A detailed document on insights to grow a Perfume/Fragrance Brands
Contents
- Challenges
- Creatives
- Website
- Retention
- Ads
- Questions
- Insights
Checkout our case study on scaling a perfume brand here
Challenges
- Fragrance cannot be experienced online (Japan is developing some tech for this)
- Fierce Competition
- Customers skeptical of ingredients used
- Scent Allergies and Sensitivities
Creatives
We have worked with both kinds of brands where on used UGC content, feature/benefit approach while other more story based. The former had 600 as AOV, and the story-based one 1500 AOV, even the revenue was higher for the latter
So, success with ad creatives for perfume is determined by how well can your creatives evoke inspiration feel from the audience.
Your brand should set the right chord of being affordable but aspirational. As being just affordable makes the person wearing the scent come across as cheap in their social circles, as just aspirational decreases your TAM
- Angles/Messaging types to use in ads
- Storytelling – This angle breaks or makes your journey. The Visuals and voiceover in a creative largely dictate this more than copy. The associations or the photshoot of the product , background setting, theme (not Shopify backend theme) on website all contribute towards being perceived
- Personality driven – Associate a typical personality to each creative to attract those kind of auidiecne groups. Segmenting customers this way might decrease your TAM but push you revenue up as the conversion volume is higher
- Give me a feel – Yes audience cannot smell the fragrance but they can perceive it by showing the ingredients, notes the fragrance is made of. If it’s a rose shwoing a rose image behind the product gives a fair idea on the notes of the product
- Education on fragrance – Every brand reveals their ingredients but few share the importance of the ingredient, to differentiate share the “History” behind the ingredient……Why this rose from Italy is better?
- Images
- Big bold font, bright colors are all the core of this category
- Image ads must contain informatoin on on notes, flavour and name (if catchy)
- Use-case based image ads such as “Dinner-Night” fragrance works well
- A model based fragrance do capture higher attention but have produced mixed results
- Single-line educational images with aspirational product copy
- Videos
- Quick cuts, smooth transitions, quirky poses are core of this type of creatives
- Personifying a particular personality in the ad as per the fragrance
- HIstoircal or cutlural based frarances edcuating on importance of such fragrances generates a higher perceived value of the product among the consumers
If you need more info on our research technique to create creatives, check this doc here
Website
Primary emotion the website must exude is aspiration, this is the driver of all storytelling in fragrance category. Many wear fragrance to show they have made it in life, only a few wear for the self
- Images
- The photo gallery on website occupies the biggest real-estate on customer’s screen
- Apart from just lifestyle based images, your photo gallery must have text based images, mentioning the notes, tones and fragrance Example
- In case there is an offer live on website, the 1st image must clearly mention the discount or the offer clearly to maximize the conversion rate and get customers excited as soon as they land on screen
- Content
- On Home page
- Must be populated with visuals and minimal but impactful text
- Explain the orgins/history/inspiration behind the fragrance
- Go heavy on storytelling focused on fragrance, origin and inspirational emotion
- On Product pages
- Apart from standard product description, images…. include the origin story of the fragrance or the inspiration from which the fragrance was born
- This product is about the feel
- Provide as many cues as possible of what kind of fragrance to expect by associating with ingredients used (in background of product), simili in description. Clear communication of top notes and bottom
- On Home page
- Structure
- Push for a discovery set effort as most purchasers aren first time buyers hence want to know the variety of fragrances you offer
- Above the price, in 3 quick points answer these objections
- How long does the fragrance last?
- What are the top notes in this perfume?
- Key Ingredients of product
Check high-converting add to cart structure here (video)
Retention
Selling discovery set (It contains 4 best fragrances in sampler 8ml or 5ml bottles) of 1st purchase helps in retention, as the question shifts from “Should I buy a second one” to “Which fragrance to reorder?”
Once ordered always send regular updates to customers on
- How to use the product?
- How many times to use?
- What are the common mistakes to avoid?
Action plan
- Launch seasonal variations to make sure customers keep coming back
- If you offer a removable fragrance then get them back via refills
- Offer personalized scent wardrobe recommendations based on a customer’s existing fragrance preferences
Ads
- Structure
- Each category of product must have a separate campaign, this avoids the nightmare of data mixing up and different margins for each product
- Create a separate campaign for both remarketing and scaling
- Always exclude your customers (using customer list from Shopify) from all of your non-remarketing campaigns so the platform delivers incremental gains and doesn’t juice simply from existing customers
- Targeting
- Basic interests like Fragrance, perfume, odor….
- Also target high end legacy brands like Dior, Chanel, Guicci
- Big changes – married, engage, child… and run through them big change angle creatives
Questions
- What are common pain/objection in people trying a new brand?
- Current perfume doesn’t last long
- Allergies with current perfume
- A particular fragrance is trending
- Desire for Variety in wardrobe
- Big Life Changes – Getting married
- What product should I go to market first?
It’s your disvery set, a set of 4 sample fragrance, either 8 ml or 5ml bottles. Let the 1st time customer experience all fragrances and come back to buy the ones they love the most
- What is the other best medium to grow apart from ads?
This might not be a conventional one, but organizing a community event on the perfume geeks is a good way to spread the word out. Let this event be about them and not your brand/product
Host virtual or in-person fragrance workshops where customers can learn about scent notes - What are the common mistakes brands make?
- Neglecting reasons on why customers would switch to a new fragrance?
- Exclusive collection
- Collaboration of someone with brand whom they idiolize
- Current perfume doesn’t last long
- Brands cannot stand-out in ads without a good inspirational storytelling narrative
Insights
- Marketing will create your differentiation as the fragrances can easily be replicated and launched by any brand
- Reason why people wear fragrance is to
- Make them confident
- Be different
They want to signal in their social cirlces this is the fragrance I wear and it says this about my personality
- State clearly how long the perfume lasts, especially in Indian market with humid weather be aggressive in this communication
- The best time to get someone to use your perfume than their routine ones is to launch a mood/occassion based perfume
- Use your normal one for every day, but use ours for special date night/ Festive celebrations
………..
Thank you for reading
If you have any questions you can reach out via LinkedIn
If you are an eCommerce brand looking to grow your brand, you can book a free call here
Till then, Adios!!!
