Community Use Case: Sephora
Companies have found community-building success in leaps and bounds by leaning into their existing communities. These communities will have a group of people who are invested in your product or service.
This series of blog posts tackle all the different use cases for community. Community building and engagement should focus on one of three areas: customer support, marketing, or product innovation. We’ve created more content around these three use cases in
this blog post.
About
Sephora is a leader in the beauty industry. They sell beauty, makeup, and skincare products in over 2,7000 stores in 32 countries worldwide. Beyond their in-person locations, Sephora also maintains a world-class e-commerce site for consumers.
The experience in-store for consumers is a very catered approach with multiple Beauty Advisors located around the store to help you navigate the aisles of beauty products. Their Beauty Advisors focus on creating a incredible customer experience. They have a wealth of knowledge about Sephora products and suggest different options to meet the consumers needs.
According to their About page,
Sephora has earned its reputation as a beauty trailblazer with its expertise, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Sephora has created a
Beauty Insiders rewards program, but they’ve also created a welcoming community. Let’s take a look at the
Beauty Insider Community.
Community
Use Case: Customer Support & Success
Visit the Beauty Insider Community
Sephora’s community caters to people’s specific needs and interests. The different groups encourage communication and prompt members to share questions about the different products Sephora carries. It’s also a great place to go for tips and advice. Members can learn from each other to make the most of their experience with Sephora’s products.
Sephora’s community includes groups, conversations, galleries, events, and ambassadors. Let’s dive into the different categories of their community.
What’re you looking for? Community members can filter content by category to get the answers they’re looking for. This includes hair, skincare, makeup, age, and more.
Sephora maintains a highly engaged community of 10s of thousands of members. There’s also an interactive member to member element. Community members can like and reply to posts, questions, and comments from other members.
The more you engage, the higher you rank in the community! Members have different statuses based on their community involvement. These tiers of tags are showcased on member’s profiles to share their status. Some of the categories include newcomer, fresh face, boss, and more.
Makeup is a very visual experience, so the community would be lacking without an entire gallery of photos. Community members share their product experience with a selfie, product photos, or comparisons.
Community members get to see how other members use Sephora products by going through the Gallery.
No community is complete without a place for members to gather. Sephora hosts in-person and online events for their members.
These events are a great place to stay up to with the industry. It’s also a place to learn from some of the best in the makeup industry.
Community ambassadors are hand picked Sephora community members. They’re stars in the community and showcase the values of the brand. They engage on the various community forums, share ratings and reviews, and post their own photos to the Gallery.
Community ambassadors have a special badge next to their profile name to ensure other members know who the leaders are in the community.
For Sephora, community building gives members an inside look at their products. It’s a place to ask for honest, real reviews from other community members who’ve already purchased and tried their various products. It’s an opportunity for third party sources to boast about Sephora’s brand. Sephora’s community encourages conversation, questions, and engagement with their range of products and with other community members.
CREATING COMMUNITY
Community builders can define their efforts, encourage participation, and increase success by leaning into one use case. This provides a framework for how the community wants to engage.
A thriving community is one where members are eager to participate by engaging with others, creating content, or sharing their experiences. Members stand behind you, your brand, and what you offer.
Lean into your community for support. In return, they’ll uplift other members, encourage growth, and engage consistently.
written by The Everything community team!
We're a small team of community builders focused on helping our industry continue to flourish.
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