We have no beef.

With Callie DePina, Head of ButcherBox Member Experience

(Here, she shares her take on #takecare)

We worked with Callie for many many years (at Rue La La and then Follain and on a ButcherBox project, too). We happen to adore her. But we also adore her super thorough, super holistic approach to caring about customers. She’s always been ahead of her time on that. 

HCC: So what’s your personal mission at BB?

CD: I was hired to represent the voice of the member and help the company understand who our members are and what they are looking for in our service so that we can constantly and relentlessly improve the experience. I am looking after the end to end experience - from the website to the box that the meat arrives in. I work cross functionally to help the people who do own each piece do their job better and do better by our members!

HCC: How did the Rue La La and Follain roles prepare you for this?

CD: I always say that Rue was my crash course in E-Commerce. We were launching a brand new website every single day. I got exposure to pretty much every department and a true understanding of how Ecommerce works. It was super-stressful at times - in the beginning with that 10am daily boutique launch I had that feeling like I was about to walk into a major exam. Every. Single. Day. - but it was an amazing experience. 

Follain was also a great experience - what an amazing mission to be a part of! I think this is where I really gained a true understanding of the importance and the complexity of building a cohesive brand. This has helped me a ton in my role at ButcherBox as we have also started to really focus on defining who we want to be - our members think of us as so much more than a meat company. We are at their dinner tables, we are feeding their loved ones - we are playing a really important role in their lives and we are just beginning to try to articulate this and create a voice to represent who we are.

HCC: What are some “misses” in member experience?

CD: We have made a lot of progress over the past year in our delivery experience. Delivering frozen meat is not a simple task logistically, but our team has really begun to optimize the entire process. That said, we still do have some misses in communication to our members when something goes wrong. We will never be perfect (and our shipping partners will never be perfect) but our members are very understanding if we provide clear, authentic communication around anything unexpected. We don’t provide this 100% of the time, but we are getting better!

HCC: How much does voice matter in what you do?

CD: Voice is really important, and also NOT an easy thing to get right. We are still working on the balance between direct response, and more brand personality. There is a time and a place for different tones, but it’s important that the underlying voice is cohesive. I think about it like this: I talk to my husband differently than I talk to my boss - but I’m still me in both situations. I can know my audience and adjust my tone while remaining authentic to who I am. We are still working (actively) to define our voice as a brand, and once we are solid on that, the next steps will be to work through different tones in different scenarios. We internally are all really aligned on who we want to be and we just need to refine how we present that to the world!

HCC: What’s a recent win for you?

CD: There are some wins we’ve had from a conversion rate perspective that are cool, but It always feels great to actually hear from a member that work that we did made their experience better. We recently redesigned our account page and heard via our support team that members were mentioning how much easier it was to use...that felt great!

HCC: What makes a great member experience hire? What do you look for?

CD: Empathy. Authenticity. Ability to work cross-functionally. In that order.

HCC: If a business wanted to make some immediate wins in member experience, what are some low hanging fruit you’d suggest off the bat?

CD: The specific issues are so different for every business, but the low-hanging fruit is always there. The best way to make immediate wins is to get feedback. Pick up the phone and talk to your customers. Send out surveys. Analyze reviews. However you can, GET FEEDBACK. Your customers will have the answers for you.