CREATIVE DIRECTOR & INTERACTION DESIGNER
PetSmart Omni-Channel Assessment
ROLE: Associate Creative Director / Lead UI Designer
My first creative recommendation was to move away from the posed, studio shots used throughout PetSmart's in-store and digital channels, and integrate more engaging photography to represent our beloved pets the way we engage with them in their environment.
Challenge
PetSmart had grown organically from humble beginnings to become one of the nation's top pet services brands. There was a lack of cohesion between the online and physical experience that was negatively impacting sales. They hired Razorfish to assess all of their touch points and provide recommendations to help boost sales and perception.
Approach
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The entire team did very thorough research, starting with shopping online and in-store at PetSmart, with many signing up for pet grooming services.
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We took detailed notes on every aspect of our purchase experiences: status emails, store layouts, employee interactions, delivery time, and scheduling.
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We repeated this process, wherever applicable, with the best-in-class retailers in other verticals: Starbucks, REI, Lululemon, and Ulta Beauty.
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Weighing the PetSmart experience against these benchmarks, I worked with our strategy and experience leads to create several customer profiles with personal journeys to help demonstrate the ups and downs of the shopping experience.
Recommendations
We presented an extensive set of recommendations for everything from cohesive branding across channels, to in-store customer service that would increase sales and conversions by 30%. But the greatest opportunity cost was not efficiently leveraging the customer data PetSmart was already collecting, to provide a more personalized experience.
In the animation above, I mocked up three experiences to demonstrate improved personalization. First time visitors would see product information prioritized below checkout options. Returning visitors would see messaging and products based on their last visit. And members of the Treats program would see more cross-sell opportunities and service options when coming back to purchase the same item.
There would also be improved ways for Treats members to celebrate their pets through an expanded pet registry program, streamlined service scheduling, and a more cohesive system of rewards fulfillment. All integrated with more personalized email communications to drive return visits.
Sample Email Communications
