Beauty products are sold best when demonstrated by a professional who can offer personalized advice at the same time.
This has always been challenging when it comes to ecom, but not anymore thanks to One-to-One.
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Reinventing the traditional beauty counter with virtual consultations is the way forward for the beauty industry. This is especially true when you consider the latest retail trend reports, revealing that customers want more personalized and human experiences when shopping online.
Bambuser understands the level of service beauty brands need to provide to survive in today’s retail landscape. That's why One-to-One was created, for brands to offer private video calls with shoppable functionality built-in.
With nothing more than a smartphone, One-to-One can skyrocket sales by putting staff face-to-face with customers to offer bespoke advice, just like they would in store.
Whether you’re a small independent brand or a large multinational corporation, One-to-One can benefit your business and this guide will get you started.
The beauty industry is one of the most rapidly evolving because it suits Video Commerce perfectly.
Nisse, Product Lead, One-to-One
Here’s why beauty brands
need One-to-One
In today's digital age, beauty brands need to offer virtual consultations within an omnichannel strategy to stay competitive and meet the needs of their customers.
In fact, according to Shopify’s Commerce trends report, 52% of retailers are already investing in tools to enable store staff to sell virtually. It’s a cost-effective way for businesses to reach a wider audience online and create new opportunities for beauty professionals.
The primary objective for beauty brands leveraging One-to-One is to drive conversion. This is achieved by capturing sales that would usually happen in-store, by offering customers to personalized recommendations and product demos from the comfort of their homes.
By offering personalized virtual shopping experiences, beauty brands can offer trust and confidence to nurture loyal, repeat customers and ultimately increase sales.
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How does One-to-One work?
One-to-One offers a human touch that brands simply can’t provide with traditional ecommerce.
One-to-One can be integrated into any ecommerce site and it allows customers to initiate virtual consultations with sales representatives either by clicking on a designated button on a product page, or via a pop-up widget that appears when and where you decide on your site.
During the consultation your staff can make personalized selections of product recommendations, answer questions, apply hyper-realistic virtual makeup effects to the customers’ faces and even add products to customers’ carts.
Your staff could host all kinds of calls, from five-minute chats to offer quick validation on lengthening mascara, to in-depth consultations on personalized skincare routines with multiple products.
Six steps for a successful
One-to-One strategy
1. Let your store staff shine on camera
One great benefit to One-to-One is that you don’t need to hire any new employees to run it. Typically the staff that host virtual consultations are existing store staff or licensed beauty professionals, such as makeup artists and skincare specialists with the necessary expertise to provide advice and recommendations to customers.
To ensure success, cover a broad skill set by teaching a select few key staff members to use One-to-One and grow your team over time.
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2. Figure out your optimal availability schedule
One of the most difficult challenges is knowing how to staff your virtual consultations appropriately. How many beauty agents do you need? What opening hours do you offer to meet demand? How many slots do you offer and how far in advance do you let customers schedule calls?
The goal when first offering consultations via One-to-One is to find the sweet spot and get control of staff schedules quickly.
Bambuser recommends mainly offering future appointments at first as opposed to immediate drop-in calls. This should indicate how busy your schedule will be and give your staff time to prepare the best possible advice, as well as get comfortable with the tool itself.
Over time the Bambuser Dashboard will paint you a clear picture of what your appointment and drop-in balance should look like, thanks to insights from your customers’ behavior and call traffic.
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3. Promote across your entire ecom
When customers walk into your store with questions about your products, you want them to be able to find a member of staff quickly.
Bambuser offers a number of cutting-edge features that provide this service online by putting your customers in One-to-One calls with sales staff as quickly as possible.
Thanks to the Video Widget, customers can be invited to schedule or immediately join One-to-One calls from as many pages on your site as you wish. The widget appears to invite them to smoothly connect with a sales associate with minimal effort, after they meet on-site behavior criteria configured by you.
Consider creating a dedicated landing page for you virtual consultations as a place to provide curated sessions that address popular concerns or beauty topics. A landing page can also come in very handy to promote more educational content on how virtual shopping works.
4. Offer exciting AR experiences with Virtual Try-On
Augmented Reality is a key tool for helping customers get a good understanding of a beauty product without needing to go in store.
With the help of combining any AR vendor with Bambuser’s One-to-One, empowers your staff to offer true-to-life makeovers, totally virtually. This way your customers can try on with multiple products quickly, without to leave their homes or clean and re-apply the products.
Virtual Try-On is already proven to be extremely effective in the beauty industry because it gives customers an in-store level of buying confidence that generates significantly more sales.
5. Create a professional atmosphere
One-to-One allows your staff to host virtual consultations from anywhere, including at home, or at one of your stores, showrooms or offices. No matter where your staff take their calls, it’s vital to keep up a professional appearance that aligns with your brand, to give a sense of trust and legitimacy.
The ideal setup would be to host your consultations in a specially-designed studio space, but you can easily replicate an appropriate setting thanks to Virtual Backgrounds – a filter feature that ensures your video calls stay on-brand.
One-to-One offers a powerful human touch that brands simply can’t provide with traditional ecommerce.
Sophie Abrahamsson, President of Americas, Bambuser
6. Stay in touch and follow up
With Bambuser’s Post Call Summary Email feature, sales staff can quickly send a personalized follow up email to customers with a populated summary of the call, recapping which products were discussed.
This email can also contain a personalized message, to show your customers you care about their experience and are committed to their satisfaction. This level of service helps to build trust and strengthen your relationship with them, as well increases the likelihood of sales and repeat business.
