How Ryan Cohen's Chewy exited at $3B? The power of a personal touch in ecommerce

Chewy's touch won hearts (+$3B!). Can AI personalize at scale without breaking the bank? Discover how to wow customers cost-effectively.

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Personalization has become a buzzword in the world of business, and for good reason. In today's market, customers seek out personalized experiences and expect companies to tailor their interactions to their specific needs and preferences.

In fact, a study by McKinsey found that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% percent get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.

The rise of ecommerce has only accelerated this trend, as customers increasingly demand convenient, personalized experiences online from the top ecommerce companies and smaller businesses alike. One company that has excelled at providing ecommerce personalization in customer service is Chewy, an online retailer of pet supplies.

The importance of exceptional customer experience in today's market

In today's market, customer experience is everything. With so many options available to consumers, businesses need to find ways to stand out and differentiate themselves from their competitors. Providing exceptional customer service is one way to do this.

Customers are more likely to return to a business that provides a positive experience, and recommend it to others. In order to provide exceptional customer service, businesses need to understand their customers' needs and preferences, and how they evolve throughout the ecommerce customer journey.

This is where personalization comes in. By tailoring interactions to each individual customer, businesses can create a more engaging and memorable experience. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and higher customer lifetime value.

Meet Chewy and their unique approach to customer service

Founded in 2011 with a mission to provide pet owners with the best possible shopping experience, Ryan Cohen's Chewy is one of the most successful ecommerce companies to date, having been acquired by PetSmart for $3 billion in 2017.

While Chewy's success can be attributed to a variety of factors, one of the key tactics that helped them stand out amongst other top ecommerce companies was their personal touch. Cohen and his team understood the importance of building a personal connection with customers and went above and beyond to make their experience unforgettable.

From the beginning, Chewy placed a strong emphasis on customer service, recognizing that exceptional service is key to building customer loyalty. Chewy's approach to customer service is centered around making the customer feel valued and appreciated.

One way Chewy did this was by sending handwritten notes and flowers to customers. This may seem like a small gesture, but it had a big impact.

Customers were delighted to receive something so unexpected and thoughtful from a company they had only interacted with online. It created a personal connection between the customer and the brand, capturing the essence of a personalized email and the endearing nature of welcome series email examples in a real physical form, and made them feel valued and appreciated.

But in the era of AI and ChatGPT, is a personal touch still important?

The answer is yes. While generative AI has certainly made it easier to scale ecommerce personalization, it's still important to make customers feel like they're more than just a number.

Ecommerce personalization should go beyond just inserting a customer's name into an email, using apt ecommerce email subject lines or recommending products based on their browsing history. It should be about joining them on the ecommerce customer journey, creating an emotional connection and making them feel seen and heard.

This is where personalized videos and AI text-to-video solutions come in. With the help of the best AI apps like Maverick, one of the best AI video generator tools, it's now easy to create personalized videos you can send to customers at scale. This massively improves email marketing optimization efforts.

Personalized videos take ecommerce personalization to the next level by allowing you to communicate with customers in a way that's both personal and engaging. By using data such as a customer's purchase history and browsing behavior, you can create AI-generated videos tailored to their specific interests and needs, and automatically disseminate them via an email marketing platform.

What are personalized videos for customers and how do they work?

Video customer service is a powerful tool for creating a personalized experience. Unlike traditional customer service channels like phone or email, customer service videos offer a more engaging and interactive experience.

Personalized videos take this a step further, by customizing the ecommerce video for each individual customer. This creates a unique and memorable experience that can help businesses boost their ecommerce CRO results and stand out from their competitors in terms of customer service.

By using customer service videos, businesses can provide a more visual and interactive experience for their customers, which can help improve customer satisfaction and loyalty and increase ecommerce sales over time.

Personalized videos are created using customer data, such as their purchase history, browsing behavior, and preferences. This data is used to create a custom video that is tailored to each individual customer. The ecommerce video can then be delivered through a variety of channels, including email, social media, and SMS marketing, while generating a high click-through rate and overall ecommerce conversion for various elements.

They can be used for a variety of purposes in customer service including:

Product Demos

Personalized videos can be used to showcase specific products to customers in a way that is more engaging and interactive than text-based descriptions or static images. In a short ecommerce video, businesses can highlight features and benefits that are relevant to each individual customer's needs and interests.

For example, if a customer is interested in purchasing a new laptop, a personalized video can be created, showing the customer how the laptop works, demonstrating its features, and explaining how it can meet the customer's specific needs.

Troubleshooting

Personalized videos can be an effective way to help customers troubleshoot technical issues with products or services. By creating customized videos that address each customer's unique problem, businesses can provide step-by-step guidance that is easy to follow and understand.

This can help lessen frustration and increase customer satisfaction, as customers feel supported and empowered to solve the problem on their own. For instance, you can make customer service videos on the technical procedures for using an electronic product, then tailor subsequent versions to the unique configurations set by different users

Customer Support

Personalized videos can also be used to provide more personalized customer support. By creating customer service videos that address specific customer inquiries or concerns, businesses can provide a more personalized experience that shows customers that their needs are being taken seriously.

For example, if a customer has a question about how to use a product, you can create a personalized video providing clear instructions and tips for getting the most out of the product. This can help to build trust and loyalty with customers, as they feel that the business is invested in their success. 

You may also spend less on returns and abandoned cart email messages for product accessories/add-ons that customers may be hesitant about buying since such a practice aligns with abandoned cart email best practices that reduce future occurrence. Using customer service videos to show how a product they bought fits and works well with another product can push the customer to complete the purchase.

Onboarding

Personalized videos can be used to onboard new customers by providing them with a visual and interactive introduction to your product or service. The ecommerce video can supplement welcome series email examples by walking the customer through the sign-up process, highlighting key features and benefits, and providing tips and best practices.

This can help improve the customer's understanding of your product or service, reduce confusion and frustration, and ultimately lead to a better customer experience.

Upselling and Cross-selling

Personalized videos can also be used to upsell and cross-sell products or services to existing customers. By using data such as purchase history and browsing behavior, businesses can create personalized videos that showcase products or services that are relevant and interesting to the individual customer. This really helps with boosting both ecommerce CRO and click-through rate.

The ecommerce video can also highlight the benefits and features of the product or service, as well as any promotions or discounts that may be available. This can help to increase sales and revenue, while also providing a personalized and engaging experience for the customer.

Thank You Messages

Personalized videos can be used to send thank you messages to customers after a purchase or other interaction with the business. The AI text-to-video output can express gratitude for the customer's business, highlight their loyalty, and provide a personalized message that shows the business values their relationship with the customer.

This can help to strengthen the customer's connection with the brand, increase customer loyalty, and encourage repeat business. Such videos ensure the shoppers complete the ecommerce customer journey on a high, leaving a pleasant memory that increases the likelihood of returning to buy more since the customer remembers how well it went.

Event Invitations

Personalized videos can be used to invite customers to events or other special occasions. The ecommerce video invitation can be personalized with the customer's name and provide details about the event, including date, time, location, and any special features or attractions.

This can help increase attendance and engagement for the event and simultaneously provide a unique and personalized experience for the customer.

Product Launches

Personalized videos can be used to announce and promote new products or services to customers. The AI video can showcase the features and benefits of the new product or service, as well as provide a personalized message that shows how much the business values the customer's interest and feedback.

This can help generate excitement and interest for the new product or service, while also giving the customer a personalized and engaging experience. Such videos take away the aggressive and imposing nature of a typical email marketing strategy or ecommerce advertising campaign around new products and channel a more endearing energy.

The impact of personalized videos on customer lifetime value

Customer lifetime value (LTV) is a key metric for businesses. LTV measures the total amount of revenue a customer is expected to generate over the course of their relationship with the business and is closely related to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO).

Personalized videos can have a significant impact on LTV, since they can help create a more engaging and memorable experience for customers. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and higher repeat purchase rates.

Personalized videos can significantly boost customer engagement and complement other ecommerce CRO efforts. This increased engagement can complement other ecommerce optimization efforts, leading to higher conversion and click-through rates, as well as increased customer loyalty and lifetime value.

Personalized videos can also complement what you derive from your email marketing software to help your business stand out from its competitors. By providing a unique and memorable experience for customers, businesses can differentiate themselves from other top ecommerce companies and build customer loyalty.

Examples of successful personalized videos for customers

Here are a few examples of companies that have successfully used personalized videos for customers:

Bruce Bolt, a baseball glove company, used personalized videos in their email marketing campaigns. They created custom videos and used AI marketing automation to send them to customers who had purchased a glove, thanking them for their purchase and providing tips for how to care for and break in their new glove. This personal touch supported by impactful email automation examples helped increase customer loyalty and resulted in a 23% increase in email open rates, also improving the ROI on their AI email marketing.

Vani-T, a beauty company, used personalized videos in their customer service. When customers reached out with questions or concerns, the company would respond with a personalized video, addressing the customer by name and providing a solution to their issue. Combining ecommerce personalization software with customer service videos in this manner helped create a more personalized and humanized customer service experience. This resulted in a 70% reduction in customer complaints and a 33% increase in customer retention.

Ava Estelle, a jewelry company, used personalized videos in their sales process. When a customer expressed interest in a particular piece of jewelry, the company would send them a personalized video showcasing the piece and providing additional information. Adding this personal touch to their ecommerce video marketing strategy helped to increase sales and resulted in a 40x return on investment for the personalized video campaign.

These are just a few examples of ecommerce brands that have successfully used personalized videos for customers. The key takeaway is that personalized videos, whether manually produced or derived from a video AI generator, can be a powerful tool for increasing engagement, brand loyalty, and ultimately, sales.

Implementation and best practices for personalized videos for customers

How can you make sure your personalized videos are effective?

Keep them short and sweet

Just like with Chewy's handwritten notes, customers appreciate the thought and effort that goes into creating something just for them. But they don't want to spend 10 minutes watching an ecommerce video. Keep your videos under two minutes and focus on the key message you want to convey.

Choose the right ecommerce video platform

Make sure the platform integrates seamlessly with the best ecommerce platform you use, offers customization options such as adding your own branding and messaging, and provides analytics so you can track the success of your personalized, AI-generated videos along with the broader email marketing KPIs.

Tailor them to your customer’s profile

It's important to use customer data obtained throughout the ecommerce customer journey to create personalized videos that are tailored to each individual customer. This data can include purchase history, browsing behavior, and preferences. It’s crucial to use this data in order to increase your click-through rate.

Take an omnichannel approach to distribution

Businesses should use a variety of channels to deliver personalized videos, including email marketing campaigns, social media marketing, and SMS marketing. By delivering the ecommerce video content through a variety of channels, businesses can provide a more engaging and personalized experience for their customers.

Monitor their performance regularly

Finally, it's important to track the impact of personalized videos on customer engagement and lifetime value. By monitoring these metrics, a business can determine the effectiveness of its personalized video marketing strategy and make adjustments as needed.

Generative AI: The future of personalization in customer service

The future of ecommerce personalization in customer service is bright. As AI technology continues to improve, businesses will be able to create even more personalized experiences for their customers. Generative AI, in particular, holds promise for creating personalized videos at scale.

Generative AI uses machine learning in ecommerce to create videos that are customized for each individual customer. This technology can help businesses create personalized videos at scale, providing a more engaging and personalized experience for their customers.

How AI-generated videos can enhance the customer experience

Ryan Cohen's Chewy serves as a powerful reminder that the personal touch is still important in ecommerce. While AI video has made it easier to scale ecommerce personalization, it's still important to make customers feel valued and appreciated.

Personalized videos offer a cost-effective and scalable way to create emotional connections with customers and take ecommerce personalization to the next level.

Utilizing tools like the best AI video generator solutions can enhance these efforts, especially in video marketing strategies, allowing businesses to connect with customers on a more personal level. For an ecommerce digital agency or conversion rate optimization companies looking to boost customer lifetime value, integrating advanced AI personalization tactics is key to creating memorable and satisfying customer experiences.

As text-to-video AI technology continues to improve, businesses will be able to create even more personalized experiences for their customers. By utilizing AI-generated videos, businesses can create personalized videos at scale, providing a more engaging and personalized experience for their customers without having to hire a human editor.

Maverick uses AI-generated video to help ecommerce stores have personalized interactions with each of their customers across their journey. Start boosting your customers’ lifetime value (LTV) today with personal videos at scale!

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