Customer focus is at heart of improving make-up brands online presence, research reveals

Research by digital agency, Organic, reveals that consumers are at the heart of improving make-up brand's online presence, and building successful websites. The research combined quantitative consumer research with specialist site performance research, allowing Organic to uncover which makeup brands are winning online and the routes to success.

Organic began its research by surveying 1000 nationally representative consumers, painting a clear picture of who is shopping for makeup and how they are shopping. The findings show that over half of shoppers purchased makeup online in the last month, with YouTube and social media playing a big role in the research process. Retailer websites and search engines, however are by far the most used research channels. The data also shows that individual brands are recalled better by 95% of consumers in comparison to retailers at just 5%.

According to Organic, these findings are key for brands to plan websites and online strategy. Content that works for 18-year-olds, for example, will not likely work for those aged 45+ and focusing content to address only those that identify as female is short-sighted. The research reveals that makeup brands must not make assumptions about their audience as they have an opportunity to engage with a wide customer base, but to do this, they must tailor content accordingly.

To have a winning website, then, make-up brands should: understand the market, or know who they are competing against; understand the opportunity, which includes focusing on partnerships and collaborations that make sense for the brand and the customers; and understand the customers, knowing what they want, how they think and how they view brands.

If a brand’s role in the digital world is to provide content to customers where they are, then it means thinking about how brands are considered at all stages of the buyer journey. For make-up that can mean creating content around tips, looks and trends, or providing information about how the makeup is made or tested, not just focusing on intent driven messaging around price, availability and delivery.

“The pandemic has raised consumer reliance on and expectations around ecommerce. Makeup – a category that is notoriously difficult to get right online – is no exception and succeeding online has never been more important,” says Simon Dale, group account director at Organic.

The research reveals that Superdrug reigns supreme winning 60% of terms available across all competitors, followed by Boots with (14%), Maybelline (7.3%) and Rimmel (6.6%).

The research is available to read here.