“DTC beauty brands are replacing focus groups with private online clubs”
Historically, one of the advantages of big brands with deep pockets was the ability to run focus groups.
The research would uncover consumer trends and feedback, which would inform marketing, product development and more.
Glossy recently covered a new trend, of DTC brands creating private communities as a de facto focus group, to help with research, product launch, and build community around a brand.
One such example is Ceremonia, “a clean hair care brand rooted in Latinx heritage.” Ingredients are naturally-sourced in Latin America (like guava), while celebrating the culture and history of the Latinx community.
About the Founder, Babba Rivera: “Yet when it came to the industry itself, Rivera saw little or no representation of her own community. “Growing up as an immigrant in a homogenous country, I always felt underrepresented in media and in the products I consumed.”
Founder Babba Rivera notes, “The members of Ceremonia’s insider group are all part of our product development We ask them what they think. They get to test our first samples from the lab, and they get to provide feedback on it, iterate on this formula, and be part of it from ideation to sampling to launch.”
The path to Ceremonia’s community starts with their quiz, that promises to personalized recommendations based on your unique hair needs:
Here are some of my thoughts on the quiz:
- Easy to take: the quiz is twelve questions, which can seem like a lot if you are taking one question at a time. Ceremonia’s quiz is easy though, just scrolling down and checking off the answers. While I like the ease of the one-page quiz, it does feel a bit clinical to me (more on how that can be fixed later).
- Helpful data: The quiz captures key data points that can be valuable in many ways, including:
- Hair type (health, texture, length, scalp issues) – Depending on hair type, different Ceremonia products make sense. Knowing different things about the hair are key to nailing the product recommendation.
- Haircare rituals (how often its washed, treatment routine) – This information can inform the product recommendation, and add more details to the customer’s approach to haircare.
- Hair problems – this is a huge data point! Knowing what problems Ceremonia is solving will make for more personalized, relevant campaigns and offers.
- Email – the most important question of all perhaps, is to get capture contact info to start introducing the brand, mission, and products.
This all culminates in Ceremonia’s recommendation at the end of the quiz:
- Good email follow up: I received two emails shortly after completing the quiz. One with a 10% discount and a brief intro to the brand and values. And another with my personalized recommendation. It’s detailed and educational, which establishes authority and expertise, a key pillar to persuasion (according to Robert Cialdini).
A few areas that are worth testing or considering with the quiz:
- Run Paid Ads to the quiz: Ceremonia has active Facebook ads, but they are promoting products, and the send traffic to the homepage.
Ideally, you’d want alignment between the ad and the landing page. A quiz offers the benefit of capturing contact info, and leading to a product recommendation as well. Here’s an example of how P&G’s Haircode quiz ad looks:
- Make it more visual: Ceremonia has beautiful branding and images–both lifestyle and product. Can add a bit of the branding to the quiz to bring it to life?
- Make It Interactive: It’d be cool if there was some interactivity to the quiz. This is where Prehook’s Recall feature comes in, to use previous answers in the quiz.
But with the data they gathered in the quiz, some ideas:
- Lookbook based on hair length – send aspirational photos, of course with the Ceremonia product included
- How-to guides: based on the problems that the customer identifies, Ceremonia can share their ideas to address each problem
- Product recommendations and campaigns based on their hair problems
Want to use Ceremonia’s quiz strategy for your own brand?
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