DrsFosterSmith.com to use online video to better educate customers
Drs. Foster & Smith prides itself on providing a wealth of information online to help shoppers better understand their pets’ needs and make the best purchasing decisions. The retailer recently redesigned its site, DrsFosterSmith.com, with an even greater emphasis on educational content.
As part of the ongoing redesign, the retailer will be moving into the online video realm, rolling out educational videos on the web site and a syndicated TV show. The videos, scheduled to debut in February, will feature the company’s veterinarian staff and other experts, along with celebrities and their animals.
“Drs. Foster and Smith has always worked to educate pet owners about how to care well for their pets. Our TV program, Drs. Foster and Smith’s Faithful Friends, is a show that will educate pet owners about proper pet care and do it in a fun way. Video on our web site will be aimed at doing the same thing: educating and informing pet owners,” says Gordon Magee, Internet marketing and analysis manager. “Video, if overdone or done only for the sake of doing video, isn’t helpful and is simply adding to a web site glitz and glimmer that doesn’t matter. But when used correctly, video provides a better way to communicate information that customers both want and need.”
Drs. Foster & Smith, No. 85 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, has a long history of educating customers, and video will be the latest addition in the long-running quest.
“25 years ago when the company started, catalog consultants cautioned it was using too much space in the catalog for education and should cut back on it. It promptly chose to ignore that advice and continues today to dedicate portions of the catalog and the site to education,” Magee explains. “What we expect to gain from online video will be seen in response to the educational gains that pet owners receive: trust.”
And the retailer believes that both customers and the company will benefit from online video.
“Videos will help with conversion and sales,” Magee says. “When we give veterinarian-screened advice to customers, we believe the trust relationship between the company and customers will carry over to product selection. Customers know that if we are giving them good advice about pet care issues they can trust us when we recommend or carry products because those products are screened by veterinarians.
“And when used properly, videos can help a customer see how a product is used, how a pet responds to it, or what the features of a product are really like. Videos provide a way for a customer to ‘kick the tires’ of a product they might be interested in. Providing better product information through well-made videos makes it easier for a customer to make their buying decision and is consistent with our overall company ethos of providing good information to the pet-owning public.”
And some experts agree that the retailer is indeed doing the right thing in ignoring the advice from consultants long ago. “This site is a center for the pet world, with a lot of content that drives awareness of the brand,” says Sucharita Mulpuru, principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc. “It becomes a natural place for someone to go during the research process.”
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