Connecting and engaging with customers is a key, if not the top, element to success in the competitive pet food industry.

In 2022, $136.8 billion was spent on pets in the U.S. with pet food and treats accounting for $58.1 billion, according to the American Pet Products Association.

Freshpet, which makes fresh food for cats and dogs, has quickly become a well-known pet food supplier in the expanding industry, with products available in 22,000 stores throughout the U.S. — including on refrigerated shelves in Walmart, Petsmart, Petco and Whole Foods.

While such growth and expansion bring lots of new customers, it also drives increasing numbers of consumer inquiries and questions. Answering those questions quickly, as well as building and keeping consumer trust and loyalty is paramount to staying ahead of the competition in the pet food industry.

All those quests are a big part of why Freshpet went searching for a better way to provide a high-touch service to consumers — which the brand calls parents. At the same time Freshpet wanted to streamline workflow processes, gain complete visibility into each parent conversation and track every inquiry.

The brand needed a consumer engagement solution that let the brand meet pet parents and answer their questions on whichever communication channel the parent chose.

Forging deeper customer relationships is top of mind for every retailer and consumer-facing brand given that a hefty number of consumers, 73%, will jump ship after one bad brand experience, according to TCN Inc.'s third annual "Consumer Insights about Customer Service" survey conducted by OnePoll.

Eliminating pain points

Freshpet's consumer care director, Lisa Diehl, was also hoping to provide customers with shorter waiting times for a live agent interaction.

"They [pet parents] have a lot of questions about their pet's food and appreciate a thoughtful, timely response. The primary pain points we needed to resolve involved reducing consumer support call volumes while also decreasing wait times to speak with one of our live agents," she said in an email interview.

Diehl wanted an intuitive dashboard where the team could manage multiple consumer chats at the same time across digital channels — social channels, SMS, text and the chat function on Freshpet's website.

"Providing high-touch service to our valued pet parents is our top priority — we needed a consumer engagement solution that allowed us to meet our pet parents on their preferred channel," she said.

The strategy plan required a restructuring of the consumer care team to focus on every pillar of consumer relationships — from care to community to self-service. It also required technology to drive that strategy forward.

Choosing the right solution

Freshpet chose Emplifi's Service Cloud and deployed a FAQ chatbot, which the brand named "Scout," that automatically "retrieves" answers to many basic questions that previously would have required a team member's time.

"As a result, our highly skilled consumer care team members can devote more of their one-on-one time focused on more complex consumer inquiries. We're not only performing at a much higher rate, but we have also laid the groundwork to scale our consumer engagement efforts as the Freshpet brand continues to grow," said Diehl.

The brand had been partnering with Emplifi in some capacity since 2016, according to Diehl. Emplifi is a customer engagement platform with AI-powered tech capabilities.

"It wasn't until 2022 that we deployed Emplifi Service Cloud's full capabilities to serve as an 'anchor platform' for the consumer care team," she said.

Given the longtime partnership Emplifi's team immediately understood Freshpet's consumer care needs.

"They also clearly demonstrated how the Emplifi Service Cloud could capture and track contextual consumer data across every touch point we utilize — voice, email, chatbots, social posts, SMS messages, and more," said Diehl.

Scout helps Freshpet automate various inquiries.

"For example, Emplifi Knowledge, the technology that underpins the platform's customer management capabilities, helps guide interactions with up-to-the-second consumer information, enabling every member of the Freshpet consumer care team to provide empathic responses that show we understand and care about our community of pet parents," said Diehl.

"It gives us the tools we need to stay in front of our consumers and has turned our social channels into impactful consumer care communication channels."

More than 20,000 brands like McDonald's, Ford Motor Company, and Delta Air Lines rely on Emplifi to enable connected, empathetic experiences for the modern consumer across marketing, commerce, and care, said Zarnaz Arlia, CMO, Emplifi, in an email interview.

"Emplifi provides all the tools and user interface the brands need to self-serve on any channel. The marketing and IT group simply add the bot widget to their website, social media messaging platforms and other channels like mobile apps by simply adding just a few lines of code to their channels," Arlia said, adding Emplifi clients have complete control over the look, feel, voice and content with the bot tool.

"The non-technical tools make it easy for brands to add or edit existing content," she said, adding the platform also provides a machine learning tool that takes the guesswork out of maintenance.

"It shows the administers real-time information on content customers are looking for. You build what customers need and want. The insights you gain from this tool are a game changer for keeping your system up to date with accurate information."

Deployment brings wins

Within three months of deployment Freshpet saw big gains:

  • 97% of customer inquiries that came in through the automated chat function on Freshpet's website were correctly answered in real-time without input from the consumer care team.
  • A 39% drop in the number of calls consumer care agents had to respond to. While the chatbot took care of any inquiries that could be easily answered by Scout, the consumer care team was able to focus on high-priority consumer issues that needed a human touch.
  • A 29% drop-in wait times for customers whose inquiries required a live consumer care agent.

Diehl said Scout has made a "significant impact" on consumer care initiatives, improving outcomes and achieving a streamlined CX strategy and described the technology as a "win-win" for both Freshpet and its customers.

"We believe that providing outstanding customer service is key to developing long-lasting relationships. The journey for a Freshpet consumer is about more than simply making a purchase. They're acting as a caregiver, and the brand they purchase from must be credible, professional, and empathetic to their needs as pet parents," she said.

The highly competitive market "hinges on outstanding consumer care," she added.

"We simply cannot afford to lose track of a consumer's conversation just because they switched from Twitter to Instagram. Our consumer care team must be able to provide clear and transparent communications across all channels. Along with seamless consumer communications, reporting the right issues is particularly important to our organization as it allows us to maintain an elevated level of consumer retention and cultivate new relationships."

Diehl's advice to other retailers and brands seeking to eliminate similar pain points is to first understand that consumer strategy is key and that it should align with the organization's overall strategies.

"Once you know where you're going, begin to look at the tools needed to get there. Also, what was key for me was understanding our consumer demographics. The younger Millennials, Gen Z, and the Alpha's following them, all live in a digital world," said Diehl. "They are growing up with it as part of their realities. Making sure your future consumer strategies align with that will begin to set you up for success."

Copyright © 2024 Networld Media. All rights reserved., source Industry News