How Access to Data Improved My Dog's Customer Experience
A recent post by Angela Hughes of Mars PetCare sparked my interest regarding how DNA tests help pet owners make better decisions for their four-legged “customers” every day.
When we adopted our “customer,” Piper, the rescue guessed her litter to be some kind of corgi mix. As you can see below, this was a pretty reasonable guess given her stubby legs, long body, ears, and snout.
However, we noticed her curly tail, large paws, and very soft fur, so we figured getting a DNA test to confirm would be wise.
As it turns out, our little Piper is actually mostly German Shepherd and Chow Chow!
18 months later, I cannot begin to express how valuable this insight has been for us. While both mixes contain some similarities, specific insights into her mix have been an enormous benefit to us (and to Piper, as a result). It also prepared us for her size - which is nearly DOUBLE the size of the average female corgi!
As first time dog owners, we’ve had dozens and dozens of questions since then on everything from training, socialization, diet, exercise, and anxiety (poor Piper has plenty of it). Many can be answered almost immediately thanks to Google - just type in "where can I find Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal Low Fat Dry Dog Food" or "why is my dog scratching her face" and BANG! you have a wealth of answers at your fingertips.
There still remains a need for expert analysis, which comes in the form of checking in with Piper’s vet and/or trainer, but imagine if that were the only way to get questions answered? They, like all of us, are very busy and it can take a few days to hear back.
So, what does this have to do with customer experience?
If we had to wait for our "experts" to answer every question we had, chances are we would have limited the questions we chose to ask to begin with and, in many situations, would have likely acted before or without any data to back the decision.
The ability to combine answers found quickly via search with expert analysis greatly reduced the amount of "gut" decisions we've had to make for our "customer." This greatly increased the quality and results of those decisions and saved us from making a number of potential - and preventable - mistakes.
Some (dog) food for thought on how you get questions answered today in your enterprise!