Tatcha is the latest beauty brand to bet on personalization.
In July, the Japanese-inspired company quietly rolled out on Tatcha.com its Ritual Finder tool, which is meant to boost e-commerce conversion and retention. The feature prompts users to choose whether they are a Minimalist, meaning they may not be heavily embedded in skin care and want the fewest amount of products; a Ritualist, if they have an existing skin-care routine; or an Enthusiast, if they’re a beauty junkie who’s spent hundreds of dollars on skin care. Tatcha’s full assortment of 30 products are featured in the quiz, and more than 500 iterations of routines can result, said Andrea Carver, Tatcha vp of digital product of development.
Tatcha was recently acquired by Unilever for a reported $500 million and is expected to do $100 million sales in 2019. Rather than ride the DTC wave that brands like Glossier have favored, it has established a network of select retailers, including Sephora and QVC in the U.S., Mecca in Australia, and Joyce in Hong Kong SAR.
The tool was developed internally with Tatcha’s digital team and five employees dubbed “Team Love,” who lead customer service efforts and also cultivate relationships with influencers. It was based on the questions Team Love receives most often from customers on digital and social channels.
“We wanted to give a broader group of people access to the kinds of things Team Love does, and we see this as a self-service way of getting started with Tatcha for new customers. For existing clients, it guides them on how to build out or change their ritual based on needs,” said Adeline Leong, Tatcha CMO.
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Personalization quizzes are a dime a dozen in beauty today. It’s largely used as a replenishment tool by companies like Dollar Shave Club, Hawthorne and Birchbox. Even Unilever, which has regularly relied on third-party retailers, launched its first digital-only offering in January with skin-care brand Skinsei that hinges on a quiz.
Tatcha has not begun its marketing and messaging blitz for this feature via social and email blasts, but Leong said the brand is seeing close to 100% completion of the quiz in its first four weeks and higher conversion. She would not state exact sales or how many quizzes were completed. However, the Ritual Finder will be incorporated into all evergreen marketing initiatives and new products will be added to the tool in the fall.
“There are a million skin quizzes out there, but fundamentally, we looked at what we had to solve for and what these other quizzes did not solve for,” said Leong. “We had a lot of people who were loyal Tatcha clients and still did not know what order they were supposed to use the 15 products they had from us or what to do in the morning and then at night. We had to figure out how we were fitting into her lifestyle and how much more we could engage with her.”
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If customers do need a hands-on option when working through the quiz, Tatcha’s Team Love is available to guide them through the site’s chat functionality. “We do not see this as a marketing play, but a better customer service exercise,” said Leong. “It’s the way we see clients will develop a deeper connection with our brand.”
