Drive Brand Awareness and sales in the Lifestyle & Beauty Sector [Case Study]

Written by: Chloe Rowan


Birchbox is the UK’s number 1 beauty box. Subscribers receive a monthly box containing five samples of beauty products to test without having to buy the full-sized product. The boxes are tailored to suit the subscriber’s needs, for instance, a subscriber with straight hair would not receive a product for curly hair, but subscribers can also choose one of the five products they receive or select their preferred box design, adding a further element of personalisation.

The Campaign

 
Birchbox decided to launch a Whichit campaign. They identified their target audience as females aged 18-35, living in the UK and Ireland. They wanted a fun and innovative way to engage this audience, with the aim to increase brand awareness and drive sales.

The strategy was to create a 6-question Whichit quiz to collect actionable insights about their consumers’ makeup preferences and beauty routines. The quiz was to appear as a native ad, on a branded landing page, on the Birchbox website. The user would be presented with a different outcome based on their preferences, and each Engage Card offered a discount code and a clear Call-to-Action button.

Click on the image to discover your beauty horoscope.

The quiz featured attractive images and a series of fun questions about beauty routines, astrology, and the season’s favourites, allowing Birchbox to grab the audience’s attention and raise brand awareness from the start. The answers also provided Birchbox with valuable information regarding their target audience’s preferences including their influencers, favourite body feature, and preferred colour palettes.

The final question was “Are you a Birchbox Subscriber?”, which enabled the quiz to determine which personalised offer and Call-to-Action it should display on the Engage Card once the quiz was complete.

Success

The campaign ran on a Birchbox branded landing page within their website for 10 days and generated over 24,000 unique views. The campaign was a huge success, achieving an 89% engagement rate, made up of 60% potential new subscribers, and 40% existing clients.

Birchbox achieved 97% Completion rate and 89% Engagement rate in just 10 days thanks to Whichit. Click to read full case study.

Of the 89% who engaged with the ad, a huge 97% completed it, and 31% carried out the Call-to-Action. The ad was also shared on social media 113 times, amplifying the brand awareness.

Everyone who completed the quiz was taken to an Engage Card with a brief description of their beauty horoscope, the latest beauty trends for them to look out for, and influencers they should watch. Existing clients were then offered a free blending sponge with any purchase from the Birchbox online shop, while non-subscribers were given a voucher code to receive a 50% discount off an October box.

The answers collected throughout the campaign gave Birchbox vital product and rutine information. This data can be used to help personalise subscriptions and improve customer satisfaction during and after the campaign.

The audience enjoyed the interactive quiz, and it was such a success that Birchbox have continued to create Whichit campaigns as part of their marketing strategy!

5 Facts to help you plan Mother’s Day Marketing Campaigns

Alexandra Radugina
Senior Marketing Manager

Mother's Day is another great opportunity for all types of retailers to encourage consumers to spend more on beautiful gifts. If you want to create a stellar promotion, you have to start with a plan; below you can find some interesting facts that can help you.

1. Mother’s Day in numbers

Mother's Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent and precisely three weeks before Easter Sunday. The 2017 Mother’s Day spend was valued at almost 1.4 billion pounds, in comparison to the 700 million pounds spent for Father’s Day 2017. 30% of the purchases were made online followed by a Mother’s Day spark in social media posts. According to Facebook, people around the world uploaded 1B+ photos and videos, which shows how much people care about family and how grateful they are.

2. Shoppers' persona

Harvest Digital suggest that 67% of female shoppers purchase more gifts than men. But on average, men spend £10 pounds more on their gifts. Also, the most significant spenders belong to the age range of 25-34 years old. Those insights can give some ideas on who you want to target with your campaign, as well as how to gain social media boost on Mother’s Day itself.

3. What are the most common presents…

Mothers’ Day's gifts aren’t just flowers, cards or chocolates. These types of gifts are a must-have addition to a main treat. Shoppers are more interested in personalised gifts that stand out from the rest. There has been a noticeable increase in personalised presents in the UK, and we estimate an increase in that sector this Mother’s Day.  The hottest gifts for Mother’s Day are:

4. What Mummy really wants…

We found out that what Mothers actually dream of receiving on Mother’s Day are surprisingly affordable:

5. Promotional tactics to attract shoppers:

The goal of this Mother’s Day marketing opportunity is of course to increase sales and revenue. Marketers use the full range of promotional tactics to attract shoppers: special product selection, email marketing, social campaigns, price promotions. According to Bing Ads, more than 60% of Mother’s Day gift searches are made from a mobile device. Searches increase by up to four times in the 48 hours leading up to Sunday as well as most of purchases are made last minute. So, starting a marketing campaign just two-three weeks before the day would be a wise tactic.  Last year’s statistics show us that email remarketing was most effective the week before Mother’s Day.

What do shoppers want? What leads them to make up their mind about a purchase? The main decision-making factors— the same as for any other occasion, will be online search. According to HootSuite, 60% of shoppers use social networks for product search, so consider running a social media campaign to reach your consumers.  Another factor is saving time on shopping: If you can offer consumers all-in-one services like a card, flowers and chocolate there will be a greater chance of success. Adding your slogan, hashtag, or brand to any gift pack can encourage some consumers to thank you online.  Cooperate with local businesses (i.e. flower shops, spas, restaurants) and create offers together.

Shoppers want inspiration for Mother’s Day presents. Look for a personalised shopping experience based on their buying behaviour.  Offering savings and rewards based on past purchases is a proven tactic. You can also offer consumers a personalised gift finder (Whichit example), which will lead them to the perfect present or add the competitive element to keep participants checking back and sharing their contributions for more exposure. How about a mum and daughter selfie competition? Perfect for Mother’s Day.

Click here to see full infographic!

5 tips for eCommerce marketing on Valentine's Day

Alexandra Radugina
Senior Marketing Manager

Can you feel love in the air? If not, you should feel sales opportunities are!

An average of £980 million was spent on Valentine's day in the UK in 2017 (globaldata)  and according to some, Valentine's Day is considered the second-busiest holiday buying season of a year.
One of the general holiday marketing rules tells us to never, ever ignore a holiday. It would be a mistake ignoring Valentine's day just because you’re not in a flower or jewellery business… As long as you come up with a good marketing strategy, almost everything becomes ‘gift-able’.

Not sure of how to start with your marketing campaign for Valentine's Day?
We’ve prepared a few tips to help you stand out from your competitors and engage with your audience in a different way, to get your business measurable results:

1. Add a V-Day section on your website

Your first goal is to create a dedicated Valentine's section on your website, to showcase the range of products with straightforward navigation for ‘gifts for Him’ and ‘gifts for Her’, as it could simplify further product searches. The second goal is to show products in an attractive and romantic way.

In the pre-Valentine's Day shopping period the challenge is to connect with your customers by being helpful and reducing shopping stress. While telling your customers to buy your products could be considered a bit bold, you could incentivise them by including your products in a gift guide that helps them find inspiration. Also, it never fails to use extra selling points like a free next day delivery or a 10% off voucher, or even a small gift like a chocolate bar with any purchase.

2. Market early in a smart way

Don’t wait until the last minute to start your marketing! According to statistics, a month isn't too early, whereas marketing a week before could be a bit risky. Additionally, consider targeting last-minute shoppers in the week before 14th of February.

Don't forget to display delivery deadlines on orders to ensure arrival on or by the special day. Offering or proposing gift-wrapping could be a great way to differentiate yourself from your competitors as well.

3. Emails for lead generation

Email marketing is a powerful tool for engagement and customer acquisition. For Valentine's emails, you should include something creative that will spark your customer's interest: Valentine's gifts, seasonal outfits, tips on how to choose the perfect present or creative gift wrapping tutorials. Your design should be thematic. The Call-To-Action should stand out in the email so that users can find it with ease.

4. Social Native Advertising

Did you know that 71% of customers make purchase decisions based on social media referrals? Target your Valentines Day customers with Social Media Native Advertising. It's a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach customers without disrupting their browsing experience. Most of the social networks give you a full range of targeting options like "gender", "age", "relationship status", "life event" and many others, so it’s quite easy to send your message to the right audience. You can boost your sales by targeting more men than women, as they spend almost twice as much on presents.

Moreover, Valentine's Day advertising campaigns should be creative enough to break through other advertisers' messaging. Stand out from the crowd and drive not just sales but the growth of your social network in future promotions. You want users to interact with your ads so that it reaches a broader audience at lower cost. Customers will be encouraged to share content only if they enjoy it. The best type of ads that you can use to engage, interact and drive sales are Interactive Native Ads. Have you already tried it?

Another excellent way to promote your business through social media in a fun and interactive way is hosting a competition. It can increase your customer base by reaching friends of the people who share the competition, or they invite their friends to participate.

5. Find a partner

Let's say that your business is selling a correctly targeted product for Valentine's Day, but you don’t feel comfortable with dealing with your e-marketing alone. Find a partner who is and would be happy to benefit from your services! It is a win-win solution as you can split promotional costs and gain each other's customer base.  Come on, it is time to double your efforts to increase your sales this Valentine's Day!

Using a combination of these approaches and planning in advance is the way to a successful Valentine's Day marketing campaign. Also, don’t forget to track and monitor your campaign with the analytics tools.

Happy V-day,
From the Whichit team

Go Native – you won’t regret it!

Noémie Girault
Business Development Intern

Ever wondered how and why your Facebook feed was filled with interesting content you cared for? Do you feel discouraged because your ads seem useless? We might have something for you...

Discover native advertising at Whichit. Register for FREE today & get $50 ad budget towards your first campaign!
 

THE ADVERTISEMENT OF TODAY
 

As advertiser Howard Gossage said in the past, “Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad”. Today, people search for content more than form. They want to be captivated by a subject. That’s why companies need to work twice as hard to attract and build a target audience. Good content is what creates a relationship between a brand and its customers. It’s important to present ads in a good context, in order to attract and not to bother the potential customer.

Considering the fact people are more and more suspicious about what they see online, they tend to believe user generated content the most. Perfect! That is actually what native advertising is all about. Well, partly…
 

SO, WHAT IS NATIVE AD?
 

The term ‘native adverting’ appeared at the end of 2012 in the United States. Publicists and advertisers exposed the fact usual banners and other advertising formats were becoming obsolete. That’s when the idea of native advertising emerged.

Paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. When the ad is not intrusive, a user is more likely to become a customer.

This way, you gain valuable visibility by really adapting to your audience. Just like a chameleon!

In-stream videos, sponsored tweets or Instagram posts are all native advertising content, presented almost seamlessly when you consume your content.

Efficiency and subtlety are the keys to your success.

WANT TO GET STARTED WITH NATIVE ADS?

Now let’s talk about the real deal. You may wonder, “how do I turn myself into a chameleon with a winning native advertisement?” Easy. The Whichit platform is a great tool for you to create and publish native ads.

Whichit gives you a glimpse into your audience’s mind with a unique ad unit. With this innovative marketing tool, you can create ads your audience WANT to interact with.
In minutes, anyone can easily create trivia, quizzes, surveys as interactive ad units that provide the perfect native advertising as they are fun, increase user engagement and gain better ROI for your campaigns. Just like an ad without advertising.

Want to give it a try? Whichit is offering free registration and a $50 ad budget for your first campaign this month.

Create one Whichit and run it on multiple platforms. We will make sure you get the best ROI ever!

NOT FULLY CONVINCED? THE FOLLOWING CASE STUDY WILL GIVE YOU THAT LITTLE PUSH YOU NEED ;)

‘Get the Gloss’ is a site that unites the best in beauty and health. They work with leading makeup artists, hair stylists, nutritionists and wellness practitioners to bring their readers the expert view on news and trends in beauty and wellness, and create specialist guides to help readers be their happiest, healthiest self.

Looking to increase their brand awareness and lead generation, ‘Get The Gloss’ teamed up with Whichit and the luxury online shopping site ‘Avenue 32’. They created a brilliant contest, in which the audience would answer a 5-question Whichit Survey in the form of a native ad, on the Get The Gloss site, and enter their email for a chance to win a designer handbag of their choice filled with beauty products from the luxury fashion site.

At the end of the campaign the results were incredible. After publishing the Avenue 32 Whichit ad, Get The Gloss reached over 5,900 unique views, 75% engagement rate, and 97% completion rate.

In addition, thanks to Whichit’s integrated dashboard, ‘Get the Gloss’ gained actionable insights about their audience such as their origin, product preferences, connections between products and who’s more likely to engage!

Discover connection between products. Get the Gloss discovered that most of the users who liked the brown leather bag also preferred the mascara and the foundation.

Wow… right?...

Using Whichit in a native format will generate higher click through rates, giving your audience a fun experience and deliver a better ROI for your brand. It’s a win-win situation for the brand-customer relationship.

Discover native advertising at Whichit. Register for FREE today & get $50 ad budget towards your first campaign!

Whichit Was Shortlisted To The UKBAA Angel Investment Awards

Hi Everyone,

Having been nominated for best international growth start-up, our entire founding team attended the UK Angel Investment Awards Gala Awards Dinner at The Dorchester last week.

It was a great honor to be shortlisted and a wonderful experience to be up close with the movers and shakers of our industry. There were serial entrepreneurs, angels, VCs, start-ups as well as accelerators, advisors and the rest of the support networks that make the UK such a vibrant start-up ecosystem.

We had a chance to mingle with some fellow start-ups and some investors. Most importantly, we were impressed with the calibre of the award winners and nominees. It was great to see companies that were once small start-ups, and are now massive, global companies.

We were especially happy to see that our investors, Galvanise Capital and even one of our clients, Family Traveller among the shortlisted companies.

About the awards:

“Now in its 11th year, the annual UKBAA Angel Investment Awards celebrate high growth and success in the angel and early stage investment market - recognising the fastest growing brands and acknowledging the founders, angels, crowdfund and early stage venture capital investors behind them.”

— UKBAA

That’s it for now. If you have any questions, feedback or just want to say congratulations on being shortlisted please email me at gan@getwhichit.com.

Yours,

Jonathan and the Whichit team