Wild Earth

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Wild Earth was founded in 2017 by biotech entrepreneur and lifelong animal lover Ryan Bethencourt with a bold premise: dogs don't need meat to thrive. Frustrated by what he found inside traditional pet food — non-human-grade meat, fillers, and serious recalls — Ryan applied his background in synthetic biology to build a better bowl. The brand launched with koji-based superfood treats, then evolved into nutritionally complete, vet-developed dog kibble powered by yeast, chickpeas, oats, sweet potato, and other clean plant ingredients.

Wild Earth stepped onto the Shark Tank stage in 2019 and walked away with a $550,000 deal from Mark Cuban for 10% equity. That appearance catapulted the brand into the national conversation — and Cuban's ongoing mentorship helped unlock larger venture rounds from Mars Petcare, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Felicis Ventures, and others, bringing total funding to over $39M. The brand reached $21M in annual revenue by 2024 and expanded from direct-to-consumer to retail shelves at Petco and independent pet stores nationwide.

In 2025, Wild Earth was acquired by Inventel and is now part of the Inventel brand portfolio. Day-to-day operations — fulfillment, CX, marketing, and the Shopify storefront — run through Inventel teams, and every Wild Earth order ships from and returns to the Inventel warehouse in Pompton Plains, NJ. This hub is built for Inventel employees supporting Wild Earth as an in-house brand.

Today, Wild Earth sells a full line of plant-based dog food, treats, and a plant-based cat food — all formulated to meet or exceed AAFCO standards. Every product is hypoallergenic (free from beef, dairy, chicken, wheat, soy), made in the USA, and backed by Inventel's standard 30-day return policy. Customers subscribe through wildearth.com or shop single bags and retail channels.

In the United States, Pets Are Family Members

To most American customers calling our support line, the dog or cat in their home is not a pet in the way the word translates in many languages. They are not livestock, not guard animals, not yard animals. They sleep in the bed. They have birthdays. They get holiday gifts. They have a name on the family Christmas card. When the customer says "my baby" or "my fur baby," they are not joking — that is genuinely how they feel. Many Americans love their dog or cat with the same depth of feeling that they love their human children, and a non-trivial number love them more.

This shows up in the language customers use, and CX should not be thrown by it:

• "My fur baby" · "My pup" · "My boy" / "my girl" · "My kid" — all common ways an American refers to their dog or cat. Treat it as a sign of how much they care, not as strange.
• "Dog mom" / "Dog dad" / "Pet parent" / "Pup parent" — these are how customers describe themselves. Wild Earth marketing uses these terms constantly. Use them back.
• "My family" — when a customer says their dog is part of "my family," they are being literal, not poetic.

The Scale of This Is Hard to Overstate

Rescue & Adoption Culture

A huge portion of American pets — likely the majority of dogs Wild Earth feeds — were not bought from a breeder. They were rescued from a shelter, pound, or rescue group. A "pound" or "shelter" in the US is a facility that takes in stray, abandoned, or surrendered animals. Without adoption, many of those animals would be euthanized. "Adopt don't shop" is a cultural slogan, and adopting a dog or cat from a shelter is widely seen as the more virtuous choice over buying one.

This matters for CX and marketing because:

• The customer often feels they literally saved this animal's life — and now they want to give it the best food possible to make up for whatever it went through before.
• Many rescued animals come with health issues, allergies, anxiety, food sensitivities — which is exactly the customer Wild Earth's hypoallergenic, plant-based formula is designed for.
• "Rescue dog" / "rescue cat" is a label customers will use proudly. Recognize it. ("Sounds like Bella has been through a lot — the formula sensitivities you're describing are really common with rescues.")

Why They'll Pay $60+ for a Bag of Dog Food

Wild Earth kibble can cost 2–3× the price of mass-market grocery-store kibble. Mass market exists, and it's cheap. So why does anyone pay our prices? Five reasons stack on top of each other, and most customers feel several of them at once:

Notice that price is not on this list. For our customer, finding the cheapest option is not the goal — finding the food they trust most for an animal they love is the goal. That's why we lead with health, ingredient quality, and the brand story, not with discounts.

💡 Bottom line for every team: Wild Earth doesn't sell dog food. We sell longer, healthier lives for animals that customers consider family. That framing is what justifies the price tag — and what should shape every conversation we have with a customer, every ad we run, and every product page we write.

Wild Earth's catalog breaks into three core categories: kibble (the flagship), superfood treats, and functional supplements. All products are 100% plant-based and free of the top 10 pet food allergens (beef, dairy, chicken, wheat, lamb, pork, egg, soy, rabbit, fish).

📌 Note on pricing: Pricing is set and updated on the Shopify storefront and changes regularly with promotions, subscription discounts, and seasonal offers. Always pull the current price from the live product page before quoting it to a customer — never quote from memory or from this hub. Click the "View product page" link on any row below to jump straight to the live page. Browse the full live catalog at wildearth.com/collections/all.

🥣 Dog Food (Dry Kibble)

⚠️ Education point: Wild Earth kibble is for adult dogs (1 year+) only — not puppies. AAFCO has separate standards for growth-stage nutrition that Wild Earth does not currently meet. Both formulas are free of legumes to address industry concerns around DCM.

🐱 Cat Food

⚠️ Education point on cats & taurine: Cats cannot produce their own taurine and will develop serious health issues without it. Unicorn Pate is fortified with supplemental taurine specifically to meet this obligate carnivore need — it is the cornerstone of the formula being plant-based yet nutritionally complete for cats.

🦴 Superfood Treats

⚠️ Education point on koji: Koji (Aspergillus oryzae) is the same fungus used to ferment soy sauce, miso, and sake — a food-grade ingredient with thousands of years of human use. It's not a "mold" in any concerning sense. Koji contains all 10 essential amino acids dogs need and is the hero ingredient that differentiates Wild Earth from other plant-based brands.

💊 Supplements (Discontinued)

📦 How Customers Actually Buy: The Subscription Model

What a Subscription Is

Think of it like a Netflix or Spotify membership — but for physical food instead of streaming content. The customer signs up once on wildearth.com (or via a paid-ad / email landing page that auto-applies a sign-up offer), picks the product and the frequency, and from that moment on:

• Wild Earth ships them food automatically on the schedule they chose — every X weeks, no further action needed.
• Their card is charged automatically each cycle, at the discounted subscriber price.
• They can pause, skip a single shipment, change the date, change frequency, swap products, change quantity, or cancel — anytime, in their account on wildearth.com → Subscriptions tab.
• Wild Earth emails them a few days before each charge so they have a window to skip or adjust before being billed.

The subscription engine running this is Recharge (see Glossary and the Discounts section for how Recharge interacts with discount codes — the rule "active subscriber discounts apply in the account area, not at checkout" comes from how Recharge works).

Why Customers Subscribe (and Why It Matters That They Do)

Wild Earth is a heavy-subscription business — most revenue comes from recurring orders, not one-time purchases. Customer LTV on subscription is multiples of OTP. Once a customer makes it past the 30-day transition window, ~75%+ stay subscribed for 6+ months (see Health & Survey Data). That's why protecting subscription health is a top-priority CX metric.

Frequency — The Single Most Confusing Part

"Frequency" is how often we ship the next order — every 2 weeks, every 4 weeks, every 6 weeks, every 8 weeks, every 10 weeks, etc. The customer picks this when they sign up, and they can change it any time in their account. Wild Earth offers a wide range of frequency options precisely because there is no one right answer.

⚠️ There is no standard, default, or "common" frequency. Frequency depends entirely on the household — and this is where customers (and new agents) get the most confused. Every household burns through a bag of food at a different rate. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, and CX should never quote a default. If an agent says "most people ship every 4 weeks," that sets the customer up for either too much food or running out — both of which generate cancellations.

What actually drives frequency:

• Size of the pet. A 10-pound Chihuahua eats a fraction of what a 90-pound Golden Retriever eats. Same bag, vastly different burn-through speed. Bigger dog → more frequent shipments (or a bigger bag).
• Number of pets in the household. Two medium dogs share a bag. Four dogs split it faster. A single small dog stretches it for weeks. More pets → more frequent shipments.
• Bag size on the subscription. A 4-lb bag and an 18-lb bag will obviously empty at very different rates. The customer can subscribe to multiple bags per shipment if needed.
• Other food sources. If the customer also feeds wet food, treats, or human-food table scraps, the kibble lasts longer.
• Activity level. A working farm dog eats more than a senior couch dog of the same weight.

Real-World Frequency Examples

These are rough starting points only — every customer's actual burn rate is different. Use these to give context and help a customer think through their household, never to set a hard expectation:

Two levers, same goal: the bigger the dog (or the more dogs), the more frequent the shipments — or the bigger the bag (or more bags per shipment). Both achieve the same outcome of having food on hand. Customers should pick whichever they prefer: more shipments of a smaller bag, or fewer shipments of a larger bag. Larger bags are usually slightly cheaper per pound, so when in doubt, fewer-but-bigger is the better-value option.

💡 Bottom line: Wild Earth doesn't sell bags of dog food — it sells an ongoing relationship that delivers food to a customer's door every few weeks. Frequency is the lever that makes that relationship work. Get it right and the customer stays for years; get it wrong and they cancel after their second shipment.

This section is for CX, Marketing, and anyone fielding the "what's actually in this stuff?" question — which we get a lot. Wild Earth publishes a full ingredient glossary on the website at wildearth.com/pages/ingredients. Send curious customers there for the deep dive. The summary below is what every Inventel team should know on call, in chat, or while writing copy.

The Big Picture: What Wild Earth Is Built From

Wild Earth's complete-and-balanced kibble is built around plant and fungal proteins instead of animal meat. Three protein workhorses do most of the heavy lifting:

What Else Is in the Bag

Beyond protein, every Wild Earth kibble follows the same nutritional architecture:

What's Not in Wild Earth

Just as important as what's in the bag is what isn't. Wild Earth is built from the ground up to exclude:

• The top 10 dog food allergens: beef, dairy, chicken, wheat, lamb, pork, egg, soy, rabbit, fish — the ingredients responsible for the vast majority of canine food allergies.
• Animal by-products of any kind. No meat, no meat meal, no rendered animal fat.
• Artificial preservatives like BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin.
• Artificial colors or flavors.
• Legumes (in newer Performance and Maintenance Formula recipes — see DCM note below).
• Corn fillers and other cheap bulk ingredients common in mass-market kibble.

Nutritional Analysis & Dry Matter

"Dry matter" is the ingredient profile of a food after water is removed — it's the apples-to-apples way to compare a wet pâté to a dry kibble, since wet foods are mostly water by weight. Customers (and especially vets) sometimes ask for this. The headline numbers:

For the full guaranteed analysis (protein, fat, fiber, moisture, ash, omega-3, omega-6, taurine, calcium, phosphorus, etc.), customers should look at the nutritional analysis panel on each product page. We don't republish those numbers in this hub because they update with formula refinements and we want everyone working from the live source.

Sourcing & Manufacturing

A few facts CX gets asked about regularly:

• Made in the USA with globally sourced ingredients.
• Vet-developed in collaboration with veterinary nutritionists.
• Yeast cultures are AAFCO-approved (91.6 IFN 7-05-533) and classified as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the FDA.
• DHA is sourced from marine microalgae (DHAgold®) — the original source of omega-3 in the ocean food chain. Fish get DHA by eating algae; we just go to the source.
• AAFCO standards are met or exceeded for adult dog maintenance. Wild Earth kibble is not formulated for puppies (under 1 year) — AAFCO has separate growth-stage requirements.

The DCM Question (Comes Up Often)

Some customers — especially those who've read about Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) and grain-free / legume-heavy pet foods — will ask whether plant-based food is safe in this context. The answer:

• There is no established correlation between plant-based diets and DCM. Current research suggests that if a link exists between any diet and DCM, it's likely tied to nutritional deficiencies — not the protein source.
• Wild Earth is nutritionally complete, which addresses the deficiency concern directly. We supplement Taurine and L-Carnitine in every kibble, which are the heart-health amino acids most often discussed in DCM research.
• Out of an abundance of caution, the newer Performance Formula and Maintenance Formula recipes do not contain legumes (no peas, no chickpeas, no lentils) — even though there's no proven link. We removed them anyway. Older Clean Protein formulas did contain chickpeas and peas; those are being phased out.

Vision

"A world where every pet thrives on food that's both delicious and sustainable — and we're committed to leading the charge in transforming the pet food industry, one bowl at a time."

Mission

"To reinvent dog food — creating clean, plant-based nutrition that's better for pets, better for the planet, and free from the bad ingredients and bad practices of the meat-based pet food industry."

Brand Pillars

Wild Earth speaks like a smart friend who cares deeply about dogs and the planet — warm, curious, and confidently informed, never preachy or judgmental. We lead with love for pets, back it up with science, and keep the vibe joyful.

Approved Taglines & Slogans

Communication Do's & Don'ts

Language Guidance

Channel-Specific Tone

Direction: Purpose-Driven · Scientifically Grounded · Warmly Optimistic · Playfully Earnest

Color Palette

Typography

Logo Usage

WILD EARTH

Primary — Green

Wordmark in Wild Green (#2D6A4F) on white or cream. Default for most applications.

WILD EARTH

Reversed — White

White wordmark on dark backgrounds (Forest, dark photography, hero banners).

Primary logo: Horizontal wordmark "WILD EARTH" in custom sans-serif, rendered in Wild Green (#2D6A4F) on light backgrounds. This is the default logo for the website header, product pages, and most marketing.

Reversed logo: Same wordmark in white for use on Forest (#1B4332), photography, and dark ad placements. Never use green-on-dark or white-on-light — contrast must stay strong.

Stacked / social avatar: For tight square placements (Instagram avatar, favicon), use the compact leaf-and-wordmark lockup supplied by the Brand Team.

Misuse rules: Never stretch, skew, or recolor outside palette. Never place on low-contrast photography. Maintain clear space equal to the height of the "W" on all sides. Never add drop shadows or glow effects. Never combine the logo with text overlays that obscure it.

Photography & Creative Direction

Overall visual feel: Earthy, warm, optimistic. Think "premium natural grocery store meets your favorite dog park on a Sunday morning."

General Customer Profile

Age: 28–55 · Gender skew: ~70% female · HHI: $75K+ · Location: U.S. suburbs and mid-to-large metros (strong in CA, NY, TX, FL, NC, PNW) · Motivations: Pet health (especially allergies), ethics & environment, transparency, premium wellness mindset. Heavy overlap with Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Thrive Market, Patagonia, and Peloton households.

Brand Archetype: The Revolutionary (with shades of The Caregiver)

Wild Earth is The Revolutionary — challenging a century of "meat = pet food" assumptions with better science, better ethics, and better outcomes. Underneath the revolution beats the heart of The Caregiver: every product exists because we love dogs and want to keep them healthy longer. The combination is powerful: we're not just disruptors, we're disruptors who show up with bowls of food and a 30-day guarantee.

Wild Earth competes in the premium dog food category (roughly the $10B+ super-premium and functional pet food segment within the $30B+ U.S. pet food market). Immediate rivals include other plant-based brands, limited-ingredient/hypoallergenic meat brands, and fresh-food direct-to-consumer players. Wild Earth's key wedge is the combination of plant-based + vet-developed + shelf-stable kibble — a niche no competitor occupies with the same scientific depth.

Positioning Statement

For pet parents who want the best for their dog and the planet, Wild Earth is the plant-based, vet-developed dog food that delivers complete nutrition without the allergens, ethical compromises, or environmental cost of meat-based kibble — because dogs don't need meat to thrive, and pet parents deserve to know exactly what they're feeding.

Key Differentiators

• Koji protein: Proprietary fungi-based protein source — no other mainstream brand uses it
• Built plant-first: Not a vegan line from a meat-based parent company
• Vet-developed: Dr. Ernie Ward (Chief Veterinary Officer) and a team of scientists
• Zero top-10 allergens: No beef, dairy, chicken, wheat, lamb, pork, egg, soy, rabbit, or fish
• Shark Tank legitimacy: Mark Cuban investment, Mars Petcare involvement, $39M+ raised
• Inventel-backed operations: Fulfillment, CX, and a standard 30-day return policy on eligible products, all run through Inventel's warehouse and support teams

Common concerns CX and sales will hear — with vetted, on-brand responses. Always lead with empathy, follow with fact.

Source: Wild Earth commissioned survey of 1,000+ Wild Earth customers (2022–2024), plus cited peer-reviewed research from UCLA (environmental impact of pet food) and plant-based canine diet studies referenced on wildearth.com.

Retention signal: Subscription customers who make it past the 30-day transition window have ~75%+ 6-month retention, according to internal cohort data — one of the strongest signals in the premium pet food DTC category.

Peer-Reviewed Research on Plant-Based Pet Diets

Several peer-reviewed studies form the backbone of Wild Earth's health and longevity claims. The most important is from Professor Andrew Knight, whose 2,500+ dog study is widely cited across our marketing — these are the numbers behind statements like "dogs on conventional meat diets were nearly twice as likely to require medication." CX, Marketing, and Brand should be familiar with the headline numbers below; they show up in objection handling and ad copy constantly.

⚠️ Cautionary call-out for Marketing: The Knight study compared diet types (vegan, raw meat, conventional meat) — not specific brands. When citing the data in ads, always reference the diet category ("vegan," "plant-based," "conventional meat-fed dogs") and never imply the study used Wild Earth specifically. Causation should not be overstated; results are reported outcomes.

Knight et al. — Dogs on Vegan vs. Meat-Based Diets (n = 2,536)

Source: Knight, A. — Vegan versus meat-based dog food, ScienceDirect

Knight et al. — Cats on Vegan vs. Meat-Based Diets (n = 1,369)

Source: Knight, A. — Vegan versus meat-based cat food, PLOS ONE

• 37% of vegan-fed cats had at least one health disorder vs. 42% of meat-fed cats.
• Vegan-fed cats had 56.5% lower odds of progressing to therapeutic diets and 26.9% lower odds of severe illness (guardian-reported).
• Of 22 disorders studied, 15 were more common in meat-fed cats; 7 more common in vegan-fed cats.
• Trends consistently favored vegan-fed cats across multiple health indicators (relative improvements ~7–23%).
• Caveat: results were trending positive but not all statistically significant. Proper formulation (especially supplemental taurine) is critical for cats.

Oliva — Systematic Review of Vegan Diets in Dogs and Cats

Source: Oliva, A. — The Impact of Vegan Diets on Indicators of Health in Dogs and Cats, MDPI Veterinary Sciences

• Across 12 studies, dogs on nutritionally complete vegan diets showed no major adverse health effects.
• Hematology and biochemistry results were largely within normal reference ranges.
• Guardian-reported outcomes (n = 2,536 dogs): fewer ocular, GI, and hepatic disorders; reduced need for vet visits.
• Longevity reportedly 1.5 years longer for dogs on vegan diets in some cited studies — the source of our headline 1.5-year statistic.
• For cats: nutrient deficiencies (taurine, folate) appeared only in short-term unsupplemented vegetarian feeding; supplementation resolved clinical signs. Properly formulated diets like Unicorn Pate avoid these issues by design.

Okin — Environmental Impact of Pet Food

Source: Okin, G. — Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats, PLOS ONE

• US dogs and cats account for 25–30% of the environmental impacts from animal production (land, water, fossil fuel, phosphate, biocides).
• Pets are responsible for up to 64 ± 16 million tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually from methane and nitrous oxide.
• Pet diets could feed ~139 million people if converted to plant-equivalent energy — the basis for our environmental angle.

Knight — Palatability and Owner-Reported Behavior

Source: Knight, A. — Owner-reported palatability behaviours, PubMed

• 2,308 dogs studied across conventional, raw, and vegan diets — no consistent palatability disadvantage for vegan diets vs. conventional or raw.
• Cats on conventional meat diets were more likely to leave food uneaten, an indicator of lower palatability.
• Reinforces a key objection-handling point: dogs and cats find well-formulated plant-based food just as satisfying as meat-based food.

Knight et al. — Nutritional Soundness of Pet Foods

Source: Knight, A. — Nutritional Soundness of Meat-Based and Plant-Based Pet Foods (PDF)

• Vitamins A, B-complex, D, and E most commonly oversupplied — slightly more often in meat-based diets than plant-based.
• Both meat and plant diets supplement essential amino acids (taurine, methionine) and fatty acids (DHA, EPA).
• Plant-based diets rely less on non-nutritive additives (synthetic preservatives, colorants) and more on physical preservation methods like high-temperature sterilization and drying.

Consumer Insights — How Pet Parents Make Decisions

Across the Knight and Oliva studies, the consumer-side data is remarkably consistent. CX and Marketing should know these numbers cold:

• 94% of pet parents say health and nutrition is the most important purchasing factor.
• 90% cite maintenance of pet health as a top priority.
• 44–50% of meat-feeding guardians said they would realistically consider alternative diets if nutritional standards were met.
• 83–84% require confidence in nutritional soundness and pet health before switching — meaning our job is to prove it, not just to claim it. Vet endorsement, ingredient transparency, AAFCO certification, and citable studies are the unlock.
• Vegan pet food market: $8.7B in 2020 → projected $15.7B by 2028.

Proven Hooks

1. Is your dog allergic to their own dinner? The 10 ingredients most often to blame.
2. Vets are quietly recommending plant-based dog food. Here's why.
3. What Mark Cuban saw in this weird dog food that made him write a $550K check.
4. We asked 1,000 pet parents what changed after 30 days on Wild Earth. The results were wild.
5. The top ingredient in your dog's food is a fungus you've definitely eaten before.
6. Stop feeding your dog the same 9 allergens that make 80% of dogs itch.
7. Dogs on plant-based diets live an average of 1.5 years longer — here's the science.
8. The pet food industry's dirty secret: the meat in your dog's bowl isn't human-grade.
9. Try us for 30 days. If your dog doesn't woof it, we refund it. No questions asked.
10. Feeding your dog could be producing more emissions than your car. Let's fix that.

This section is a working reference for what's actually worked in paid social for our brands — the ads that went past testing, scaled, and held their ROAS. The intro patterns below are universal across the Inventel portfolio (Wild Earth, SugarMD, Pizza Pack, Spark, etc.). The gallery underneath is brand-specific — these are real, in-market Wild Earth creatives that are or have been top performers.

Wild Earth — Top-Performing Examples

A few real, in-market Wild Earth creatives that have hit. Use these as reference for the patterns above when briefing new ad concepts, briefing influencers, or judging variants in testing rounds.

Instagram Stories · Carousel

"My Dog's Review" · 5-Star Dog Approved UGC-style review framing, 5-star headline, real dog with the bag. Pattern hits: social proof front and center + native, authentic-looking creative. The "review" frame puts the dog (not the brand) in the role of customer.

Social proof UGC feel Emotional

Facebook Feed · Single-image

"Stronger Immunity, One Bite at a Time." One claim, one image, one bite. Pattern hits: one clear simple message + specific relatable problem (immunity worry). 54 reactions / 11 comments / 2 shares — the engagement signal we look for in scaled creative.

Single message Health hook Performance Formula

Instagram Feed · Collection

"Made of high quality ingredients for better dog health" Collection format with the Classic Roast hero bag and a "Bestseller" tag. Pattern hits: social proof (Bestseller) + one clear message (high quality → better health). Clean product-led variant for warm/retargeting audiences.

Retargeting Bestseller proof Classic Roast

Facebook + Instagram · Single-image

"I Don't Hunt. I Nap." · So why would I eat like a wolf? One of our top all-time hooks. Pattern hits: contrast/switch framing (wolf food vs. modern dog) + emotion over logic (the cuddle-bug framing) + native authentic creative (looks organic, not produced). 60 reactions on the embedded version.

Switch framing Top hook Plant-based pivot

Approved Hashtags

#WildEarth · #WildEarthPets · #PlantBasedPets · #CleanProteinForPets · #PlantPoweredDog · #VeganDogFood · #HypoallergenicDogFood · #WorthBarkingAbout · #FedByFungi · #BetterForYourDog

Ideal Brand Ambassador

Wild Earth partners with creators and advocates who genuinely believe in better pet nutrition — not just those chasing a paycheck. Our ambassadors sit at the intersection of dogs, wellness, sustainability, and credible expertise.

• Values alignment: Plant-based, sustainability-minded, animal welfare advocate, or credentialed vet/nutritionist
• Aesthetic: Earthy, warm, authentic — not overly curated or glossy
• Audience: Pet parents (especially dog moms), wellness-curious households, eco-conscious families
• Follower range: Strong tier of 25K–250K micro/mid-tier + occasional 500K+ strategic partners and vet/vet-tech experts at any size

Content Guidelines for Partners

Should include: Authentic product integration, ingredient callouts, transition tips, 30-day guarantee mention, and the partner's own dog's story. Should avoid: Medical claims, "cures," anti-meat shaming, misrepresenting koji, or recommending for puppies.

FTC disclosure is required on every paid, gifted, or affiliate post. Use #ad or #sponsored at the start of the caption, and say "paid partnership with @wildearthpets" in-frame for video. This is non-negotiable regardless of platform or relationship.

Contact / Submission Process

Brand partnership and influencer submissions: partnerships@wildearth.com (or current brand partnerships email — [ Update as needed ]). Include a media kit, engagement data, and links to 3 recent pet-related posts.

Wild Earth runs a lot of different discounts, and they don't all work the same way. Some are one-time promo codes, some are full-site discount flips (the site price is simply lower for the duration of the promo), and some only appear in on-site banners at the top of the page. Some codes are single-use per customer, some are multi-use, and some run for just a few hours while others run for days. Each department has its own dedicated codes, so the same "20% off" offer might exist in five different forms at the same time depending on the channel.

How Discounts Show Up

Evergreen vs. time-bound offers. Most limited-time promo codes and site flips run on a short window (hours to days) — they come and go with the monthly discount sheet. Subscription discounts and new customer discounts are usually evergreen: they're always on, always available, and don't rotate with the calendar. They still belong on the monthly discount sheet so CX knows the exact rate, but you can assume they're live unless the sheet explicitly says otherwise. If a customer asks "is your Subscribe & Save still available," the answer is almost always yes — but confirm the current rate before quoting it.

Who Owns Which Codes

Every department issues its own discount codes for its own channels, with its own cadence and usage rules. A customer saying "I got a code in an email" isn't the same as "I got a code from support" — and they may not be valid for the same transaction. Confirm the channel before applying.

Active Subscriber Discounts — Where They Live

This is one of the most common sources of customer confusion, so read carefully. Active subscriber discounts are not applied at checkout — they live inside the customer's account area on wildearth.com. A customer who is already an active subscriber and tries to add a code at checkout will often see "code not valid" and call us, frustrated. They're not wrong, and the code isn't broken — it's just being applied to the wrong place.

Two Different Discount Engines: Recharge vs. Shopify

Behind the scenes, Wild Earth runs two separate discount systems, and they serve different customer types. CX should know which is which so you can troubleshoot intelligently.

💡 Rule of thumb: if a code didn't come from the monthly sheet, it doesn't exist for the purpose of this transaction. Escalate rather than improvise.

SEO is how Wild Earth earns traffic from Google, Bing, and AI-driven answer engines (Perplexity, ChatGPT search, Google's AI Overviews) without paying per click. It's a long game — content, links, and site health compound over months, not days — but it's also the highest-leverage growth channel we own. Paid traffic stops the moment we stop paying; SEO traffic keeps coming.

Priority Keyword Themes for Wild Earth

These are the themes we want Wild Earth content and product pages to rank for. Each theme maps to a real customer question or shopping intent:

• Plant-based / vegan dog food — "vegan dog food," "plant-based dog food brands," "is vegan dog food safe"
• Hypoallergenic / allergy-friendly — "hypoallergenic dog food," "best dog food for allergies," "dog food without chicken"
• Koji & fungi protein — "koji dog food," "fungi protein for dogs," "yeast-based dog food"
• Ingredient & sourcing transparency — "dog food without meat by-products," "clean ingredient dog food"
• DCM / legume concerns — "grain-free DCM," "dog food without legumes," "FDA DCM list"
• Sustainability & ethics — "cruelty-free dog food," "sustainable pet food," "carbon footprint dog food"
• Brand terms — "Wild Earth reviews," "Wild Earth vs [competitor]," "Wild Earth Shark Tank"

What Each Team Owns

SEO Do's & Don'ts

📊 Tracking: Google Search Console is the primary truth source for impressions, clicks, and ranking changes. Secondary tools (Ahrefs, Semrush) are useful for competitive research and backlink monitoring. Reporting cadence: monthly SEO review owned by Marketing, with quarterly deep-dive.

CRO is the practice of turning more of the traffic we already have into actual customers. Driving more visitors (SEO + paid media) is expensive; converting the visitors we've already paid for is far cheaper per dollar of revenue. A site that converts at 3% prints twice as much money as the same site converting at 1.5% — same traffic, same product, better funnel.

The Wild Earth Funnel

Every CRO conversation starts with where customers are dropping off. Our funnel roughly looks like:

1. Landing / Home — Does the hero communicate "plant-based, vet-developed dog food" in under 3 seconds? Is the primary CTA obvious?
2. Product page (PDP) — Are benefits above the fold? Are concerns (DCM, protein source, allergies) addressed without scrolling forever?
3. Add to cart — One-click or multi-step? Does the customer know shipping cost before committing?
4. Cart — Clear subtotal, free-shipping progress bar ($60 threshold), easy quantity editing, subscribe-and-save prompt
5. Checkout — Shopify checkout: as few steps as possible, guest checkout allowed, Shop Pay + Apple Pay + Google Pay visible
6. Post-purchase — Thank-you page upsell, subscription confirmation, clear next steps

High-Impact CRO Levers

How to Run a CRO Test

1. Start with a hypothesis, not a hunch. "Moving the review badge above the fold will increase PDP → add-to-cart because anxiety around plant-based safety is the top blocker" beats "let's try moving the badge."
2. Pick one variable. Testing hero copy + hero image + CTA color at once tells you nothing about which one mattered.
3. Calculate sample size up front. At current traffic, how many days does the test need to run to reach statistical significance? If the answer is "six months," the test isn't worth running — pick a bigger swing.
4. Run at least one full week cycle. Weekday traffic and weekend traffic convert differently. Never call a test on three days of data.
5. Look at downstream metrics too. A change that lifts add-to-cart but drops checkout completion is a loss. Always track the full funnel, not just the metric you targeted.
6. Document the result. Wins, losses, and inconclusive tests all go in the CRO log so the next round doesn't re-run the same test from scratch.

📈 Primary metrics: Conversion rate (sessions → orders), AOV (average order value), cart-abandonment rate, subscription take rate, mobile conversion rate. Owned by Marketing/Growth, with Creative and Web Dev as collaborators on execution. Monthly review; quarterly deep-dive with CEO.

AAFCO

Association of American Feed Control Officials — the governing body that sets US pet food nutritional standards. "AAFCO-certified for adult maintenance" means a food meets minimum nutrition requirements for adult dogs.

Pet Parent / Pup Parent / Dog Mom / Dog Dad

How most American pet owners refer to themselves — and how Wild Earth talks to them. In the US, pets are widely considered family members, not livestock or working animals. Customers will often call themselves "dog mom" or refer to their pet as "my baby." Treat this as a sincere expression of how the customer feels — not as a quirk. CX should mirror this language back when the customer uses it.

Fur Baby / Fur Kid

Affectionate American term for a pet, especially a dog or cat. Conveys that the pet is loved as a family member. Common in marketing copy and customer messages. If a customer calls their pet a "fur baby," they're not joking.

Pet Humanization

The cultural and economic trend of treating pets like family members — buying them premium food, celebrating their birthdays, including them in family photos, paying for pet insurance, etc. Pet humanization is the single biggest driver of why customers will pay 2–3× the price of mass-market kibble for premium brands like Wild Earth.

Rescue / Adopt / Pound / Shelter

A "shelter" or "pound" is a US facility that takes in stray, abandoned, or surrendered animals. To "rescue" or "adopt" is to take an animal from a shelter into your home (often saving it from euthanasia). A huge portion of Wild Earth customers have rescued their dog or cat — many of these animals come with allergies, anxiety, or health issues that plant-based, hypoallergenic food directly helps with. "Adopt don't shop" is a common cultural slogan favoring rescue over buying from breeders.

Recharge

The third-party subscription engine Wild Earth uses to manage recurring orders. Recharge discounts apply to active subscribers and are managed inside the customer's account → Subscriptions tab — not at checkout. If a customer is an active subscriber and their code "doesn't work at checkout," it's likely a Recharge discount that needs to be applied in their account area instead.

Subscription

A recurring order. The customer signs up once on wildearth.com, picks a product and a frequency, and food ships automatically on that schedule until they pause, change it, or cancel. Most Wild Earth customers are subscribers, not one-time buyers. Powered by Recharge. Subscriptions are managed in the customer's wildearth.com account → Subscriptions tab.

Subscription Frequency

How often Wild Earth ships the next bag — every 2 weeks, every 4 weeks, every 6 weeks, every 8 weeks, etc. There is no default or "common" frequency — it depends on pet size, number of pets, bag size, and whether the household feeds anything else. Bigger or more dogs → more frequent shipments (or a bigger bag). Customers can change frequency anytime in their account.

Skip / Pause / Cancel (Subscription Actions)

Three different things customers can do to a subscription. Skip = pass on the very next shipment only; the subscription continues normally after that. Pause = halt all future shipments until the customer un-pauses; the subscription stays active in their account. Cancel = end the subscription entirely; the customer must start a new one to receive future orders. CX should always offer Skip or Pause before Cancel — customers often only need a temporary fix, not a permanent exit.

Auto-Renewal / Auto-Charge

The automatic billing that runs on each subscription cycle. The customer's saved payment method is charged automatically a few days before the next shipment. Wild Earth emails the customer ahead of each charge so they have a window to skip or adjust. Auto-renewal is what makes a subscription work — and what some customers don't realize they signed up for, hence the "I didn't know I'd be charged again" calls.

Shopify Discounts

Discounts run through the Shopify storefront itself, used for one-time purchases (OTP) and new-subscriber sign-up offers. These apply at checkout in the standard discount code field. Distinct from Recharge discounts — see Discounts section for the full breakdown.

OTP (One-Time Purchase)

A non-recurring single order — the customer is not subscribed and is buying once. OTP discounts run through Shopify and apply at checkout.

Koji (Aspergillus oryzae)

A food-grade fungus used for thousands of years in fermentation (soy sauce, miso, sake). In Wild Earth treats and kibble, koji provides complete plant-based protein with all 10 essential amino acids dogs need.

Dried Yeast

Saccharomyces-based yeast, the #1 ingredient in Wild Earth Performance kibble. A superfood-tier protein source packed with B vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. AAFCO-approved (91.6 IFN 7-05-533) and FDA GRAS-classified.

Dry Matter

The composition of a food after water is removed — used to compare wet and dry foods on equal footing (since wet foods are mostly water by weight). When a vet or customer asks for "dry matter protein," they want the protein number with moisture excluded. Wild Earth publishes the guaranteed analysis on each product page; that's the live source.

Guaranteed Analysis

The legally required nutritional panel on a pet food bag — minimum protein, minimum fat, maximum fiber, maximum moisture, etc. Always pulled from the live product page on wildearth.com, not from this hub (numbers update with formula refinements).

DCM (Dilated Cardiomyopathy)

A heart condition that has been the subject of FDA investigation in connection with grain-free / legume-heavy pet foods. Current research shows no proven link between plant-based diets and DCM; if a link exists between any diet and DCM, it appears tied to nutritional deficiencies, not protein source. Wild Earth's newer Performance and Maintenance Formulas removed legumes anyway as an extra precaution. See the Ingredients section for the full conversation script.

Taurine

An essential amino acid for heart health in dogs (and required for cats). Wild Earth supplements Taurine in every kibble to meet AAFCO levels from plant sources.

L-Carnitine

Amino acid compound that supports metabolism, muscle function, and heart health. Added to Wild Earth formulas to mirror what meat-based foods provide naturally.

DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid)

An omega-3 fatty acid critical for brain, eye, and cognitive health. Wild Earth sources DHA from marine microalgae — the original source in the ocean food chain.

Marine Microalgae

Microscopic ocean plants that are the original source of omega-3 DHA (fish simply eat the algae). Used as a plant-based DHA source in Wild Earth.

Hypoallergenic

Formulated to avoid common allergens. Wild Earth is free of the top 10 canine food allergens: beef, dairy, chicken, wheat, lamb, pork, egg, soy, rabbit, and fish.

Prebiotics / FOS / Inulin

Non-digestible plant fibers (like those from chicory root) that feed beneficial gut bacteria, supporting digestion and immune health.

Mixed Tocopherols

A natural form of vitamin E used as a preservative — the plant-based alternative to synthetic preservatives like BHA/BHT.

Crude Protein

The total protein content in a food as measured by nitrogen analysis. Wild Earth Performance Formula is 28% crude protein — comparable to or higher than most meat-based kibbles.

30-Day Return Policy

Inventel's standard return window: customers may request a return within 30 days of their original order. Processing and handling fees vary by order, and return shipping is the customer's responsibility. Some exceptions apply — see the Return Policy section for details.

Evergreen Offer

A discount or promotion that is always on — not tied to a calendar window or short-term campaign. The most common examples at Wild Earth are the Subscribe & Save discount (ongoing % off for subscribing) and the New Customer discount (one-time % or dollar amount off a first order, usually captured via email signup). Evergreen offers still appear on the monthly discount sheet so everyone knows the exact rate, but unlike seasonal or flash promos, you can assume they're live unless the sheet flags otherwise.

Transition Period

The 7–10 day window recommended for switching a dog to new food, mixing gradually with their previous food to avoid digestive upset.

Wild Earth follows the standard Inventel 30-day return policy with a few brand-specific rules called out below. Some exceptions apply.

Wild Earth-Specific Return Rules

These details go beyond the standard Inventel policy and apply only to Wild Earth orders. CX should know all three before quoting a refund total.

⚠️ CX process reminder: Every return requires an RMA number before the customer ships anything back — never tell a customer to ship to the warehouse without one. Confirm the order is within 30 days, confirm the product is unopened (if that's the basis for acceptance), quote the refund math including any label deduction, and issue the RMA + return address (Fulfillment & Shipping section has the address). Lead with empathy — even when fees apply, the brand voice stays warm and solution-focused.

All Wild Earth orders — both outbound shipments and customer returns — move through the Inventel warehouse. Wild Earth does not run its own fulfillment operation; the Inventel warehouse team handles picking, packing, and shipping every order, and receives every return.

Warehouse Address (Shipping & Returns)

How Orders Flow

1. Customer places order on wildearth.com (Shopify) or through a retail channel.
2. CX Fulfillment team prints the shipping label. There is a small window after label creation during which an order can still be cancelled or edited before it's physically released to the warehouse.
3. Label goes to the Inventel warehouse team, who pick, pack, and ship the order. Once it reaches this step, the order is generally locked — changes are no longer possible and a post-ship return/refund is the only path.
4. Ground shipping from Pompton Plains, NJ. Delivery is typically 3–7 business days within the continental US, with East Coast destinations often arriving in 3–4 days and West Coast in 5–7.
5. Returns are routed back to the same warehouse address above.

Shipping Coverage

💡 CX tip: When quoting delivery times to customers, always give a business-day range and add language like "from the day your order ships" so they don't confuse order date with ship date. Subscription orders lock in a delivery cadence, but the actual transit time still depends on their region.

Returns Flow

When a customer is approved for a return under the 30-day return policy, the product is shipped back to the Inventel warehouse at the address above. CX issues a return authorization (RMA) number and provides return-shipping instructions — return shipping and any processing/handling fees are the customer's responsibility. Do not direct customers to any other address — all Wild Earth returns must land at the Pompton Plains warehouse so the ops team can process refunds correctly.

Anyone at Inventel who needs to place a test order on wildearth.com (QA, marketing, a new promo code check, etc.) must follow this procedure exactly. The rules exist for one reason: test orders that slip past get real inventory shipped to real addresses. We avoid that by making every test order visually obvious and routable to our own office.

Step-by-Step

1. First Name: Test Order (exactly — capital T, capital O, space between).
2. Last Name: Your own name (so the team knows who placed it).
3. Shipping address: Anything works, but the easiest option is the Inventel office — that way if the order does somehow slip through, it arrives at our own door and can be returned to the warehouse without issue.
4. Phone / email / payment: Any valid info. Use internal test cards where available.
5. Immediately after checkout: send a direct message to the CX Fulfillment Lead on Google Chat letting them know you placed a test order. (Department only — if you're new and don't know who currently holds this role, ask your manager in week one and bookmark it.)
6. In that message, give him everything he needs to act on it: order number or confirmation detail, when the order can be refunded or cancelled, and whether anything else needs to be confirmed first (e.g., a promo code was redeemed, a subscription was created, inventory should decrement, etc.).
7. Wait for his reply confirming the order has been located, put on hold, and cancelled/refunded. Only then is the test complete.

Recommended Test Shipping Address

Using the office address means any test order that gets past the "Test Order" flag and ships anyway will arrive at our own building, where it can be intercepted and returned to the warehouse in Pompton Plains. Personal home addresses should be avoided for exactly this reason.

What NOT to Do

• Don't use a real customer-sounding first name. "Test Order" is the signal — using "John" or "Jane" defeats the whole safety net.
• Don't skip the Google Chat notification. Even if the name is right, a silent test order means no one knows to put it on hold, and a close-call can still ship.
• Don't use a personal home address as the shipping destination. The office at 200 Forge Way is the safe fallback.
• Don't use live/production loyalty or rewards accounts unless that's specifically what's being tested — they can generate real credits and email sends.
• Don't close out the test until you get confirmation from the Fulfillment Lead that the order is cancelled.

wildearth.com is a Shopify store. Almost every customer-facing interaction — browsing, checkout, subscriptions, discount codes, customer accounts, order tracking — runs on Shopify's platform. For CX agents and new hires, knowing this up front saves a lot of confusion, because a huge portion of "how do I…" questions have the same answer: "it's a standard Shopify feature."

What "Shopify" means for day-to-day CX

URLs CX should recognize

• wildearth.com/account — customer login / order history
• wildearth.com/account/login — login & password reset entry point
• wildearth.com/collections/all — full catalog collection
• wildearth.com/policies/refund-policy — return policy page (standard Shopify policy path)
• wildearth.com/policies/shipping-policy — shipping policy
• wildearth.com/policies/privacy-policy — privacy policy
• wildearth.com/policies/terms-of-service — terms of service

When to escalate a Shopify-related issue

• Site down or checkout failing for multiple customers → escalate to the Web Dev Team and check Shopify Status.
• Discount code not working as intended → check with Marketing; they own the code configuration in the Shopify admin.
• Subscription won't cancel / customer can't access their portal → escalate to the CX Supervisor, who can adjust directly in the subscription app admin.
• Missing order confirmation email → verify the address on file first, then check the Shopify order record for send status before escalating.
• Refund not appearing in customer's account after 10 business days → pull the Shopify refund transaction ID and escalate to CX Fulfillment Supervisor.

Escalation Contacts (by department)

Listed by department, not individual, to keep this hub evergreen as personnel changes.