The term crowdsourcing first appeared in a 2006 Wired article, and today (2024), Sprout Social defines it as “the act of collecting services, ideas, or content through the contributions of a large group of people.” A crowdsourcing strategy can be used in the pet industry to help create opportunities for innovation, engagement, improved customer experience, and more.
Innovation
An example of an opportunity for innovation through crowdsourcing would be if a pet product company asked pet parents to submit ideas for pet accessories such as slow-feeding bowls, enrichment toys, or grooming tools. The company could then use those ideas to bring the best design to market. This would allow the company to ensure that their new product aligns with what pet parents want, need, and desire for their beloved furry companions.
Engagement
Crowdsourcing can encourage engagement when a brand asks its audience to participate in a “cutest pet photo” contest or a “guess the breed” contest. This is a great way for a pet business to get their audience to engage with them on their social media rather than just lying dormant after they like or follow the page. If a brand ran a contest asking pet parents to share cute moments of their pet using the company’s products, it would also allow for customer-generated content to be shared in the form of pictures or videos using the company’s products specifically, and this would easily be an effective and authentic form of marketing.
Improved Customer Experience
Another way that crowdsourcing can create opportunities for a brand is by improving customer experience by allowing customers to engage with each other as a community. For example, if a business has a Facebook page, its audience members can share issues they are having and get feedback from other pet parents on possible solutions to the problem or suggest which products from your brand worked best for them when they encountered the same issue. This could be something like a separation anxiety issue with their pet. Another customer can offer insights into thunder coats that they used and love for their pet, or it could be a lick mat that helped keep their pet busy and distracted, making clipping their pet’s nails much less stressful. Maybe a customer is having trouble figuring out the best setting to use on a grooming tool they have purchased, and another customer engages with them, explaining that they have for their pet that is the same breed, what setting they use, and explaining their reasoning while sharing a result of how it turned out. These interactions among a brand’s community members allow customers to get answers from real-life customers and the brand, which can improve the customer experience for the brand’s Facebook community.
As we can see, crowdsourcing can engage customers and allow brands to gain knowledge from large groups of people in several different ways. At the same time, crowdsourcing can foster brand loyalty by involving these communities directly in the company’s mission and product or service development. This helps build community connections among the members, and these types of relationships are essential in the pet industry, where emotional ties to pets play a large role in pet parents’ purchasing decisions.
Did you enjoy this post? Read about pet brand struggles and how to determine if you need more customers or a better product in my last post!”
