How to Build Long-Term Loyalty with a Beauty Brand Retention Strategy
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When you start a skincare business, it’s all about capturing the attention of your first customers and getting the first sales. But as your journey continues, you’ll quickly see that returning customers are the value of gold in the beauty business.
In this article, we’ll find out exactly why repeat customers are crucial to your business and what some of the best beauty brand retention strategies are to keep them coming back. Ready to strike gold?
Why Retention Outperforms Acquisition
Customer retention is your brand’s ability to keep customers coming back after their initial purchase and continue shopping with you over a prolonged period.
Source: Digital Next
Customer acquisition, on the other hand, is the process of attracting new customers who haven’t purchased from you before.
So, how can a beauty brand’s retention strategy outdo customer acquisition efforts? Well, first of all, it’s much cheaper, especially in the beauty industry, where the competitiveness can be fierce. Acquisition can be 5–25% more expensive than customer retention.
And if you’re looking for how to increase average order value, that’s where your existing customers help too, because it’s proven that they spend more on a single purchase than new customers. It’s simply because returning customers already trust your brand and its products, and have less of a problem extending that trust to other products in your range.
Why Beauty Brand Retention Strategy Matters in the Modern Landscape
Today’s customers are spoiled for choice as new brands and innovative products pop up on their feeds every single day. Short-term exposure is beneficial as well, but if you’re not focusing on retention, your product is at risk of becoming one they’ve tried a single time and forgotten about in the long term.
Retention in the beauty industry matters more now than ever because of:
Rising costs in acquisition as digital ads and influencer rates are skyrocketing, and organic reach is harder to grow.
The economy is shifting to adapt to the lifestyle of today’s consumer, who values convenience and sustainability (refill and subscription culture).
How powerful word-of-mouth skincare marketing is — as becoming a casual creator is easier than ever, there’s a high chance your loyal customers are willing to share their thoughts on your products with the world.
The importance of community in the beauty industry, that brands that nurture strong relationships with their customers inevitably create a sense of community, and make their customers feel like they’re a part of something bigger.
In short, you can only win by focusing on customer retention with smart spending on what really matters, which is the relationship with your customer.
Proven Beauty Brand Retention Strategies with Examples
Tiered loyalty programs
Offering your customers different levels of rewards with a tiered loyalty program gives them a reason to keep coming back to your store and get more for their buck.
For lower tiers, you can offer small discounts or free samples, but for higher levels, you can promise early access to product launches or even organize exclusive events for your most loyal fans. Think of it as a club for VIPs, and who wouldn’t like to be a part of one?
This beauty brand retention strategy works because it taps into the customer’s natural drive for leveling up and gratification, and it also makes them feel recognized for their continuous investment in your brand and products.
Get inspired: One of the most well-known loyalty programs in the beauty world is Sephora’s Beauty Insider program, where customers can collect points and unlock different perks like exclusive sets, invites to events, product bundles, and even consultations with skincare and makeup professionals.
Personalized Recommendations
Beauty is deeply personal, and we all have our unique needs and routines. Your product recommendations should reflect exactly that and make your customer feel seen.
By smartly using data-driven insights from your website or ecommerce platform, you can show and send your customers personalized recommendations based on their skin concerns and previous purchases. This beauty brand retention strategy will not only ease your customers’ journey, but also fuel their loyalty for the brand because you just get them.
Get inspired: Clinique’s ClinicalReality skin diagnostic tool lets its customers upload a selfie to recommend personalized skincare routines and match the customer’s foundation shade.
Source: Clinique AI Skin Analysis
Exclusive Offers
You might’ve noticed a pattern within customers in the beauty industry: everyone likes to feel special. You can use a beauty brand retention strategy for your loyal customers, where you grant early access to product launches, provide exclusive offers, or offer limited-edition products.
This way, your trusty customers get access to something not everyone has the chance to get, only deepening their connection with your brand.
Get inspired: Not only does MAC Cosmetics regularly drop exclusive offers for its MAC lovers club, but it also has a special appreciation discount for teachers, students, medical personnel, military personnel, and first responders.
User-generated Content and Social Incentives
Another integral part of the beauty and skincare industry is the sense of community and belonging.
Social media has made creating beauty content and nurturing a like-minded community more accessible. Your brand should encourage and reward your customers for their advocacy of your brand online, as it makes them a part of your company’s story and motivates them to return and suggest your products to their audience.
Get inspired: From the get-go, Glossier has focused on its most passionate customers and UGC in its skincare marketing, creating almost a cult-like following where you have a high chance to be featured on their channels and rewarded for it too.
Customer Feedback and Reviews
Your beauty brand retention strategy shouldn’t be just about finding ways to sell — take a moment to truly listen to your customers as well.
One of the best ways to hear out the feedback is to sit down and scroll through your product reviews on the website, and take a peek at what people online are talking about your brand. When you see a particular concern being voiced repeatedly, you can take actionable steps and act on it, whether it’s leaky packaging or adjusting your formulas.
Evaluating and acting on your customers’ feedback will show that you’re not only after their hard-earned money, but you’re also willing to listen and better their experience, creating a deeper bond.
Get inspired: The Ordinary is known to be actively engaged with its customers’ feedback and has even brought back discontinued products due to popular demand.
Seamless Shopping Experience
It doesn’t matter if you sell private label cosmetics or otherwise — your website and customer journey should be refined.
Your products may be 10/10, but if your checkout flow is clunky or you have only one payment option, you’re risking your customers telling their friends how difficult it is to shop with your brand and losing not only them but also other potential customers. Convenience shouldn’t be overlooked and can be one of the winning factors in your beauty brand retention strategy.
Get inspired: Fenty Beauty is one of the skincare and makeup brands that offer something called Quick Shop, which is a simplified checkout flow that’s quick and easy for the customer to navigate. I tested it out and found out I can buy a product in just 3 clicks (yes, I counted). Maybe that’s something your brand can borrow?
Gamification
Shopping can also be fun, thanks to gamified experiences. Think, earning badges and points, completing challenges, unlocking rewards, and so on. Gamification is a relatively simple way to keep your shoppers engaged through experiences and games, rather than just straightforward transactions.
I once worked for a company that, during the holiday period, offered customers to spin a lucky wheel once per day (prizes were discounts or free products) — not a huge investment from the company’s side, but the daily limit kept customers coming back. Smart and fun, isn’t it?
Get inspired: The cosmetics brand Tarte has used its fair share of gamification to keep customers engaged, from scavenger hunts on its Instagram stories to branded virtual games.
Onward and upward
At the end of the day, a beauty brand retention strategy should be about making your customer feel seen, cared about, and a part of a community. The feeling of belonging is exactly what’ll keep your customer coming back.
That’s why I encourage you to try the strategies we went over, no matter if it’s a ground-breaking loyalty program or just improving the checkout experience on your website. Small steps count too, and only by experimenting and showing that you care, you’ll be able to reap those big rewards in the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Customer retention is your brand’s ability to keep customers coming back after their initial purchase and continue shopping with you over a prolonged period. Basically, it’s all your brand does to get returning customers.
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Your ecommerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace) should be able to provide you with statistics about your customers — how many have returned for repeat purchases and how many have only shopped with you once. If you see an overwhelming amount of one-time shoppers, you should try some of the strategies in this article and see if the number’s shifting.
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There are many proven customer retention strategies you can use: loyalty programs, personalized recommendations, user-generated content (UGC), customer feedback incentives, granting a seamless shopping experience, and offering gamification.
One that’s going to be the most effective depends on your brand and the execution, so all you should do is start experimenting, and if one doesn’t work, try another one, and I’m sure you’ll reach one that’ll be a hit.
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Absolutely, you can use loyalty programs to increase average order value. It’s proven that returning customers have higher cart values than first-time customers, and loyalty programs are one of the ways to motivate customers to keep shopping with your brand.
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