As far as Tuesdays go, this one was pretty sweet. On October 25, Retail Brew hosted 2022’s The SKU, a summit featuring a full day of IRL connection, reflection, and exclusive insights into the ever-evolving world of retail.
If you couldn’t attend (and feel the FOMO creeping in), fear not: Here’s your recap of one of the day’s most insightful convos. Shilpi Narang, Bolt’s vice president of Customer Experience, took the stage with David Horowitz, PuppySpot’s chief information officer.
Wanna see how PuppySpot overcame pandemic-induced e-commerce woes and met increased customer demand—and what’s on their radar for next year? Read on, retail enthusiasts.
Pressing e-comm priorities
Given the current economic climate and fast-approaching holiday shopping season, the effectiveness of conversion funnels remains top of mind for growing brands like PuppySpot.
If you haven’t heard of the brand yet, say goodbye to productivity for the day. PuppySpot is a platform that matches approved dog breeders with millions of hopeful furry-friend seekers. PuppySpot wants to ensure that once a customer finds their new pup, they’re able to navigate the checkout funnel as quickly and smoothly as possible—and complete their shopping journey.
“What we found is, the new Bolt One-Click Checkout actually converts at 20% higher than people who aren’t using one-click checkout,” David said.
“It’s really important because there are so many places where you can lose people along the way,” he continued. “So we want to make it as seamless as possible [and] accept all the payment methods that they have.”
Plus, before pairing with Bolt, PuppySpot devoted a huge amount of time to validating customer legitimacy by manually gathering customer info. Now Bolt’s handy algorithm protects PuppySpot against fraud, significantly cutting down that legwork.
From winging it to winning it
Everybody loves a quick win, no matter the market or industry. Shilpi asked David what sort of simple changes and improvements retailers can implement to score instant impact.
David shared that in PuppySpot’s experience, customer service is key.
“You always hear, ‘Oh, it’s hard to get somebody on the phone right now,’ ‘I can’t talk to somebody,’ ‘I get put on hold,’” he said. “Getting customers the information they need when they need it is very important, and being responsive is important.”
Quality customer service is crucial in fostering conversions and customer loyalty. That’s why PuppySpot employs quality chatbots and AI to heighten responsiveness. This allowed them to get the top three most popular customer questions answered in a timely manner, which has fostered a sweeping effect and also addresses related concerns 80% of the time.
These changes mean PuppySpot can leverage a smaller staff to focus on customer service for the remaining outlier questions, no longer having to repeatedly sift through echoing concerns.
Lessons learned
Believe it or not, 2022 is almost in the rearview. Looking back on the past few years, David noted that times have been tumultuous (to put it lightly), especially when you’re in the business of puppies.
Pet sales spiked during initial and subsequent lockdowns, which offered positive growth for PuppySpot but came with its own set of challenges.
David explained that one unique challenge PuppySpot’s team faced was managing the safe delivery of puppies in the midst of a pandemic. Their original process used commercial airlines to deliver pups to their new homes, but with the rise of COVID-19, this was no longer an option.
PuppySpot had to get creative. They initially leased two airplanes to schedule weekly flights across the US.
“As we came into 2022,” David said, “the economy and the price of fuel just made that prohibitive, so we had to look for alternative methods of getting the puppy home.”
Their team is currently sourcing alternative transportation methods and continues to learn from this challenge as they grow.
What’s next for 2023?
So, which e-commerce trends is David placing his bets on for next year? With the economy being ~the economy~, PuppySpot’s team is focusing their efforts on other funnels of revenue.
“One of those ways is non-puppy revenue and subscriptions,” David said.
With cohesion in mind, PuppySpot is looking to offer essential products that new doggie owners will need as they start their pet-parent journeys, like dog beds, toys, leashes, and even specialized birthday boxes.
“We find that this is a very big growing area in our business that we want to take advantage of,” David added.
Talk about pawsibilities. To recap David’s tips: Leverage the right tools to offer a seamless checkout experience, elevate customer service, expand your brand’s reach, and always remain open to thinking on the fly as your biz grows. With these teachings up your sleeve, your brand will be ready for a doggone wonderful 2023.