Case Study: Wild Birds Unlimited achieves higher customer value perception by raising awareness of its community involvement with Service Management Group (SMG)

How Wild Birds Unlimited is improving value perception by living their mission

Wild Birds Unlimited (WBU), a retail chain whose mission is connecting communities with songbirds, faced pressure on customer value perception amid rising prices. Service Management Group (SMG) supported WBU with customer experience insights and data analytics, revealing that only 32% of customers were aware of WBU’s local community involvement — a key driver of perceived value.

Using SMG’s findings, WBU standardized and expanded communications (store community boards, online content, newsletter community blocks, and the One WBU Journeys program) to highlight partnerships and local engagement. The changes produced measurable impact: awareness of community involvement rose by 5 percentage points, strong community sentiment rose 4 points, and overall value scores averaged 75% when customers knew about the involvement versus a 55% baseline (top-box lifts up to ~28 ppts). SMG continues to analyze results — for example, online shoppers show 73% awareness versus 66% in-store — and is helping WBU scale what works (one newsletter drove habitat registrations from ~30/month to 750 in a day).

Wild Birds Unlimited

Bo Lowery

VP of Marketing