Direct-to-Consumer beauty marketing is key, shows Yotpo survey data

Ecommerce is powering a huge direct-to-consumer shift, explains Erin Twyman, head of beauty at Yotpo. And this observation led the company to conduct a survey of nearly 2,000 women in the US and UK who do at least half their shopping online and prefer to buy directly from brands: “We really wanted to understand what makes a consumer purchase directly from a brand instead of going to a third-party retailer,” ​Twyman tells Cosmetics Design.

The survey’s top-level findings show that cosmetics and personal care consumers are looking for brands that sell so-called clean beauty products, that are environmentally friendly, that feature a culturally representative variety of people in their brand imagery, that communicate directly and authentically with consumers, and many prefer to buy from beauty brands founded by women.

To put a few numbers on those findings: 84% of Yotpo’s survey​ respondents “prefer brands whose ads show women of different body types.” ​And over 75% “prefer brands whose ads feature a variety of ethnicities.”​

Twyman also shared insights into the sorts of communication that motivate consumers to buy. “We found that social proof, in the form of reviews and referrals, is actually a lot more valuable to a consumer when they’re looking at a product and considering what to purchase,” ​says Twyman, “more so than things like influencer content and paid social media.”​

Watch the full video interview above to learn more of what Yotpo knows about direct-to-consumer beauty brand marketing.  

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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.