If you have a dog or cat yourself or know someone who does, you know about the adoration people develop for their pets. Tapping into that feeling to promote a brand is the genius behind Chewy’s strategy of sending out free oil paintings of people’s pets.
AP News reported that Chewy shas sent out over a thousand of them, selecting its recipients each week: “In the cutthroat world of online shopping, that personal touch and a bit of kitsch is how Chewy is looking to stand out among the competition, which has only gotten stiffer as more people shop online and add pandemic pets to their families.”
Become the best CRMer you can:
CRM Hack: measuring the right marketing campaign KPIs
How To: use loyalty data to power retention and reactivation
See how brands take their email deliverability to the max
Get inspired: great sports betting campaigns to follow
The article quotes one of the recipients of a free portrait, Danielle Schwartz, saying that she was so impressed to get “something so personal,” that now she would “buy everything from them.”
The idea of delighting customers by wowing them is one that the late founder of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, advocated in his book, Delivering Happiness. As eCommerce brands need to distinguish themselves somehow to draw in customers on something other than price, it becomes a challenge to win them over through a positive experience, enter the surprise painting.
Customers who are delighted to receive an oil painting not only feel more loyal; they share their enthusiasm with the world on social media. That translates into the equivalent of word-of-mouth recommendation at scale — something money alone can’t buy without the suspicion of influencers singing the praises of those who pay them.
The personal touch is completely on brand for Chewy. As AP reports, the company makes a point of sending out handwritten notes to customers, as well as paper holiday cards to all. Those bereaved of their pets even get flowers.
Chewy is now entering its second decade, though it has yet to achieve a profit, according to the AP report. Despite that, it is now valued at over $40 billion.
It has been increasing its share of pet spending in the United States. It’s been climbing steadily estimated to have hit $99 billion this past year. Amazon still beats it for online pet supplies at the rate of 50% to 34%, AP explains, citing retail consulting firm 1010data.
But the lockdowns and fear of visiting stores in person have increased online orders in general, not to mention pet ownership. As a result, Chewy gained 5 million customers within the year, an increase that brings its total number close to 18 million. It also enjoyed huge gains in its stock price.