Pet Friends: 1200% Sales Increase in Two Years Through Customer Experience

Pet Friends: 1200% Sales Increase in Two Years Through Customer Experience

Check out our video interview with Pet Friend's Operations Manager Hee Rak Park

We sat down with Operations Manager Hee Rak Park to talk about Pet Friend’s wild success in becoming Korea’s number #1 pet goods company.

Q: Can you introduce Pet Friends?

Pet Friends is more than just a pet shopping destination – it's a place where pets are treated like a friend or family member.

We initially launched in 2016 as an O2O (online-to-offline) service helping people find nearby animal hospitals, grooming salons, pet-friendly hotels, and pet cafes in their area.

Through working on this service we discovered that what our customers truly needed was product delivery.

So we quickly pivoted our business direction based on our customers’ needs and Pet Friends has transformed into what it is today.

In the business world, it’s easy for companies to choose the easy and quick route when dealing with customers, but at Pet Friends, we prioritize the customer experience and are constantly seeking ways to improve it.

Q: How would you describe the Pet Friend’s Operation Team?

Our Operation Team is a team that fosters genuine connections with our customers.

Our KPI (key performance indicator) is not how many questions are answered but rather providing quick responses and having empathy in our replies.

Personally, I monitor Channel Talk statistics to ensure that we respond to all inquiries within three minutes.

However, there are no restrictions to the length of our conversations with our customers.

In fact, when our customers feel truly close to us, they might use nicknames, informal language, or even share lighthearted jokes. We approach these conversations with an open mind because we want to forge lasting relationships.

As a result, more and more of our customers remember us and even seek out specific employees to chat with.

Q: What is the secret to sales growing 1200% in two years?

Within the pet market, achieving product differentiation is a significant challenge as many competitors offer similar products.

Price is also competitive and it’s difficult to bring down the price too much.

So instead, we focused on differentiating the customer experience.

There are now over 100 employees at Pet Friends, with every team, including marketing and merchandise, working hard.

But in the early days, I think 100% of Pet Friend’s initial growth can be attributed to the operations teams. We were using Channel Talk to be able to properly meet and talk with customers.

Even today, when we conduct surveys with customers, our customer service quality is one of the top three reasons why they love us.

Q: It seems like there are a lot of great customer stories - can you share one?

We've had some really memorable moments with our customers. For instance, there was a time when a customer's child was sick and so that customer couldn’t really leave the house. We went to pick up the child’s medicine and delivered it to their doorstep.

Another customer was looking after an abandoned dog but didn’t know what to do. So we made a flyer and helped them find the owner.

We also offer a delivery service that allows customers to request food or changing pads.

The thoughtfulness goes both ways. One really sweet customer once sent homemade snacks to our team as a token of appreciation. There are honestly just countless heartwarming stories that have made our journey truly memorable.

Q: This type of product isn’t necessarily expensive, so why do you put so much effort into customer service?

Some people wonder why we go to such lengths for just one customer, but we believe that gaining a customer’s trust is more important than how much we sell.

That’s why we started using Channel Talk. In order for customers to talk to us and trust us, we needed to get to know them.

You need to know what products the customer is currently looking at and what the conversation history from the last chat is to build that trust.

In the beginning, we were just using KakaoTalk for live chat but it was difficult to find conversation history so it took a long time to match up customer information one by one.

Channel Talk filled this gap since you can see the entire history of a conversation with a customer and start building a relationship with each chat.

Q: Are there any concerns about the increasing amount of inquiries as the company grows?

First off, because there are significantly more chat inquiries than phone inquiries, there isn’t a need to expand our team just because of the increased inquiry volume.

Rather, we focused on meeting the needs of customers who have simple inquiries that can be quickly resolved.

This is where we use Channel Talk’s support bot that can easily resolve those types of questions. Our efficiency has improved by around 50% as a result!

As for direct inquiries, the Pet Friends Operation Team responds to approximately 300-400 inquiries per day.

Q: Does customer feedback impact Pet Friends’ services?

Of course! The Save feature was created after receiving customer feedback. And if a customer has any difficulty with the user interface and experience (UI/UX), we immediately report it to our development team.

And especially with the setup of Channel Talk, the chats are categorized by date and subject so we’re able to pull data without a developer.

And the chats are accessible to other departments and can also easily gain insights from customer feedback.

After we receive feedback, we prioritize the changes that need to be made and take action on changes that can be completed immediately. For more time-consuming changes, we schedule those changes into our upcoming task list.

Q: What is Channel Talk’s role in the Pet Friend’s Operation Team?

Channel Talk is the tool that most accurately embodies the goals we are pursing in the Operation Team. In fact, the stats provided by Channel Talk will soon become part of our team’s KPIs.

Channel Talk is a perfect fit for a team that wants to be a customer-centered, customer-friendly business like Pet Friends.

Additionally, Channel Talk helps businesses connect with their customers on a more personal level. Customers trust us just by looking at the profile photo from our employees and the greetings.

If you build trust through conversations, that trust will return in the form of customer retention.

We currently have a repurchase rate of 83% - a rate that would be very difficult to reach if we didn’t have trust.

I also wanted to emphasize that the amazing customer experience that is created through Channel Talk is a strong competitive edge, especially for online stores with lower AOV (average order value).

The elevated experience helps sales and retention which has been essential for the growth of our business.

Marketing recipe available on Channel Talk