Zappos is well known for its innovative approach to customer service, particularly on Twitter, where anyone who merely mentions the word “Zappos” can be pretty certain a Zappos employee will respond to their message personally.

We wanted to take a closer look at Zappos’ approach to customer service, so we used Skyttle’s TopicMaker to find the top people, places, phrases and web pages that are relevant to Zappos.  The results?

The phrase “customer service” is the fourth most common phrase used around Zappos and is more common than either “womens shoes” or “mens shoes”.

Also among the common phrases are “core values”, “company culture”, “repeat customers”, “customer experience”, and “customer service company“.

But perhaps what’s even more interesting is the results we found when searching for “great customer service”: “Zappos” is the tenth most referenced organisation around “great customer service”, and remarkably, “Twitter” is right on top.

We already knew that Zappos is, as their slogan says, “powered by service.”  But Skyttle illustrates how brand definition is all about what people say about you.  Zappos may sell shoes and clothing, but Skyttle tells us that their real business is “customer service” more than anything else.