Absolution's $107k Revenue Boost with Bazaarvoice API and Ratings & Reviews

Founded in Paris in 2009 by entrepreneur Isabelle Carron, Absolution Cosmetics specializes in organic, accessibly-priced, healing skincare. The brand allows customers to mix and match products totally tailored to their changing needs. They sell through retailers, spas, and their own website.

Getting the review collection strategy right

Absolution Cosmetics started using Bazaarvoice in mid-2021 after they went through an extensive rebrand. They wanted a user-generated content (UGC) solution to build brand awareness around their healthy skin care messaging, and boost customer loyalty and engagement to ultimately increase sales.[LG2]

Absolution implemented a dual review collection strategy, combining high-impact and incremental volume approaches for managing their review collection. They employed an “always-on” (evergreen) method by hosting sweepstakes on their website, ensuring a consistent influx of fresh reviews over time.

Additionally, they generated an extra surge in volume with hyper-targeted Product Sampling campaigns to support the launch of new products, which successfully garnered over 400 new reviews.

The importance of seamless integration and automation

The Brand previously worked with a different vendor so they understood the opportunities available with UGC but unfortunately found their system limited in how it could be customized. Rather than a more off-the-shelf solution, they wanted a solution that could blend in seamlessly with their newly designed website and match their aesthetic completely.

They also needed a tool that could be automated and integrated seamlessly with their email marketing as well as their gamification and loyalty tools so API integration was very important to them.

Bazaarvoice API integration for the win

Bazaarvoice turned out to be the perfect solution. The beauty brand was able to customize the look and feel to fit exactly with their brand guidelines and utilize the Bazaarvoice API to integrate with their website to ensure that the capturing of UGC feels like a completely joined-up experience for their customers.

Luccia Benyekkou-Francq, Head of Communication and Digital Marketing at Absolution Cosmetics at Absolution Cosmetics, explains, “The API integration enabled us to make a seamless transition between our site and the Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews solution. Our customers feel like they are dealing directly with us and not a third-party vendor.”

Absolution Cosmetics also integrated Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews into their loyalty and gamification platforms. When someone leaves a review, they’re awarded loyalty points that can be redeemed against a purchase. It was very important that this process is automated in the back end and requires minimal human input, and the Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews platform was able to accommodate that seamlessly. “This API integration was very important to us; it allowed Ratings & Reviews to sit alongside our gamification and loyalty platform. Being able to reward our customers for leaving reviews is a real bonus for us.”

A surprise bonus of implementing Ratings & Reviews was that feedback found in customer reviews enabled the Absolution team to alter products to enhance future sales. Numerous reviews revealed that packaging descriptions lacked clarity, resulting in customers using the product incorrectly and subsequently providing negative feedback.

“Because we use cosmetics products and we’re in this market and we understand the wordings, we didn’t realize that the way we described it on the packaging was not clear enough, so we had to reprint and change the wording” explained Benyekkou-Francq. Following these optimizations, the product’s review ratings improved.

Loyalty + trust = more reviews

The company also utilizes loyalty point sweepstakes in its email campaigns to capture more product reviews, which has increased its email click-through rate from 11% to 19%. By integrating Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews into their website and loyalty platform, and creating a more community-driven gamified approach, Absolution Cosmetics was able to surpass their targets.

Using the Bazaarvoice API to integrate with their website enabled them to create a seamless customer experience and cultivate trust, resulting in more reviews. To date, Ratings & Reviews is responsible for a 313% increase in product reviews, and they’re averaging six reviews per day which exceeds their benchmark. Over a six-month period, revenue per visitor has increased from 14% to 123% and customer engagement has increased from 28% to 61%. Overall, a $107k in revenue can be directly attributed to Ratings & Reviews.

To learn more about Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews, request a demo today.

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