What if you could make your beauty online store highly successful with only a few changes?

In an overly saturated market like the beauty industry, it's as challenging as ever to stand out and make sales.

Thousands of unique products that promise miraculous benefits.

Or amazing deals.

And you might feel like it's impossible to stand out.

However, in this article, you'll learn about the best marketing tips the biggest beauty products use to earn over $579.22 billion in the industry.

While also preserving your brand image and integrity.

Without further ado, let's jump right into the secrets.

The Importance of Marketing in the Beauty Product Industry

While the beauty industry is saturated, there is also a big gap in the market.

How is that possible?

The explanation is simple:

Most customers prefer buying beauty products in physical stores rather than online.

In fact, studies show that only 2.5% of shoppers purchase their beauty products online.

And it all boils down to trust.

In a physical store, you can try makeup on and test whether the quality is good.

On the other hand, in an online store, you can't do that.

In a sea of beauty e-stores, the only way to achieve more trust and authority is by showing it through your marketing.

But before that, there are a few preliminary steps you should know about marketing beauty product strategy.

Without these, no marketing plan will ever work:

• Define your audience in detail:

  Dig deep into your ideal buyer persona's pains, dreams, and needs.

  Describe them in detail, their family status, hobbies, and devices used. With that information in hand, you can target your Ads better and make them way more profitable.

• Write down your USP:

  In such a saturated market, you need a Unique Selling Point (USP) or -in short- something that makes your online store unique.

  Your USP can also be the positioning message you communicate on your landing pages and Ads, making your potential client interested in learning more about your product.

  Here are some examples of beauty e-stores USPs:

  "Guaranteed Timeless Beauty"

  "Your Destination for Beauty and Glamour"

  "Where Beauty Knows No Boundaries. Be different"

• Strategy:

  Ask yourself:

  What is my short-term goal with my beauty store?
  What is my long-term goal?
  Do I want to sell globally or locally?

Once you define your audience, USP, and strategy in detail, you can move to the next step. Don't forget, it is normal to adjust your strategy time-over-time and test new approaches.

Marketing Tips

Have you ever wondered how beauty industry giants like Sephora, Huda, or Fenti are always at the top of the food chain?

It's because they sneak in some or all of the following marketing strategies:

Flawless Design

Design can make or break your product.

Why is that?

Think about what's the first thing your customers see about your product.

It's not the result…

It's the design.

As well as the simplicity of the user interface.

People are all about quick first impressions.

So quick that in marketing, we have a 5-second rule.

This rule says it takes someone about 5 seconds to formulate an opinion or conclusion.

So, in 5 seconds, your product's design has to communicate:

• Trustworthiness
• High-quality
• Innovation

How do you achieve those three?

For example, you can have high-quality images of your product used in real-life scenarios.

Which also makes your products more relatable.

Just make sure there's a good amount of white space, and don't make your design/packaging too cluttered.

Quick Tip: Tools like Canva can quickly help you create high-quality banners, Ads, and packaging designs.

There's a free version, and you don't need to be tech-savvy to use it.

Responsive & Personal Customer Service

If you've ever shopped online, you know how frustrating dealing with bad customer service is.

99% of the time, you're not going to complete the purchase if customer service is unresponsive, low quality, or managed by an incompetent AI chatbot.

This is particularly important for the beauty industry, where your audience is picky and wants to know every detail before purchasing your product.

The solution?

Exceptionally personal customer service via live chat.

For example, many successful beauty online stores choose Askly as their preferred live chat service.

It avoids customers' frustration and increases the chances of completed transactions by up to 3x while making responding to your client's inquiries much easier.

On top of that, with tools like Askly, you get:

• Less abandoned carts
• Real help at the point of purchase
• No language barriers and seamless real-time translation
• Perfectly balanced AI and human-powered customer service

And a customer that has no doubts or objections about your product will keep returning to your e-store for more.

Product Descriptions

Studies show that a good product description is key to high sales.

But how do you write a good product description that sells?

Here are a few things to get you started:

• SEO optimization:

  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which means that the more SEO-optimized your product description is, the more customers can visit your product page through Google.

  How do you SEO-optimize your product page?

  Make sure your primary keyword(s) are added to the URL, description, page title, and product feature section.

• Sensory words:

  Product descriptions heavily push on emotions.

  And people buy with emotions, not through logic.

  If you can evoke certain emotions in your customers, you'll likely get the sale.

  Some examples of sensory words are velvety, pillow-soft, or clean fresh.

• Social proof:

  The best way to persuade someone to buy your product is to show them that others bought the same product and were happy with it.

  If you have social proof or testimonials, include them in your product description.

Checkout Options

The more payment methods you have, the more sales you will make.

Why is that?

Let's take two beauty stores as an example.

One has only bank transfer as a payment method.

The other has the most popular ones, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Which store do you think will sell more?

Probably the second one because the more payment methods you have in your store, the more customers' needs you can satisfy.

Also, a good rule of thumb for most beauty online stores is an easy, autofill, guest registration checkout process to increase sales even more.

You might think that having a complex, multi-step checkout process signals trust, but it's the opposite.

Your customers hate being stuck in the checkout process.

And they hate even more giving away their personal information.

So, make the checkout process as seamless and anonymous as you can.

KPIs & Metrics

Do you know what's a significant factor that influences online store sales?

Abandonment cart rate and session length.

Multiple studies show how more than 88% of online shoppers abandon their carts and your website for various reasons.

The abandonment cart rate is just one of the many KPIs and metrics you should know to make your beauty e-store successful.

Here are some of the most crucial KPIs and metrics:

• Conversion rate change month-over-month (MoM)
• Customer acquisition cost
• Add-to-cart rate and change month-over-month (MoM)
• AOV (average order value) and change month-over-month (MoM)
• Customer retention
• CLTV (customer lifetime value)
• Cost per acquisition
• Website session length and change month-over-month (MoM)

Online Presence

It's no secret that beauty online stores live and breathe social media.

And for good reasons.

A solid online presence makes your brand more credible, authoritative, and trustworthy while providing a channel for lead generation and sales.

You can have an online presence in multiple ways, but the two main methods are:

• A website
• One or multiple social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)

First and foremost, you need a website or an eCommerce shop from where your customers can buy your products.

Once you have that sorted, you need social media pages to create a community around your brand and advertise it.

But I know what you're thinking now.

"What social media should I choose? All of them?"

Let's start with one platform at a time.

And once you get enough traction on that, you can move to the next social media platform.

To choose a suitable social media, you need to know two things:

1. What social media fits my products best
2. What's the preferred platform of my target audience

Having said that, as a general rule of thumb, most beauty brands choose Instagram as their go-to social media because it's picture/image-based.

Find Influencers

There are over 250 million influencers worldwide.

And we guarantee there is at least one who's perfect to advertise your beauty products.

How do you find the right one?

There are various solutions to filter them by social metrics, keywords, interests, and audience demographics.

Use platforms like Promoty to find influencers that fit your budget (€100-500 per post/promotion set) and your brand idea.

Subscription Models

Subscription models are an excellent way for customers to feel more connected with your brand.

Or an easy way for them to buy now and pay for your products in installments over time.

On top of that, the recurring model of a subscription allows for more sustainable and regular purchases from your customers.

Here's how it generally works:

First, you create a "starter kit."

In this starter kit, you will have your best products, sample sizes, or options to create your starter kit.

Your clients can purchase this kit at a reduced price, choose how often they want to update it, and then pay for regular refills/renewals over time at full price if they like one or more products from the kit.

These subscription models aim to help customers stay on track and always enjoy their favorite products from your store.

This way, they know exactly when and what they get while also getting a discount for their commitment.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most affordable and efficient marketing beauty product strategies to increase your beauty e-store sales.

Many people say that they hate email marketing.

However, a recent study found that 91% of consumers still prefer to receive offers via email.

We're talking about consensual email marketing and not the spammy kind where you send unwanted emails to people who never permitted you to send them emails.

How do you nail email marketing?

First, you need an opt-in to collect your customer's emails.

Which will usually pop up a few seconds after your customers enter your store.

Once you have the emails, you need to develop an email sequence that suits your brand and unique story.

You can have all sorts of emails in this sequence, but generally, these are the must-haves:

• Welcome email
• Promotional emails
• Testimonial emails
• Abandoned cart emails

Loyalty Rewards & Affiliate Programs

Loyalty programs are a common way to encourage your customers to buy more by promising gifts.

The more they purchase, the more free products they get in return.

The world of gamification is endless.

Just add some creativity there, and customers will love it!

Here are some ideas for your products:

• Exclusive access to new products or free samples
• Promotions like buy 2 lipsticks, get the third for half the price.
• Smart discounts with the formula "items in the cart" + 1 with a message: Buy at least 1 more item and get 10% off the cart.

Additionally, you can provide affiliate programs to content creators.

Affiliate marketing is when other content creators promote your brand in exchange for a small commission.

The more customers they bring, the more these content creators earn from the affiliate program.

Knowing Your Customer

The beauty industry is audience-focused and feedback-driven.

So, you need to understand who your audience is and what their needs are.

How can your product fit into those needs?

What benefits does it bring to your customers?

You're not just selling a beauty product.

You're selling a solution to one of your customers' deepest pains.

With your products, they want to feel more confident to achieve their desired success.

It's more than just a perfume or body cream. Make sure you sell the value as well.

Quality Content

Have you ever wondered why quality content works for all industries?

Because over time, your audience will associate your content and brand with high quality and value.

People love free and helpful content.

Especially if it's high-quality and provides a ton of value.

For example, you can make blogs or YouTube videos in a "how-to" format and teach your audience how to use your products.

Or, hire a model for a day in your target audience demographic and get them to demonstrate 100 different skincare routines using your products.

Both methods are cheap and help your brand stand out.

The keyword here is relatable.

The more down-to-earth your content is, the more relatable your product will be seen as.

And as a consequence, you will also sell more.

Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers (between 1,000 and 100,000 followers) have recently become incredibly popular.

Every single beauty brand has a deal with one or multiple micro-influencers.

But why is that?

Having a micro-influencer sponsor your brand is excellent for two reasons:

1. They are much cheaper than a full-on commercial.
2. They are a more natural way to show your products.

People feel much more connected to a small influencer than a big TV commercial with perfect models showing off a product.

Find your ideal micro-influencer here.

Cross-Market Collaboration

Another great way to promote your brand is to partner with other brands and companies that aren't directly related to your industry.

For example, if you mainly sell makeup products in your online store, you could partner with SPA, fashion, or entertainment brands or car dealers to show how one beautiful and confident woman would feel in a Porsche or BMW in your jewelry or lipstick.

These partnerships make your brand look more credible and trustworthy and open new product distribution channels.

Consistency

One thing that all big beauty brands have in common is consistency.

Their products are high quality, and they keep this consistency throughout their whole product line as well as your marketing.

Consistency makes your clients happy about your products because they get the same experience every time they buy from you.

It also makes your brand more trustworthy if it regularly comes out with new posts or updates.

How do you achieve consistency?

One of the ways to do so is by adopting a style guide across all your products and using tools, that provide you weekly stories and posts for your social media, for example, Blessed Pirate.

Sustainability

With so many shady beauty companies, online shoppers want to know what's in their beauty products.

They want to know exactly what the ingredients are and where they come from.

The more natural and sustainable you can make your beauty products, the more love you'll get from your audience.

You don't just have to make them sustainable but also show it on your website.

In fact, more and more research shows the rising trend for natural products.

For example, consider non-toxic, renewable, and low-waste materials when making your products.

Too Good to Be True

You've probably seen a lot of beauty brands making outrageous promises with their products.

Most of these are blatant lies to promote their product and prey on people's insecurities.

And while you could get away with these "too good to be true" promises for a few sales, you'll ruin your brand's image in the long run.

Your audience is as smart as ever, and most will feel disrespected if you claim that your skincare product has some rare magical ingredient that gives miraculous results.

You'll be much better off telling the truth and stating exactly what your product is and how it helps your audience rather than being shady.

Level up Your Customer Support with Askly

We hope this article helped you better understand the subtle tricks that beauty brands use to come out on top of the industry.

Now, most of these strategies need time to develop and plan accordingly.

But your customer support is one thing you can improve instantly and with almost no effort.

Bring it to the point of purchase in the way your customers will love it.

At Askly, we work with hundreds of beauty online stores. We help them provide a live chat for seamless and customer-friendly service, smart automation, and guarantee an exceptionally personal experience for every customer.

If you want to increase sales and reduce your abandonment cart rate, we're happy to give you Askly for a free trial.

No obligations and it takes 2 minutes to add to your website.

Want to see some customer service magic?

Book a short 30-minute demo call:

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