Since its launch in 2016, one of The Ordinary’s most popular products has been its Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 serum. On Feb 13, for the first time, it’s introducing an updated version of the formula. The changes it made were informed by its community.
Feedback was gathered from social media comments on the brand’s Instagram and TikTok, reviews on its website and retailer channels, and requests sent to its customer service team. Now, the brand has addressed the main complaints it received, which mostly had to do with the product’s texture.
The changes to the product included increasing the number of hyaluronic acid forms in the formula, from three to five, as well as adding ceramides and improving the product’s texture. It’s now more lightweight and less tacky, according to the brand. The price will increase by $1, from $8.90 to $9.90.
Nicola Kilner, CEO and co-founder of The Ordinary’s parent company, Deciem, said, “This is one of the first major reformulations we’ve done. We’ve made tweaks based on regulations, for example. But, in terms of reformulating based on consumer feedback, this [is] a first for us.” Estée Lauder first invested in Deciem in 2017 and increased its stake to 76% in 2021.
The Ordinary’s marketing strategies and product development are often informed by its community, Kilner said. “While we make plans that are important to us, my favorite campaigns are the ones the community starts,” she said. After brand fans started using The Ordinary’s Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner on their scalps, largely owed to TikTok, the company commissioned a clinical study to validate the effectiveness of the trend. It found that, when the toner is applied to the scalp no more than three times a week, it helps rebalance and reduce dryness by hydrating scalp skin.
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The Ordinary’s community includes its 2.3 million followers on Instagram and 1.5 million TikTok followers, as well as self-started communities. On Facebook, the independent The Ordinary & Deciem Chat Room group, which dates back to 2017, has over 200,000 members. “It’s incredible — people just sharing their regimens and advice and answering each other’s questions,” Kilner said.
The Hyaluronic Acid serum is The Ordinary’s “most loved product,” Kilner said. According to a brand representative, the product is consistently a “top-5-selling product for The Ordinary, based on units.” Therefore, updating the formula based on feedback was important. “We never take for granted the feeling of being loved and being people’s choice skin care — it’s a huge privilege, and we never want to get complacent,” she said. So, after the brand’s chief scientific officer, Prudvi Kaka, determined that the improvements were possible, the team went to work.
Once the formula had been adjusted, the brand invited 48 members of its local community in its Toronto headquarters to take part in a “Listening Lab” event on December 2. The goal of the event was to celebrate its community and give top supporters in Toronto the chance to try the new formulation before anyone else. The majority of the group was Toronto-based customers with personal relationships with team members in the brand’s local stores. The group also included the founding and managing members of the aforementioned Facebook group.
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At the event, the group was invited to preview the new formula and were gifted bottles to take home. “There’s always a risk when you invite people in and give them a product that you’re not ready to [publicly] talk about yet, but everyone listened to the embargo,” Kilner said. The group, which unanimously approved of the updated formula, had the chance to test the product. discuss the new formula with Kaka and learn about the results of the brand’s new clinical studies. In those studies, it was found that the new serum provides supple skin with improved elasticity in four weeks. The Ordinary plans to host similar events in other markets.
The campaign also includes seeding the product to influencers. Some, including Katie Fang — who was gifted a personalized, unmarked bottle of the new product for her birthday — will be paid to post about it. Overall, the campaign will focus on educating about the three ways in which the formula was improved.
