Designing Beauty Apps in 2020
2020 is a memorable year already (I call it Murphy’s year), and not necessarily for the right reasons, as you already know. This year was the year of big events, and everything seems to be going the wrong way, but, if we look at the big picture, we can see plenty of opportunities in this chaos. Opportunity to become better human beings, opportunity to learn & grow, and last, but not least, opportunity to adapt. As Mother Nature and history have taught us countless times before, adaptability is key to success and overcoming challenging times.
Since the…*sigh* … *you-know-what* turned the world upside down in just a few months, a series of industries were largely impacted by this crisis, and quite a lot of businesses can’t generate profit as much as before. But there is a tool to save us all: *with angels singing from the sky* “Digitalisation”.
Yes, you heard that right! Since going out like we used to is not so much a safe option anymore, we moved to the online&digital world even more than before, which, let’s be honest, there’s an app for EVERYTHING. Crazy, right?
Personalized beauty apps
The beauty industry has been one of the hardest-hit during this pandemic. Whether we talk about barbershops, beauty salons, or big cosmetic chain stores, the beauty industry bumped an ugly one. And that’s mainly due to the fact that this industry is fueled by in-person interaction. Why do I say that? Well, beauty salons and barbershops are implicit, but what about the cosmetic shops?
People can still buy their products online, right?
Well, yes and no. Your usual customers will already know their products, and they will order online. But when it comes to cosmetics, they’re tailored for you, for your skin pigmentation, or your hair type, and that, my friends, is something you’ll need to be creative ‘bout. And that’s why beauty tech will see a huge boom in the coming months.
Digital Beauty
Earlier we mentioned how we live in uncertain times. And that’s true, on different levels for different industries. But for the beauty industry, if you didn’t open your doors to the beauty tech world yet, now’s the opportunity to so.
Let’s say you have a small brand of natural skin products and your online presence stands only on social media. How about you create a website where you can showcase your products while also making your visitors feel just like in your store, since you can tailor the design to reflect more genuine branding, while also being a medium to get news and offers across your audience.
You could even create a subscription plan for basic products and have your users use a mobile app where they can configure how often they’ll get their products and in what combinations.
This way, you will be able to keep your customers happy, informed, and up to date with the latest offers, while at the same time, creating a seamless shopping experience.
But I Gotta Try It First
As mentioned earlier, in some areas of the beauty industry, you have to try on a product before you buy it (e.g.: Foundation). So that’s why a great UX design will convert your app users to customers.
Let’s say you have a cosmetics shop where you sell all kinds of products for hair, skin, and so on. To create a better customer experience, cut the lines short, and convert more users, you can launch an app for that. How? Well, starting from the idea that people usually prefer to try the product on first, you might include your foundations and make-up in a beauty app that would let your potential customers take a photo and try the products on. This will not only motivate the user towards buying your product, but since this whole experience is “gamified” (the process in which a task is made to look similar to a game), the users will most likely spend more time in the app, interacting with your products and learning them.
What if you sell products that don’t work in this kind of context? Products like moisturizers or hair products, in this case, you can play with your phone’s hardware, imagine an app that can scan your nails/hair/skin and provide personalized makeup/product recommendations based on your particular needs. On top of that, you would have more customers popping into the shop knowing exactly what product they need and a great channel to market your products more efficiently, all that done through an app.
There are countless ways in which we can adapt our services/products to the current world and customer’s needs. These are just two examples of how digital can be integrated in the beauty industry and how they can help
All in all…
With these said, I think there’s always space for great design in the beauty industry, but also, great beauty in design. Challenging times can be transformed into great opportunities, and by doing so you can appeal to a new wave of shoppers, while, through great UX you can tailor the experience to your current customer base’s needs.
Stay curious, connected and always bring solutions to everyday problems, together! That’s what we must do in these uncertain times.
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