Cosmetics and beauty subscriptions are quite common and popular. Customers love them because of convenience and cost benefits, among other reasons.
For eCommerce beauty brands, subscription models bring stability, predictable revenue, decrease customer acquisition costs, and help the brand build long-term relationships with customers.
Although many cosmetics brands offer subscriptions, few are able to make it a successful venture and sustain it.
In this blog, we look at the subscription model of Dermalogica, a skin care products brand based on Shopify Plus.
What is the Dermalogica subscription?
Dermalogica is a skin care brand that was started in 1986. The brand offers a subscription option. Customers can get their skin care products delivered at their doorstep at a regular schedule. Customers can choose the delivery frequency.
Dermalogica subscription provides flexibility to its subscribers. Subscribers can change the delivery frequency or quantity. They also get to purchase products at the best prices along with free shipping. Additionally, subscribers earn 2x points with subscription orders.
A breakdown of Dermalogica skincare subscription on Shopify
In a sea of skincare and beauty subscriptions available online, Dermalogica stands out for many reasons. Not just the brand’s products, but also for the way the brand has set up and manages its subscription business model. In this section, we look at the many features of its subscription program and lessons to learn from it.
1. A dedicated subscription page
Visitors who come to your Shopify store might take a few seconds, if not minutes, to figure out your home page, the navigation, the different sections, and tabs.
So one of the most critical things to do is to have your subscriptions page tab on the home page. Better if you can highlight it or give it a prominent spot so customers don’t miss it.
Dermalogica has a dedicated subscription page.
Here are some takeaways from the Dermalogica subscription page:
- Neat page with minimal text
- The introductory text cleverly talks about three key benefits of joining the subscription
- It shows graphically how the subscription work
- Shares product recommendations with customers to get started
- The page has a FAQs section
2. An FAQs section dedicated to the subscription model
Customers might have many questions before they sign up for the subscription. Even new subscribers might have questions.
Now, if they have to reach out to your customer support team with questions, it can become a rather long process. Besides, it adds to your costs. Many people might give up the idea of reaching out to you if the process is difficult.
That’s why having an FAQs section helps. You can answer all the basic and important questions via the FAQs.
In the Dermalogica subscription FAQs section, you will find questions such as, how to join the subscription, what happens after one joins, how to make changes to the subscription order, and other questions.
FAQs are a common and simple way to improve customer experience and make shopping easier and faster for customers. It is a section where customers can easily find information, and hence, it also helps increase sales and conversions.
Here’s Dermalogica’s FAQs section:
3. Dermalogica subscription plan is simple
Many eCommerce retailers think it helps when they offer more choices to customers. For example, offering three or more subscription plans to choose from. But did you know, this can actually lead to confusion, decision fatigue, and end in lesser subscription signups?
The subscription market is overloaded with options, and hence, you must try to make it easy for customers. That’s something that Dermalogica understands. Hence, the brand offers only one standard and simple subscription plan.
Customers are not put through the confusion of choosing from multiple subscription plans. Keeping the subscription plan simple has many benefits:
- Less confusion for customers
- More signups
- Less cart abandonment
- Makes subscription management easy
- Brings more satisfaction for customers
- Less competition and FOMO for customers
4. Explanation of how the subscription plan works
Keeping it simple, minimal, and easy to understand, the page shows a graphic explanation of how the subscription works, in three steps.
1. Shop: customers can purchase the subscription on the product page or add it in their cart
2. Schedule: Subscribers select the delivery frequency based on their individual preference
3. Enjoy: Customers receive the delivery, shipped free, 2x reward points and a bonus gift
6. Personalization options
Personalization leads to profits for businesses, say 90% of eCommerce marketers. Dermalogica offers personalization by allowing subscribers to choose products for subscription, change delivery frequency or dates, etc.
When brands allow customers the flexibility and freedom to choose, make changes, and adjust their subscription options, subscribers feel more confident about signing up. They trust the brand more.
Customer confidence and trust are also factors that lead customers to share referrals and recommend brands to their loved ones, thus driving more traffic and leads to your eCommerce store.
7. Customers can easily try new products via subscription
Dermalogica keeps its customers’ needs at the center by enabling them to try new skin care products. The brand has a wide range of skin care products to choose from but customers can select the ones they want in their subscription.
By having a wide variety of products, Dermalogica not only caters to a wider audience, but also allows subscribers many choices. Moreover, when the brand adds new products to the inventory, customers can try it via subscriptions.
Subscriptions make it much easier for the brand to introduce new products to their subscribers. As the brand is in touch with the subscribers frequently, it’s easier to engage them with new products, communicate, share product recommendations, and other content.
8. Reward points with every subscription order
One of the biggest reasons customers sign up for subscriptions is the price benefit and discounts. Dermalogica gives its subscribers 2X reward points on every order. Subscribers can use the reward points to make more purchases from the Dermalogica website. This not only benefits subscribers, but it also leads to more sales for the brand.
9. Scalable subscription plan
It is essential to keep scalability in mind when designing a subscription plan. Dermalogica has this factor covered!
The brand is an international brand and has eCommerce websites for various countries. Thus, it caters to a wide range of customer base and offers its subscription plan to them.
Having a wider audience also helps the brand collect more data and deep dive into analytics and metrics that help the brand with scalability factors.
10. Customer reviews and ratings
Today’s customers consider reviews and ratings when purchasing products. Dermalogica understands this well.
The brand adds ratings and reviews of products on each of the product pages. This helps subscribers make purchase decisions.
Not only does the brand show what customers say about the products, but the brand also doesn’t miss replying to each and every customer review, showing how much they care for their customers.
11. Easy live chat option
To ensure reliable customer service, the brand has a live chat option. Visitors, customers, and subscribers can ask any question and get answers within seconds.
Customer service is a key differentiating factor between brands that helps customers decide whether or not to transact with a particular brand.
The Dermalogica website provides the live chat option on each page of the website. Shoppers can ask any question and instantly get answers, making the interaction faster, easier, and communication seamless.
Takeaways from Dermalogica subscription breakdown
Here’s a recap of the key features and lessons we could take away from the Dermalogica subscription business model.
- Having a dedicated page for subscription makes it easy for customers to find information
- Simplicity helps avoid confusion and complexities, thus a simple and straightforward subscription plan wins
- Minimal text with well-written copy is more impactful that text-heavy pages and long explanations
- Flexibility and personalization are critical factors that help enhance customer experience
Apply learnings from Dermalogica subscription to your Shopify Plus business with the best Shopify Plus subscriptions app
As the subscription industry becomes more vibrant and competitive, you will also find many subscription apps on the internet. However, a large number of Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants prefer Appstle Subscription App.
The app offers a set of comprehensive features for Shopify and Shopify Plus stores. For example, easy installation, set up a subscription model relevant to your products and industry, flexible billing options, automated communication, dunning management, data analytics and reports, among other capabilities.
If you’re looking for an intuitive and smart subscription app for your Shopify or Shopify Plus store, you’re in luck with Appstle Subscription App.
Install Appstle Subscription App on your Shopify Plus store!
