10 Must-Have Lifecycle Automations for Health and Beauty Brands Published August 6, 2018 Health and beauty the fastest growing retail sector in eCommerce. The online health and beauty market in the UK is forecast to grow 21.1% over the next five years. With this growth comes competition. Keeping customers coming back is a big challenge but also a huge opportunity. In this blog post, we look at how health and beauty brands are using lifecycle automations to create loyalty and drive sales. We’ll look at the customer journey from start to finish and highlight the must-have automations. We’ll tell you when automations should be used and inspire you with examples from leading health and beauty brands. 10 lifecycle automations for health and beauty brands 1. Building trust with a warm welcome A good relationship is built on trust. So if you want a customer to buy from your ecommerce store you’ve got to make sure it’s seen as a safe and easy option. Bobbi Brown build trust from the start with an automated welcome email. It reassures subscribers that they won’t be charged for delivery, can return foundations for free and offers advice from makeup artists. 2. Giving an introductory offer Thank subscribers for signing up with an automated introductory offer. It’s great to send to those who have received the welcome email but not yet bought. Aveda do this by offering its customers a free gift as part of its welcome series. It’s a nice incentive that can help turn recent subscribers into new customers. 3. Adding urgency If you’ve sent an offer which needs to be redeemed before it runs out then send them a reminder. These alerts add a sense of urgency which might be enough to tip them over from browsing to buying. Birchbox give subscribers a nudge in the right direction with its alert telling customers it’s time to subscribe. Little automated cues like this create big spikes in web traffic and last minute sales. 4. Making recommendations Once people visit you can retarget them with content they’ve shown an interest in – whether it’s products, categories or tips. In this example Clinique make an educated guess that the browser might be interested in products that reduce redness. It’s a clever assumption based on browsing history and products they might have clicked. It results in the brand retargeting the browser with content that might inspire them to check out other relevant products. 4. Securing sales from back-in-stock items Just because an item is out of stock doesn’t mean it’s game over. Simply ask people to sign up to receive an email when their favourite items are low in stock or when stock comes back in. E.L.F Cosmetics invites customers to sign up to out of stock alerts. It’s a great way of directing customers in-store if items aren’t available online and generating traffic instantly when they’re back online. Bonus tip! You don’t even need to rely on an email capture form using our Pure360’s personalisation platform, PureTargeting. PureTargeting can identify customers who viewed out of stock products and automatically send out an email as soon as your have items back in stock. 5. Turning browsers into buyers Most retailers have a cart abandonment automation up and running but we’re always surprised by the number of brands that overlook browse abandonment automations. These handy emails are sent when people who are signed up to your emails simply browse your site but don’t put anything in their basket. The Dollar Shave Club have caught on to this handy automation tool and send this campaign to remind people what they’re missing. It’s on-brand, cheeky and certainly made us look twice! 6. Recovering abandoned carts They put something in their basket but didn’t buy! You’re nearly there and it’s a great excuse to send a compelling cart abandonment email. And let’s face it, no series of lifecycle automations would be complete without one of these! Fragrance Direct clearly know how to encourage people back. Instead of jumping straight to an offer they reassure them first. Simply showing that your brand has a simple returns policy and linking to your customer service team can be enough to convince them to convert. 7. Driving post-purchase sales Just because someone’s bought doesn’t mean you’re limited to sending order confirmation and delivery automations. Now you know what they like and that’s all the more reason to reach out to them again. It’s great to see The Dollar Shave Club showing health and beauty brands how it’s done again with another nice automation. They don’t waste any time, immediately contacting new customers with personalised suggestions to complement their most recent purchase. It’s a good way of striking while the iron’s hot with personalised cross-selling suggestions. 8. Asking for feedback Post-purchase review emails aren’t just an excuse to gather more social proof – they’re also an important customer service tool. It’s your chance to respond to unhappy customers, iron out any problems and show them you care. Online masters of makeup Sephora always follow up purchases with a request for a review. It’s sent just a few days after the customer receives the product and even asks them to rate and review their offline experience! 9. Reminding them to replenish If they’ve bought and you know they’re happy then ask them to buy again. Automated replenishment emails are great for securing ongoing purchases. And they’re big business in the health and beauty sector where customers are more likely to stay loyal to products they’ve bought before. Drugstore.com seize the opportunity to secure loyalty by inviting previous purchasers to re-order. This great replenishment emails reminds the customer what they bought and makes it easy to stay loyal. 10. Re-engaging lapsed customers Health and beauty buyers can be fickle. The next new trend comes along or they just fancy a change, and you’re suddenly forgotten. To secure ongoing loyalty it’s important you remind them why they chose your brand in the first place. Remember that it’s far more cost-effective to keep customers loyal than it is to find new ones. Sephora again pull out all the stops with another smart lifecycle automation. This time they send an automation to customers who are at risk of lapsing. It features a generous multichannel offer by allowing customers to also claim the discount in store. These are 10 lifecycle automations which any health and beauty brand can use to create loyalty and drive more revenue. Each email marks the start of another new conversation that pushes them further along the customer journey. These automated campaigns are easy to manage and maintain with the right technology – our personalisation platform enables you to set up, deliver and optimise your email automations throughout the customer journey. It’s easily integrated and won’t blow your budget either! So next time you’re looking at how you can retain and convert more health and beauty buyers look at your email automations. With the right targeting, timing and content it’s easier than you think to create ongoing loyalty and a healthy relationship online.