The future of beauty.
An inspiring selection of strategies to increase customer loyalty and lifetime value. Contents.
Introduction 5
Use your customer data to personalize across channels 6
Hero products dominating product sales and cross-selling for retention 10
Upselling to a full product suite from a one product purchase 14
Summary 20
Talk to our experts and access more strategies.
Contact: [email protected]
• Bringing the in-store experience online
• Using content effectively - targeting the right people at the right time
• Growing loyalty and leveraging it online
• Preventing abandonment with an understanding of intent
• Understanding and selling to new visitors
• Encouraging the second purchase
• Identifying and personalizing for gifters Who we work with:
Introduction.
The National Retail Federation has named Whether you are an emerging challenger or an personalization as one of the top retail iconic brand that’s been around for many years, technology investments for several years now. the customer and the way they purchase has Personalization is not new in the beauty fundamentally changed. Whilst it’s true that fast- and cosmetics industry. Brands have been growth brands have exploded onto the scene responding to the different wants and needs with beauty-obsessed tribes and endless product of their customers — skin color, hair type, updates, established companies have the trust hair color, allergies, skin type, health concerns and reach that most retailers can only dream of — for a long time. with identifiable and reliable replenishers who consistently return to their much-loved products. Beauty is inherently personal and it’s no surprise As shifts in consumer expectations merge with that brands are truly leading the charge when it technological capabilities that can enable all comes to building experiences to drive customer beauty brands to have a 1:1 relationship with their loyalty, retention and lifetime value. At the heart valued onsite visitors, the challenge becomes of it all is the effective use of data: No matter the what to prioritize, what you can scale, and what form or type, if your customer data is in order, you can do to deliver against these expectations. the opportunity to curate customer journeys that resonate is now! Personalization technology has emerged as a key component in the technology stack of challenger From first-visit to loyal customer, and every and iconic brands alike, and the following pages segment in between, this book highlights just will show you just three ways you can leverage some of the ways ecommerce, merchandising, this technology. marketing, data science, developer and IT teams can come together and collaborate on There are simple, medium and advanced use a customer-centric strategy. Having worked cases that are channel-agnostic and ready to with iconic beauty brands like Estee Lauder, be ‘plugged in to’ any strategy depending on MAC, Clinique, and Kylie Cosmetics, this book the maturity of your team and company. is designed to give you a flavor of what’s possible Enjoy the read and we hope you’re inspired! with personalization.
5 Challenge 1
Use your customer data to personalize across channels.
One of the top issues we hear from our beauty customers is that they collect data, in-store and online, but can’t connect it, or just don’t have the time to action the data in a meaningful way.
Qubit’s technology helps you action this data, which is a great way to get started with personalization, and our more advanced features enable you to connect offline data with the data collected through your website. 7 Sample retargeting online
Sampling can be a significant cost. It’s difficult to quantify its impact or to provide a seamless experience after the sample has been sent, even though the data is there.
However, sampling is very useful for encouraging inspiration and discovery in other product categories. Since we have the data, we should use it to personalize the experience once the customer has received the sample and returns to site.
Homepage personalized content
Personalize content across your site so that the In-store data, personalized product merchandiser can update content in line with the recommendations in email segment they want to target, without the need to involve other teams. An example of this might be:
Segment inspiration • Browsing and/or purchasing data Talk to our • Browsed oily skin experts and Email: • Ingested data, e.g. has bought a lipstick in-store access more [email protected] • Age range 16-25 strategies. Challenge 2
Hero products dominating product sales & cross-selling for retention.
Hero products are key for acquisition, but they can be an issue when the focus is on retention. Established brands are well-known for their hero products but are losing sales for other SKUs to competitors. Emerging brands are often launched to success on the back of one sell-out product, but then find it difficult to encourage customers to explore any new launches.
Alongside this, is the need to cross-sell in beauty; customers shopping across categories, for example, across makeup and skin-care are significantly more valuable. Therefore, promoting experiences that might ‘upgrade’ a shopper to a cross-category shopper can be a useful retention strategy. 11 Use social proof or product recommendations to highlight other key products Product badging to Personalizations are often most powerful when they merchandise other products are automated and based on the customer’s real-time behavior. Social proof or product recommendations Quickly upload images and product can both be used to advertise alternate products to SKUs to highlight key products that a customer, either showing trending products to a may be of interest to the shopper. particular customer segment, or products that would This may be skincare products that be of most interest to them based on their specific suit a concern, other products in a intent and interactions. collection, best-sellers, or any other hero products that increase the variety of products bought.
Segment inspiration
• Lipstick-only shopper • Night cream-only shopper
Complete the look and bundling
Talk to our experts and Email: access more [email protected] strategies. Challenge 3
Upselling to a full product suite from a one product purchase.
Similarly to cross-selling in beauty, products in the same product line are just as important when looking to improve loyalty and customer lifetime value. A beauty customer who purchases a lipstick is much more likely to purchase the liner, and the cleanser customer is more likely to purchase the matching toner. 15 Specific complementary product upsell
Upload .CSV files of product suite bundles [to populate an experience] that work across a specific time period, either in or across multiple sessions. The goal is to encourage customers to purchase additional complementary products.
The customer ‘make up bag’ Basket page promotions or ‘collection’
Upload content to a segment of customers that have a specific product in their basket or that have made a past purchase - and encourage them to purchase in-session. You may want to give a discount for the additional products on the confirmation page to Talk to our encourage a second purchase. experts and Email:
Segment inspiration access more [email protected] • Skin-care only shopper strategies. • Day cream in basket The full report.
Talk to our experts for more in-depth beauty-specific use cases, including:
Challenge 4 Bringing the in-store experience online
Challenge 5 Using content effectively - targeting the right people at the right time
Challenge 6 Growing loyalty and leveraging it online
Challenge 7 Preventing abandonment with an understanding of intent
Challenge 8 Understanding and selling to new visitors
Challenge 9 Encouraging the second purchase
Challenge 10 Identifying and personalizing for gifters
Email [email protected] 19 Summary.
For all brands in beauty, the buzz in the market is both exciting and slightly daunting. It’s an industry that’s brimming with buyers, and each has strong preferences and needs. As such, beauty brands benefit from rich behavioral and preference data that’s ready to be analyzed and actioned. More than any other retail sector, there are significant opportunities for both established and emerging brands to provide exceptionally personal customer experiences.
Though there are a myriad of challenges, many of them can be solved or eased by understanding, segmenting, and influencing customers throughout their journey. Whether you’re new to personalization or you’re looking at advanced tactics, it’s essential to align this with the specific challenges your brand faces.
You have the opportunity to provide significant uplifts in revenue, and higher levels of customer satisfaction so be sure to continuously create and refine segmented experiences. This approach will ensure that your products and offers meet the ever-changing needs of your customers. Afterall, beauty is always personal.
For 7 more in-depth beauty-specific use cases, talk to one of our personalization experts and find out the most effective strategies to reach your targets. Get in contact now at [email protected].
21 The best color in the whole world is the one that looks good on you.
Coco Channel
23 About Qubit.
Qubit’s mission is to drive customer loyalty and lifetime value through personalization. Industry leaders in luxury, fashion, beauty, travel and egaming brands partner with Qubit to transform the way they understand and influence their visitors.
Brands like Estee Lauder Group, L’OCCITANE en Provence, Clinique, MAC, Farfetch, NET-A-PORTER and LVMH Group, use the Qubit personalization platform to increase revenue, build loyalty and significantly improve their marketing efficiency.
Every week Qubit is used to personalize approximately $600 million in online sales. Headquartered in London, the company has offices across Europe and the U.S. Qubit’s investors include Goldman Sachs, Sapphire Ventures, Accel Partners, Salesforce Ventures and Balderton Capital.
For more information, please visit: www.qubit.com