6 Reasons Why Beauty Technology Programs Fail

Beauty technology has taken the whole industry by storm. In all its splendor, beauty technology comprises both software and hardware solutions that can help consumers make their lives easier. It also means integrating technology into every aspect of a business and keeping up with the latest beauty trends. It includes replacing traditional processes with digital solutions and adopting new technology to meet evolving business and market needs.

Beauty Personalization powered by AI and AR, in our case, has been the beauty technology program we've seen has enticed most companies to get their digital transformation journey started. However, we've also observed that brands and retailers have jumped on this wagon due to its popularity without having clear goals, the right metrics, and in many cases, the right partner.

Here are the top six reasons beauty technology programs fail:

‍Not Having a Clear Digital Roadmap

When companies become infatuated with a new technology one of its competitor uses, they might buy into something just because of its popularity, which signals a lack of a clear digital roadmap.

A brand or retailer becomes successful with a beauty technology program by understanding the problem it is solving for its customers. In many cases, those problems are a handful, and there are plenty of technologies that could solve them. Once companies understand their organization's or customers' most pressing frictions, they can consider what the beauty technology ecosystem offers.

Moreover, thinking of a digital roadmap is also about understanding how companies can establish their competitive differentiators and possibly open up new business avenues with existing beauty technology solutions in the market. For example, if your niche market lags in providing a personalized brand experience to your customers and moving towards a better discovery and post-purchase experience, building this capability will create a differentiator and, therefore, an opportunity to surge ahead of the competition.

Setting Unrealistic Expectations for Your Program

A company might have high expectations based on a competitor's solution. However, beauty technology offerings today differ drastically from vendor to vendor. Hence, the experience or solution a company has in mind can look slightly different and serve different purposes depending on the brand's size and resources. Moreover, before starting a project with a vendor, companies must ensure the vendor has all their required tech integrations.

Companies getting started with their digital journey should set clear and realistic expectations and implement what fits customer needs and the brand strategy. Larger organizations, by default, have a competitive edge, as they can promptly implement a suite of tech-powered experiences or even build them in-house. Those advanced technologies can be expensive for a small beauty brand juggling the implementation of other tools.

Therefore, small beauty brands must keep in mind the areas of the customer experience that must be enhanced with technology and set goals that align with the brand's strategy.

Not Selecting the Right Beauty Technology Partner

A beauty technology program might fail if companies don't select the right partner to solve customers' problems. As a particular technology becomes commoditized, the players in the market claiming to have the best solution will arise at light speed. However, a company's duty is to find expertise out of all the buzz.

While new players entering the market might seem enticing, it's important to remember that there are players in the market that have been around longer with customers on board. Which has helped them to refine their offerings to suit the pressing needs of the market.

Thus, when partnering with beauty technology companies, companies must ensure they can support their business from end to end by making solution optimization part of the journey. In most cases, beauty brands and retailers are left on their own to implement and optimize their beauty technology programs. That bottleneck inspired Revieve to craft a complete end-to-end offering built around the pain points of brands and retailers looking to personalize their customer journey to help them make the most out of this massive investment.

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Focusing On the Wrong Metrics

Both the beauty technology program and success metrics must be aligned. For example, if a company wants to increase retention or average order value, they need to make sure the solution they went for is optimized to drive those metrics.

In our experience monitoring and optimizing the solutions of our brand and retail partners, we try to set realistic goals according to the selected solution. In our advisory solutions (makeup, skincare, haircare, etc.), our partners have succeeded by driving metrics such as higher conversions or average order value. In contrast, our post-purchase solutions like Skin Coach are ideal for boosting retention, LTV, and increasing ROAS.

Moreover, tracking and analyzing critical metrics in beauty technology requires regular attention. But, companies need to know what metrics and data to track and how to contextualize them. Distinguishing between vanity metrics and actionable metrics will paint a clearer picture of what the data is telling a company. At Revieve, we compiled this list that can help beauty brands and retailers start or continue their beauty technology journey and look at the hero metrics that matter.

Not Promoting the Program Both Internally and Externally

A crucial component in ensuring the success of a beauty technology program is that internally companies must adequately articulate its benefits to different stakeholders. A beauty tech program can't be successful without the involvement of other departments inside the organization. For example, suppose the Digital team is leading the program - the Marketing and Communications team has to be briefed on all the nuances of what's being deployed and how it will impact customers.

Similarly, it's essential to consider all avenues this beauty technology program impact. For example, suppose a company is deploying the program for online and in-store use. In that case, they must consider training the in-store consultants to successfully talk about the new experience to consumers in an easy-to-understand way.

In addition, a beauty technology program is on track to fulfill its KPIs if it's part of the Marketing Strategy. Otherwise, companies will have made a massive investment on a beauty technology program that’s sparingly promoted to customers.

Not Taking Customer Privacy Seriously

Companies deploy new beauty technology programs because they want to gather quality zero and first-party data. Thus, a company's onus is safeguarding its customers' data to avoid breaking the law and facing legal, reputational, and financial penalties. Following recent cases of corporations abusing consumer data, it's vital to raise concerns over how beauty brands and retailers collect consumer data and ensure customer privacy.

Especially in beauty tech, AI/AR-enabled applications require detailed information about consumers' concerns and even their selfies, which raises many questions for consumers. Therefore, transparency and customer trust should be a focal point at each step of the customer journey.

The essential must-have in user privacy is consent - customers have to opt-in to the gathering and storing of their information in return for more personalized service from a company.

For example, at Revieve, we value honesty and clarity and are committed to safeguarding and respecting customers' privacy. Our stance is that we treat all our customers as partners, which always leads us to go the extra mile by advising our partners on different matters, including user privacy.