Chewy has become one of the most beloved ecommerce brands because it treats post-purchase as the beginning of the customer relationship, not the end. Every interaction after checkout is designed to build trust, create emotional connection and make customers feel genuinely cared for.
It’s a strategy that’s helped Chewy build remarkable customer loyalty. It’s also why Chewy joined CommerceNext’s 2025 Post-Purchase Forum to share how customer care has become one of its strongest growth drivers.
Customer Service That Feels Human
Chewy’s customer service team is empowered to solve problems quickly, but what really stands out are the unexpected moments of empathy.
Customers regularly receive handwritten birthday cards addressed to their pets. When a pet passes away, Chewy representatives have been known to send flowers, condolence cards and refunds for unopened food, often encouraging customers to donate the products to local shelters instead. Stories like these continue to spread organically across social media because they feel authentic rather than scripted.
Chewy also often sends pet portraits as a “just because” to reinforce their strong relationship with customers.
Those gestures don’t necessarily directly increase revenue. They build something much more valuable: trust.
Community Makes the Relationship Stronger
Chewy also embraces their pet-owner community. Their customers are celebrating birthdays, welcoming new family members and grieving difficult losses.
Chewy’s social pages share UGC, community-focused content and customer stories.
The brand reinforces that emotional connection through customer stories, adoption initiatives, rescue partnerships and social content that celebrates the bond between pets and their owners.
That creates a community, not just a customer base.
Personalization Doesn’t End at Checkout
Chewy extends personalization into the weeks and months that follow a purchase. Customers receive communications that reference their pets by name, timely reminders based on purchasing habits and relevant recommendations that reflect their household’s needs rather than generic promotions.
A handwritten postcard after a customer joined Chewy shows how the brand offers personalization after checkout.
These interactions feel less like marketing campaigns and more like helpful check-ins. That’s an important distinction. The best post-purchase experiences demonstrate that a brand understands its customer long after a payment has been processed.
Convenience Also Creates Loyalty
Customer care goes beyond emotional moments and is also about removing friction.
One example is Chewy’s Autoship program. The program allows customers to schedule recurring deliveries of essentials like food, medication and litter, eliminating the stress of remembering to reorder.
Chewy’s Autoship program offers customers savings, flexibility, exclusive offers and convenient features.
That convenience has become one of the company’s most powerful retention engines. Autoship now represents more than 83% of Chewy’s net sales and continues to grow, creating predictable recurring revenue while making life easier for pet parents.
That convenience works best when it’s paired with exceptional service. Every thoughtful interaction strengthens trust, making customers more likely to embrace convenient experiences like Autoship. In turn, those frictionless experiences reinforce the reliability customers have come to expect from Chewy. Together, they create a “customer care loop” where empathy and convenience continually build on one another, deepening loyalty over time.
Learn From the Brands Redefining Post-Purchase
Chewy shared its approach at a previous CommerceNext Post-Purchase Forum, where leading retail and ecommerce executives come together to exchange the strategies shaping the future of customer experience.
If you’re looking for practical ideas to strengthen your post-purchase experience and turn customer care into a competitive advantage, join CommerceNext’s Post-Purchase Forum on October 15 in New York City to hear from more brands shaping post-purchase innovation.
