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How Glossier tapped into customer empathy to build a $1.2 billion brand
Applied user strategies in becoming a unicorn company
If you aren’t living under a rock, chances are you may have heard of, seen, or purchased a product from Glossier in recent years.
That’s because this beauty brand has taken millennial consumer markets by storm, climbing into unicorn territory ($1.2 billion valuation) in a matter of six years. Today, the company sports over two million Instagram followers, $100+ million in annual revenue from its line of thirty-six products, and an impressive cult following since its mere inception in 2014.
You might wonder — why is Glossier so popular? You’re not alone; it currently stands as the #1 most Googled question on the trendy brand.
Thankfully, I’ve laid out lessons that Emily Weiss — CEO of Glossier—has shared herself in contributing to the brand’s success below. It may be unsurprising to learn that many of her strategies follow user research methods used in a typical design process.
1. Build a quality user experience.
Here’s a fact to throw you off your seat — Glossier spends close to nothing on advertising. Yup, the 600% annual growth the company experiences is a result of peer-to-peer recommendations and by word of mouth.
To add on top of these impressive accolades, less than 1.5% of customers return purchased products and the company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) has only climbed higher as the company has scaled larger.
How has the company been able to reach these levels of success? With a direct, authentic 1:1 relationship with customers.
The value proposition Glossier brings to the table is the extra-special attention individuals receive in every interaction, perfectly serving…
