Make your customers the stars – whether they’re B2B, B2C, canine or feline. That’s just one great strategy from the pet industry that any organization can use.
Chewy’s end-users are pets, but pleasing their owners is the ultimate goal, according to Ryan Cohen, former CEO of the company, which he eventually sold.
“I don’t know too many businesses that ended up not being successful when they did a really good job at delighting their customers,” Cohen said in a recent interview.
3 strategies to try
Cohen and his team upped the customer service game with these three strategies:
- Make your customers the stars. Cohen knew he’d be competing against mega-online retailers who could deliver as fast as – or faster than – Chewy could. So it was important to show customers how much they were valued (in addition to easy, fast and efficient service). One way: Employees don’t rush through transactions. They take the time to ask and hear about customers’ pets.
- Make personal connections. For Chewy, that meant paying close attention to what customers say and do. For instance, Chewy sends customers handwritten holiday cards, fun sketches of pets when they can and flowers when they learn a pet passed away.
- Be there. Although it’s easy to do business with Chewy online, someone is there to personally help quickly and at any time. Chewy has a 24-hour customer service line and promises to answer calls within six seconds.
