Case study: Tails.com
Who are tails.com?
Tails.com offers subscription delivery dog food, specifically tailored to be nutritionally optimal for each dog’s needs based on breed, age, health, activity levels and other factors.
Given the diversity of requirements in dogs, one-size-fits-all, off-the-shelf dog food doesn’t give most dogs what they need. Tails.com promises to provide the right nutrition in appropriate portion sizes for every pet, with the convenience of home delivery.
Where did it all start?
Since launching in 2014, tails.com has expanded step-by-step, proving the scalability of the concept, extending the product range, and expanding internationally, with deliveries now available across mainland UK, Northern Ireland and France. Throughout, a clear company vision – to change the world of pet food for good – has helped guide decisions.
What’s the marketing approach?
Tails.com’s marketing approach started at the bottom of the funnel, with direct response marketing offering free trials. However, growth took off when the business invested in building the brand.
The team found that direct response worked better alongside a brand strategy and has since embraced an omnichannel approach with different aims for each platform. For instance, Google serves potential customers searching for specific solutions, Facebook has segmentation capabilities, and TV helps with brand building and driving new customers, despite being less measurable.
Tell us about customer relationships
The company is responsive to customer feedback, iterating its offer towards a simpler, more accessible product that resonates with customers.
How is data used?
Tails.com uses data throughout the business to enable product personalisation and automation at its packing factory. The company receives 6,000-10,000 unique orders a day and advanced data technology is essential to organising its complex supply chain.
Tails.com’s rapid growth makes predicting demand difficult – especially during its early growth when new customers were a high proportion of the order base – so analytics are a useful tool for forecasting required ingredients and ensuring production is able to fulfil orders on time.
What is company culture like?
The purpose of tails.com is to improve the lives of dogs and their owners, by providing better nutrition and recognising that a dog is more than just a pet; they are a family member. Communicating this purpose and the company values is an important part of recruitment and reflected in the fact that staff can bring their dogs to work.
Tell us a fun fact
Working out how to effectively communicate tails.com’s brand identity required iteration over time. While the brand initially tried clinical images of a nutritionist measuring dog food, it quickly found that emotionally appealing photos of happy dogs were a much more effective marketing tool for influencing consumer decisions about what to feed their pets.
When you’re direct-to-consumer, you can be different for each person. You can serve a different landing page from a different advert, tailoring your message to each individual.
James Davidson, Founder & CEO, Tails.com