If you have a pet, it’s likely that you have become a “Pet Parent.” Your pet is a member of your family, and you seek out the best of everything for them. Most important, you want smart, knowledgeable people guiding you to the right food and equipment. And when your little one is out of sorts, you want whomever you reach out to for help to care as much as you do. You need real, personalized assistance, not just product recommendations. If this sounds like you, you’re in good company! In the United States pet lovers spent an estimated $62.75 billion on their animals, according to the American Pet Products Association.
Chewy.com Delivers Reliable Caring for “Pet Parents”
At Chewy.com they start with your life as a pet parent. “Chewtopians” answer your call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. When you call Chewy, your call is answered within five seconds. And a live and trained person answers the phone, ready to banter, talk about your pet or answer a complex question about pet food or pet care. These are pet lovers and owners, trained in all of the products. And they share the bond you have with their pet. Empathy is a critical component in the reliability that Chewy delivers. There are no call length limits, and you will never be handed off to someone else. Reps are trained to help you from start to finish – with you and your pet as their only priority. They help you both emotionally if you are having a challenge with your pet’s health, and practically, to find the right solution, whether it is a Chewy.com product or helping you find a health care provider. These folks take an average of 7,000 unique calls a day, during which notes are taken there is company-wide memory and record of Fluffy’s name, profile and needs.
Prefer live chat? Live chat conversations are answered within 6 seconds by a human. Emails are responded to within 20 minutes with a personalized response. Swift social media conversations follow this same pattern. You’ll hear back from a “Chewtopian” in less than 5 minutes when you connect or mention Chewy.com via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. Swift and reliable continue in delivery, with 60% of orders delivered overnight.
Build a Foundation of Trust
The backbone of all of this behavior is relationship and trust. If your pup won’t eat that pricey food you bought him, you’re asked to donate what’s left and are refunded, no proof required. Pictures of turtles, fish, dogs, cats and critters regularly appear in Chewy.com’s mail. These are put into a raffle where on-staff painters paint 700 oil paintings each week and send them to surprised and delighted pet parents. They hand write, address and stamp holiday cards each year. News of a beloved pet’s passing is often met with a bouquet sent to the grieving pet parent’s home.
Shout out to @Chewy for the thoughtful gift of my baby Snowball. We LOVE it!! pic.twitter.com/2h9gy8ml8D
— Rhonda A (@CoachRhondaA) December 10, 2021
The Impact of Empathy
Earlier this year, Motley Fool wrote, “During the question and answer session of Chewy’s fourth-quarter conference call, CEO Sumit Singh highlighted his belief that Chewy captured 57% of pure e-commerce sales of pet products in 2020. And he believes that Chewy will go on to capture over 50% of all growth that will happen in the online channels in 2021.”
In 2017, Chewy received the “Stevie Award of the Year” for best customer service. And PetSmart acquired them for $3.5 billion—for their ability to nurture and grow zealot online customers. “Paws crossed” that Chewy.com will be able to continue it unique way of doing business and continue to thrive.
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Hey Jeanne, thank you very much! Unfortunately, a severe shortage of empathy is quite common for the pet care industry. And the case you’ve depicted here clearly shows how empathy is essential and how it could be used as USP for the business, resulting in billion-dollar revenues.
Both veterinary doctors and other vet team members are highly affected by burnout, compassion fatigue, and emotional exhaustion. The most dramatic example is that suicide cases happen almost three times more frequently among veterinary professionals rather than on average. The main drivers of burnout are high workload, lower work-life balance, lack of both professional planning and prevention strategy, as well as toxic relationships with colleagues.
My boss Dr. Ivan Zak knows a lot about burnout and its prevention. Awareness is the very first step on the way to overcoming or preventing burnout. Here are the findings of the research he conducted on the topic along with our colleagues. If you worry about burnout, then you’ll find it quite helpful: https://galaxyvets.com/learning-center/veterinary-burnout-researched-and-explained/