Delivery Evolution at Amazon
Here’s how Amazon’s fulfillment model has changed to support new CX expectations.
| Delivery Model | Past Approach | Current Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Fulfillment Network | Centralized warehouses | Regionalized fulfillment hubs |
| Delivery Time | Two-day shipping standard | Same-day and even sub-hour via Prime Air |
| Rural Reach | Limited due to cost | Aggressively expanding small-town coverage |
What CX Leaders Can Learn From Amazon’s Internal Engine
Amazon’s innovation machine isn’t just about what they build — it’s how they work. Jassy offered a window into the cultural mechanisms that fuel CX breakthroughs:
- Working backwards. Teams write mock press releases and FAQs before building to ensure product-market fit and CX value.
- Narrative writing. Instead of decks, teams write six-page memos to think deeply about the customer problem.
- Builders over bureaucrats. Small, scrappy teams with high ownership deliver faster and with more focus.
- Speed with accountability. Two-way door decisions are pushed down, empowering CX teams to act without endless approvals.
“We operate like the world’s largest startup in large part because of our culture of Why,” Jassy said. “We don’t always get everything right, and we learn and iterate like crazy. But, we’re constantly choosing to prioritize customers, delivery, invention, ownership, speed, scrappiness, curiosity, and building a company that outlasts us all. It remains Day One.”
Related Article: Infuse Agility Into Customer Experience
Final Thought: CX Isn’t a Department. It’s the Mission.
Jassy’s 2024 year in review is a not-so-subtle reminder that customer experience isn’t just part of Amazon’s strategy — it is the strategy. From rural drone drops to generative AI assistants, every major bet is aimed at making life better and easier for the customer.
“Customers are always looking for something better.”
If you don’t find a way to unlock those better experiences, someone else will.
For CX leaders, the path forward is clear:
- Ask “Why?” relentlessly
- Empower your builders
- Embrace the pace
- Let AI be your co-pilot
- And never forget — it’s still Day One.
“Whatever we’re contemplating building has to be focused on solving a real customer problem or meaningfully improving a customer experience,” Jassy said. “Companies can get off track prioritizing technology because they’re excited about the technology. Great startups are on a mission to change what’s possible for customers.”
