How we helped a beauty brand increase Average Order Value by 78%
Client: Ayam Beauty Care
Results:
10X growth in online monthly sales
78% increase in Average Order Value
134% increase in Customer Repurchase Rate
3x in ROI throughout all paid campaigns
Scope:
Communication Strategy / Content Strategy / Visual Assets / Logo Design / Website Design / SEO / Graphic Design / Paid Media Planning & Buying / Engagement & Growth Strategy
Key Website Features:
Custom design / intuitive navigation / clear copy / mobile responsiveness / Search Engine Optimization / bullet-proof security / fast load speed & performance / third-party integrations / cross-browser support
The Challenge:
AYAM Beautycare is the real deal when it comes to beauty products. Their line of Dead-Sea Minerals’ infused shampoo, lotions, conditioners, and makeup remover wipes make anyone feel like they just had a luxurious day at a spa! Best part? They're cruelty-free, clean, and accessible. When the pandemic hit just eight months after their launch, AYAM didn't sweat it. Instead of chasing after big stores like ULTA, Target, and CVS, they shifted gears and decided to go 100% digital. Despite working with an agency for social media and influencer marketing, their results were below expectations. They knew the next step was to seek outside support to kick their digital strategy into high gear.
The Solution:
Milk Media set out to define a holistic marketing strategy to drive sustained brand and business growth across influencer marketing, PR, SEO, paid social, display, digital video, and paid search. We future-proofed the company’s business model by building a strong DTC business. Our work allowed the company to thrive, even during the coronavirus pandemic, while retail partner sales underperformed. Our entire work was rooted in a brand strategy that effectively turned consumers into fans and fans into advocates.
“Behind every brand you love is a brand strategy built to make you love it. Great brands appeal to consumers both intellectually and emotionally. To do so requires a blend of insightful strategy and bold creativity—to know what your audience wants and then give them more than they could ever imagine.”
Phase 1: COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
In the initial phase of our project, we focused on laying the groundwork for a larger two-year initiative, which successfully increased AYAM's annual revenue from $16,000 to $320,000. We took a 360-degree marketing approach, starting with a 3-week business intelligence immersion to understand the brand DNA fully. We developed a powerful mission statement, identified the target audience, crafted core messages, and harnessed the power of emotion to create an emotional bond with potential customers. This approach helped us connect with existing and new audiences and unified the brand's message and personality for better consistency and effectiveness. By creating an emotional connection by focusing on authenticity and inner beauty and educating the audience about the healing powers of Dead Sea minerals, AYAM built trust and a sense of need, ultimately leading to increased sales.
AYAM (I AM) is about WHO WE ARE. AYAM brand celebrates authenticity, admires all humans, and preaches self-acceptance. We want to acknowledge everyone’s unique specialness, and we want people to feel like they deserve love, self-care, greatness, pampering, and more.
#ayamworthy #ayambeautiful #ayamunique
Phase 2: RICH CONTENT LIBRARY
Milk Media embarked on a strategic mission to elevate AYAM's visual identity, which previously suffered from inconsistency and an over-reliance on stock photos. We analyzed competitors, such as OSEA Malibu, AHAVA, Prose, Glossier, and Supergoop, to glean inspiration and insights.
The Dead Sea
Our goal with this photoshoot was to establish a clear link between the brand and the healing properties of the Dead Sea minerals so that consumers could effortlessly associate AYAM with this extraordinary natural wonder. We orchestrated a location photoshoot in Israel to make this vision a reality. Throughout history, kings and queens have flocked to the Dead Sea for its healing effects on skin conditions and other ailments and to benefit from its powerful natural beauty treatments.
Website Photography
In this photoshoot, we worked diligently to capture a timeless view of beauty and feminine strength, featuring a diverse range of young models who embody our brand's authentic and inclusive spirit. Using natural tones and neutral backgrounds in our photoshoots, we sought to create a sense of warmth, grounding, and serenity while highlighting the products' vibrant and eye-catching nature.
White Background Product Photography / Stop Motions
This photoshoot was done to improve the quality and size of product images. This decision was made in response to research showing that 90% of online buyers say that photo quality is the most critical factor when shopping online. A study by Forbes found that 50% of online shoppers prioritize large product images over product information, descriptions, and even reviews. By implementing these findings, AYAM saw a 10.26% increase in add-to-carts.
Product In-Use / Before & After Photography
We wanted to go beyond simple product photos and provide a more engaging and informative shopping experience. Using models, we could showcase the product in action and demonstrate how it can be used in real-life situations. This helped potential buyers better understand the product's features and benefits. A survey conducted by our team showed how these images improved the online user experience by 58.2%
Phase 3: NEW WEBSITE
Following an in-depth audit of AYAM’s customer acquisition strategy, we noticed that most of the brand’s paid traffic was sent to its homepage, collection pages and product pages. Those pages were not optimized for conversions, so the brand lost potential customers and left money on the table. We went to Google Analytics to understand current paths to purchase, analyzed heatmaps, click maps and scroll maps, deployed surveys, and ran usability tests. With the collected data, we could redesign a beautiful and high-converting webpage. The results were significant; not only did AYAM enjoy a refreshed look, but the new website now provided a much cleaner user experience, fewer product-related questions from website visitors, and a double-digit increase in the checkout completion rate.
Some of the key strategies implemented included the use of high-quality images and multiple pictures of products in different contexts, copy and product descriptions that match AYAM’s brand's voice, "bestseller" or "trending" tags, storytelling throughout the webpage, testimonial videos, and up-selling/cross-selling strategies.
Social Proof:
According to research conducted by Pixlee, most customers - 64%, to be precise - actively seek out online reviews before purchasing. To help potential buyers make informed choices, we decided to repurpose our YouTube influencer videos by adding them to our product pages.
Branded Assets:
We designed branded iconography to help better communicate product features and benefits.
Ensuring Alignment
We regularly optimized the user journey on our homepage by updating promotional and main banners, navigation bar promos and collections to align with the marketing tactics. This helped to ensure that users had a seamless experience from the moment they arrived to the site, all the way through to conversion.
Loyalty Program:
A Rewards Program was implemented for customer retention and as a growth strategy. Customers could earn points for their purchases, purchases made by friends, following on social channels, and more. Since its implementation, the program has delivered an additional $274-lifetime revenue per customer – an impressive uplift of 280%.
Personalized Interactions
To add a personalized touch, we created a tailor-made quiz that converts. Users get asked questions about hair type and hair-washing routines and receive a product recommendation based on each person’s answers.
Phase 4: SOCIAL MEDIA
Our team developed a content calendar aligned with their marketing efforts and included seasonal content, offers, campaigns, and user-generated content. We adapted the calendar and content for the top four high-performing social channels where AYAM’s audience spent time: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.
Instagram Management
We helped AYAM revamp their Instagram with a clear strategy. Our client used Loomly to quickly proofread and approve posts while we took care of designing, producing, writing copy, and engaging with the community. The young brand surpassed organically 20,000 followers in only one year.
Pinterest Management
We revamped AYAM's Pinterest to showcase captivating, product-focused content that encourages clicks to the blog and improves product discoverability. This effort increased website visits from social channels by 12%.
Influencers
AYAM partnered with 68 influencers and content creators who demonstrate how they use the products and how they work on the skin and hair and reiterate the benefit of including Dead Sea Minerals in beauty routines. These efforts generated 2,138,753 impressions and a total of 115,056 engagements. Notable influencers such as Tanya Zuckerbrot, NotSkinnyButNotFat, and FlatbushGirl even tripled the website's conversion rate with each mention.
Video Content
We shifted the focus from 80% static images to 80% videos and reels and maximized the use of stories. Video content got a 22% higher engagement rate.
Campaigns
We partnered with skilled makeup artists with high engagement rates and excellent content creation skills to create a series of reels showcasing how they use our wipes to remove their Halloween face paint effortlessly.
Results: $8K in sales, 211K views, 976 engagements
To promote AYAM Beautycare’s shampoo and conditioner, we partnered with aspiring Instagram singers and micro-influencers who used the products in the shower while singing a cover of their favourite song. The campaign aimed to showcase the benefits of the products for maintaining healthy and beautiful hair while highlighting the singers' unique talents.
Results: 75 videos submitted, 754K views, 1975 engagements
3. To celebrate Women's History Month, we brought together a group of successful entrepreneurs for a series of joint lives. They discussed how they overcame gender discrimination and shared valuable advice for other women pursuing their goals.
Results: 678 new followers,1.2K views, 324 engagements
4. For Pride Month, AYAM Beautycare partnered with the LGBTQ community to showcase the power of self-expression through makeup. The campaign features members of the community wearing vibrant, colourful makeup in a series of TikTok videos set to uplifting and empowering songs.
Results: $9.8K sales, 17K views, 1609 engagements
TikTok Management
We activated TikTok and worked with Content Creators to increase brand awareness.
Phase 5: CUSTOMER ACQUISITION AND RETENTION
Email Marketing
In response to the high cart abandonment rate, our email marketing strategy focused on implementing a variety of automated flows aimed at helping users complete their purchases. These flows included abandoned cart reminders, follow-up emails highlighting related or complementary products for cross-selling and up-selling, and win-back campaigns for customers who had not purchased in a while. We also launched bi-weekly campaigns with an average 2.1% click rate and 22.8% open rate.
Public Relations
We partnered with a PR Agency to get exposure and educate readers about Dead Sea Minerals. The first press release was picked up by 124 publications to a potential audience of 111.5M readers. We have also included in 23 articles gift guides and seasonal roundups and had podcast discussions on beauty-related topics.
SEO Strategy
Our efforts helped AYAM outrank competitors such as AHAVA on the first page of Google for targeted search queries, including “Vitamin C Facial Wipes”, “Dead Sea Conditioner”, and “Dead Sea Shampoo”. This success was achieved through on-page optimization and securing over 600 backlinks from authoritative skincare websites.
Google Display and Remarketing Ads
Our performance team created unique audiences and segments by matching AYAM’s list of current customers, past customers, leads, and email subscribers to those available on retargeting platforms such as AdRoll and Google Ads. We adjusted messaging and ad creative to each of the segments, and we made optimizations until we achieved a 210% increase in ROI.
