A Case Study in Customer Delight and Brand Loyalty

We previously took a look at the importance of integrating CRM into the entire Inbound Methodology and ways that can we delight customers.  Now we are going to dive into a real-life case of using delight to build brand loyalty and drive revenue.

NYX has become one of the fastest growing cosmetics companies in the United States and available in over 70 countries.  Think with Google describes NYX as providing “high-quality, on-trend professional color cosmetics at attractive prices.”  Their success has been attributed to their extremely strong social media and grassroots efforts resulting in an almost cult-like following with 9.5M Instagram followers.  

While NYX meet a customer need: offering quality makeup at affordable prices, they did not stop there.  NYX studied and listened to their prospects and customers online to fully understand their buyer persona.  According to Olapic, “robust analytics tools enables NYX to measure the revenue impact of each piece of user-generated content, as well as identify crucial brand ambassadors that have shown ongoing loyalty and explicit brand affinity.”  NYX leveraged their customers resulting in impressive increases in content engagement, conversion rates, and average purchases online.  Let’s look at what we can learn from NYX’s ability to use customer data to delight and build brand loyalty:

1. Know your buyer persona’s and help solve their problems. NYX actively listened to their customers’ social conversations.  By doing so they could identify other pain points.  Customers faced challenges in the buying process due to variations in skin tone, skin type, eye color, etc.  Thus, customers have a hard time deciphering what products to use, what colors to wear, how to find the right fit for them, and how to apply it properly.  The entire makeup buying process could be overwhelming so NYX had the opportunity to simplify it for their customers and make their lives easier by giving them tools and enabling them to do it themselves.  A library of user-generated content was curated providing consumers realistic depictions of what the products look like on users with similar features.  Understanding the frustrations, needs and interests of customers helps to tailor the delighting actions.

2. Engage and share customer moments. NYX promoted their customers and helped build their success by expanding their reach.  Positive mentions were highlighted and user generated content resonated better.  This resulted in a brand that was personable, likable, and trusted.  NYX connected with its customers in an emotional way causing them to feel invested in the brand. 

3. Provide helpful content. Not only did NYX provide solutions for customers but they used their customers as the educators and content developers.  By disseminating custom user generated content, NYX provided how to videos, product demos, and testimonials straight from the user’s mouth.  The product users became the face of NYX. 

4. Solicit customer input/feedback. Customers became part of the NYX R&D.  Their products aren’t approved without first getting feedback from the customers.  NYX understands the power their customers yield and include them in concept development from the beginning.  They work with consumers to go where the consumers see the brand fitting best.  The goal here is to gain insight about how your product is being used or how it can be improved.  Then you want to respond and react to the feedback. 

Expanding Offline

NYX has sought to expand their online success offline into retail outlets.  They have taken their user-generated content into the e-commerce experience by allowing visitors to scan barcodes on digital screens to watch content related to that specific product.  The content helps inform purchase decisions and creates a more engaging experience in store.  NYX has reimagined the way consumers shop for makeup and improved their customer journey all while developing passionate customers that promote their products.  That is the best marketing that money can’t buy. We can all learn a little about delighting customers and fostering loyalty from NYX.