🐶Why customers love Chewy😻

Happy to have you along this morning, Inbox Hackers. I’m gonna talk about Chewy in our Feature Story. This brand’s putting on a clinic in customer satisfaction while two-thirds of online retailers saw their satisfaction scores drop.

After we dig into how Chewy does customer experience the right way, we’ll sip on the following sections: 

• The Knowledge Base  

• Self Help (they won’t ask) 

• Facts & Stats (food corps gobble up diet brands) 

• Get Hacking (find outsiders to tell your story)  

BTW, luxury outdoor wear is trending. But do you ever see folks dressed like this in the woods?👇

Now, let’s pop the top on today’s Feature Story…

Chewy’s Marketing Strategy

Seems to me this smart online retailer of pet supplies has a simple marketing strategy.

Treat your customers like gold.

But since that takes planning and real work, most online retailers don’t bother. Easier to talk about how much they love their customers than walk the walk. But I’m sure AI and Sam Altman’s big head will fix that too.

Anyway, Chewy just beat every other online retailer in customer satisfaction. They ranked number one for the third year in a row in the American Customer Satisfaction Index Survey. 

Chewy’s satisfaction score rose by 1% as about two-thirds of online retailers saw their customer satisfaction scores decline.

I’ll break down what makes Chewy so good at customer experience and satisfaction in a minute.

First, let me paint you a picture that highlights the decline of the customer satisfaction among the majority of other brands in that national survey of like 42,000 peeps.

Chewy’s Marketing Strategy Doesn’t Involve Customers Cussin’ at Their Screens

I try to avoid using cuss words like Coach Prime has done for decades. But I screw up my streak pretty often.

Happened when a Starbucks e-gift card wouldn’t work for my cousin. I gave it to her for Christmas, so I had to try to fix it. 

1. I started on my computer and told the chatbot the issue

2. Was given a number to call (toll-free -🤯 awesome)

3. Called, got hung in a phone tree

4. Was told to call a different number (toll-free again - 🤯what a feature)

5. Another phone tree, so I chose mobile text option

6. Received the text with a link

7. Clicked link and ended up at the chatbot screen where I began

8. Dropped F-bomb sitting in front of my computer screen

Eventually I did get a human chat agent. She gave me a new e-gift code that worked. However, I was put through an 8-step wringer to get satisfaction!

If it wasn’t a gift, I woulda never bothered to get a refund myself. One reason gift cards are so profitable… but I digress.

Point is brands that put customers through the wringer like that do not want to satisfy the customer. They sure as heck don’t want to talk to a customer on the telephone. They put up every roadblock to that possibility.

Not Chewy though…

Chewy’s Customer Service

This brand has live human beings who answer customer phone calls. Pretty quickly, from everything I read. 

Chewy doesn’t make you chase your tail between a computer chat, phone tree, mobile chat, and a link that recycles you back to the computer chat.

They simplified the round-robin death match and just let you talk to one of their employees to see if a human can help ya out. It’s just crazy enough that it might work.

From what I can tell, Chewy’s phone customer service agents are U.S. based too. A big help as that used to be the complaint Americans had - not being able to speak with a fellow American. 

Corporations solved that problem by avoiding letting customers talk to anyone at all, unless you’re willing to stay on hold for 30 minutes. 

One guy I know, and this is no lie or exaggeration, he stayed on hold with Delta for 8 hours to get his airline tickets refunded. Former Green Beret, so don’t try that at home.

What other ways does Chewy lean into customer experience?

I could stop with that review right there. 

What kind of company sends flowers after a customer loses a pet?

Yea, I hear the naysayers…

“Hey, Captain Obvious, it’s a pet brand. Of course they send flowers in that scenario.”

I should cuss the naysayers out. But I’d prefer them think about what kind of business sends flowers to a customer when they lose a loved one, much less a pet?

It ain’t happening with a mortgage broker whom the customer signed up for a $400k loan.

Not with the car dealership where the customer bought a $50k ride.

Insurance agent, whom the customer trusts with their home, car, business, and life insurance? Nope. 

Even a freaking funeral home. These businesses enjoy a hefty profit margin. They’re not sending Aunt Bee flowers after Uncle Junebug kicks the bucket, though.

Beyond sympathy flowers, look at what else Chewy works hard at…

• Active social media engagement, hosting events, and interactive campaigns where pet owners can connect, share stories, and seek advice

• No phone tree

• 24/7 phone customer service (more on this coming up)

• Live agents answer within 2 rings, typically

• Unexpected gestures

• Promoting a culture of empathy and understanding - leads to high morale and low turnover among staff

Also, Chewy employees are not only trained to go above and beyond. They aren’t constrained either. They actually have freedom to make decisions on their own versus the usual suit-playbook of “I have to check with my supervisor.”

Does Chewy get bad reviews?

Yep. No brand can escape that. Unless the brand is doing so little business that it can’t even be considered a “brand.”

From all appearances, though, Chewy aims to please. Pleasing means fixing problems once they pop up. Not just sticking a “We want to make the world a better place” mission statement on a homepage.

Brands with big ideals and bad customer service should focus on making their business a better place to shop first. 

And one last note before we hit the Knowledge Base. Companies that claim they have 24/7 support should either have the best AI chatbot on the market or stop lying about having REAL 24/7 support. 

Chatbots that tell you to read an article or that sound like they’re punch-drunk, just waste customers’ time. 

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Self-Help

Be careful saying some folks ain’t worth trying to help. 

I’m guilty of this.

And honestly, it’s true sometimes because there are bad-intentioned people so awful, they’ll drag you down with them — or worse, step on you just to stay afloat another day or two.

But most people who are struggling? They’re just hurting themselves. 90% of them won’t ask for help either. 

Offer some and they might accept it, though.

Facts & Stats

Bonus: Chick-fil-A had the highest per-store revenue last year. Which fast food joint came in 2nd? Answer at end of email.

Get Hacking

A specific strategy to implement today

You’ve heard so much about repurposing content the past few years, you’ve had a belly full by now. But…

Consider this. NFL Films played a giant role in the NFL becoming the most popular and profitable sports league in America. No other league comes close. 

The man who started NFL Films could do what the NFL itself could not. Namely, present professional football games in a different light with a form of storytelling that lasts way longer than a 60-minute NFL game. 

Today’s hack is for you to find some young creatives who can create these types of stories for your brand. Their outside perspective - if nothing else - will give you ideas you couldn’t come up with on your own. 

Stats below show how a rookie father-and-son team grew NFL Films into a powerful brand from meager beginnings…

• 6 Employees in 1964

• 264 Employees in 2019

• 9,312 games filmed since 1962

• 4,000 hours of annual programming, including over 1,100 hours of original programming

• 500 players and coaches have worn an NFL Films microphone during a game

Thanks for reading Inbox Hacking. Please share it with your peeps - it’s sugar-free but stings a bit.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

Bonus answer from Facts & Stats section:  Raising Cane’s was #2 in highest per store revenue among fast food joints. (Good interview with Raising Cane’s founder).

Ad of the Day: So simple that any sized brand coulda produced this commercial. 

ICYMI:🦎Why camouflage your ads?