Transcript for "Attentive Color Wow (1080p) (1)":
Hey, everyone. My name is Janelle Oberholzer, senior director international strategy here at Attentive. And today, I'm joined by Kat's brand manager at Calliwell to share more about her journey within CRM and really the evolution of SMS within Colorwell. Kat, thank you so much for joining me today. It. Before we dive in, I would love to learn more about yourself, where you've been, what you've done, and your journey within CRM and the world of brand as well? So my background is more traditionally brand. So, actually, before Color Wow, I've worked for a number of brand management roles. I actually always thought that I would end up in fashion, but, actually, I went traveling for a year, came back, landed a beauty role with a distributor who I absolutely loved working for. And I the rest is history. I kind of never looked back from working in beauty. I just fell in love with it. And we distributed beauty products from premium to kind of more mass across The UK and Ireland. One of the brands being Stila, I absolutely loved. I kind of fell in love with cosmetics and makeup. That was a really interesting role because you are receiving instruction from the brand. You're you're developing it for the markets that you're working in. We had our own channels, obviously, but it was more kind of traditional brand marketing retail, responsible for that revenue in those markets. After working there, I kind of moved into, a different role, which was in hair care. So it was really when I joined Color Wow that I fell in love with CRM, and I really, really got to absolutely kind of own the channels. When I joined Color Wow, which was four and a half years ago, it was a completely different business. We've grown so much since then, and it's been amazing to be a part of the journey and actually be able to kind of shape that in in The UK. CRM has played a massive part for us, and I think that being able to speak to our customers in such a direct way is what I absolutely love. I am very much a advocate for the fact that CRM email is the one place where people have decided they want to hear from you. They've actively chosen to hear from you, SMS the same, and these people have decided they want to get whatever you're giving. It's the warmest kind of communication, I think, and I think we need to make sure that we speak to our customers, knowing that. And that's amazing because there's so much experience, Kat, that comes from coming from beauty, understanding the retail business, then coming brand side of it, and, of course, hair care that I know you're so passionate about. Sherra, can you share a little bit more about Kalawao and their journey even the last few years, especially as a brand that's growing so much here within The UK as well? Yeah. Actually, I have been a campaigner for SMS since the beginning. So there were there were some doubters in our in in our team, you know, in when I started, to be completely transparent, we hadn't used the channel the way that we to its full optimal potential. And I think that I would felt very strongly this is the way that we get directly in people's hands. People are on their phones. I mean, I don't know what your screen time is. Mine is crazy, especially at the weekends. And I think that that's how you get people. You you're landing in their hand, and you're cutting through the noise that I think we do see across. I think, you know, consumers are receiving communication fatigue. Dare I say it? I think there are a lot going out on a lot of channels, and it's like it's a it's a lot for the consumer to to to deal with. And I think you cut through the noise through SMS. And I pushed, and I was like, we this is a valuable channel. This is one of the most valuable channels. There's so much we can do with this, and the rest is history, to be honest. So I'm glad I stuck with that one. And that is exciting because, again, like you said, there's so much more noise out there today. There's so much more competition Yeah. For brands to be able to cut through the noise. But, again, for Color Wow, it is how do we capture those different audiences on the go? Because you'll have the customers that knows and loves the Color Wow that's seen them on social media driven from many influences out there. And then there's the guys that is like, oh, actually, I've seen it in the hair salon. Well, I've visited locally. They used a zed and serum on me or some of the care products, and it's how you've really evolved that within the brand. So thinking of the strategy of how you're capturing your consumers, how you've utilized this channel, how do you see all these channels come together? Because there's the email side, there's SMS, there's social channels. Strategically, how do you combine them all in driving that vision forward? Yeah. I think that something that makes Color Wow so special is our founder feels so passionately about helping people with their hair concerns, meeting their hair concerns. Everyone's needs are different, and I think that's how we view our customer. And how do we communicate that to them? So we it's it's slightly different makeup to the our US counterparts. We don't have, for example, MMS, so we have to rely directly on on messaging as opposed to kind of branding. And I think with our emails, we tell a story through content and, you know, it's much easier, I think, to tell a brand story. And then I think SMS then cuts through that and and reaches arguably some of the same people but with a different message. I think people want instantaneous marketing on their phones. I think people see it. They want it. I think that SMS for us has been able to do that. They capture the people a lot of promo led messaging, a lot of, you know, VIP messaging. So we do like to treat our SMS audience as VIPs. We like to make sure that they're getting, you know, the deals maybe ahead, that that there's some sort of incentive for them being on on that list for us, because one size doesn't fit all. And I do think the way that we talk to our text customers is totally different to email. But I do think the two can complement each other very much, and, actually, people can be on both and receive almost, like, an end to end experience. And I know we've talked about this because I think that customer journey is so critical because we have those customers, different profiles throughout the different life cycles. And like I said, you want that returning customer, you want that loyal customer to come back. And I think hair care is such an emotional buy. It is something you invest so much time into. I know if I look at my own research, I can spend hours reading to find that right products. And it's how do we do that and stay front of mind. And they're thinking about Color Wow. They have a global landscape. And, again, we talked about this earlier. The demographics are so different. Yeah. How do the Color Wow teams work together today? If you look at The US counterparts and The UK, EMEA, and the rest of world, how do you share learnings and insight and even adopt those different use cases for the consumers as well? Yeah. So we work really, really closely with our US team. We love to align on strategies, and, you know, I think we take learnings from each other. So there might be a meeting where one of us says, right, we're doing this for The US. And, actually, I go, do you know what? That's a really good idea for The UK. And I wouldn't have necessarily thought of it. Same goes for the other way around. There might be something that I've seen a UK brand do that, you know, they've never seen a US brand do, and they will kind of take that learning. What I love about Attentive is you're able to test and learn. I really like that. You don't have to commit to a strategy. If if you try something and it doesn't work for your audience, which is okay, then it's absolutely fine, and you can try something else. And, you know, it's all done with the support as well, of being able to know kind of how to look at those results. A question I always ask, Kat, is what is your favorite color palette? I love this question. I absolutely could not live without extra large, the volumizer. That plus a roller, a blow dry. I've got the bounciest hair. It's like a foam, but it's so thin and lightweight. It just makes your hair feel amazing. And then I have to give a shout out to Instawell, which are it's is our latest innovation, which is the dry shampoo and has just changed my life. Again, nothing feels like your filler product that gives you the effect of it. And that's what I love. And I know I've mentioned it to you many times. The dry shampoo is a winner within the attentive offers. Yeah. And then, of course, my personal favorite is the coconut cocktail. Again, it just brings that moisture back in, keeps me the perfect bounce as I go. It's amazing. And it it smells amazing. It smells amazing. I was just saying, smells unbelievable. And it's bringing that whole experience to life, and that's what I absolutely love about the brand and how it really, like you said, suits every single customer with all the different needs as well. Kat, of course, it is amazing to hear what a big advocate you were for really bringing SMS to life and especially within a brand that is so connected with their consumers. If we take a step back and that to us even starting to look forward, what does the strategy look like as we look at 2026 and beyond of where you want to take SMS? Yes. I think what's really important for us is to think about how we personalize our experience for customers. You know, like we said, it's not a one size fit all at all. It's it's people wanna hear different things. I think there's elements of that that can be looked at from the point of acquisition all the way through to retention. You know, we've just launched recently our new subscription program. We're really excited to see where that goes, and I wanna bring that into the fold with Attentive, for example. I wanna kind of get those customers in. I wanna use that data. We've got a quiz on our website, which has the most incredible levels of detail for customers to work out what products they need. And, you know, that just shows that people not only wanna find out what they want, but they wanna be spoken to in a way that for what they're looking for. So I wanna make sure that we're tapping into whatever data we're kind of receiving and and making sure that they're getting the real experience of feeling like we're talking to them. It's not a one size fit also. Personalization for us is so important. And definitely and I think this is where if we're starting to look at that quiz data and the learnings we're getting from the engagement from our customers, it's really data you can utilize as part of that personalization strategy because we're starting to get really an overview of what is important for our consumers. Is it that perfect balance? Is it for fine hair? And also, of course, driving that repeat purchases because one of the hardest things many brands we speak to today would say is, how do I get that customer to come back for a second, third, and fourth time? Because there's still a lot of noise in the market. The noise does not go away. It actually increases time and time again. And if you think of loyalty, of course, you've mentioned a little bit about the subscription plans and strategies you're building. Is there anything else you are focusing on when it comes to really driving that brand loyalty to our consumers? I think for us, obviously, a massive part of it is the products speak themselves. They are amazing products, and we do find that when, you know, we do get lifelong customers. But you're right. It there's so much noise going on in the market. There's so much to compete with. There's so almost like a communication overload for the customer. And and I think what you need to do is make sure that you are offering that customer something that they can't get somewhere else. So how are you are you giving them a VIP access to something? Are you kind of creating a community through your subscribers? And I think that that's how we're gonna get to kind of really nurture those customers and also for not just to keep them on the list, but we want them to feel like part of our community. It's really important to us. Our customer is so important, and I think that's probably one of the main points that I wanna I wanna focus on. And that's amazing because for us, that is very much what we live in brief to as well. It's really keeping that customer engaged and driving that long term value for them and for our brands as well. So if we take a step into the world of Attentive, of course, that you've adopted the platform very much to help build that strategy and evolve. What role does Attentive play today within that wider strategy you're building within ColorWell? So, obviously, when we kind of started with with Attentive, you know, we saw an opportunity to land in that customer's hand. As I said earlier, you know, more than ever, people are shopping on their mobile. I mean, I still, as a millennial, am pretty if it's a big purchase, I'm doing it on the laptop. But, generally, day to day, I'm shopping on my mobile. And I think that it really, really complements what we're sending with email. I also think, though, that, for example, sign up units. We use our sign up units to get that customer, and I think that it just goes hand in hand with how we're talking to people in email. We do have crossovers of our lists, and people wanna hear from both sides. They wanna hear the brand story. They wanna hear they wanna see visuals, but they also wanna be spoken to directly and probably more instantaneously. So I think that it it really complements it the channels really complement each other and that we've managed to create a real kind of hub hub for that communication. And looking at Attentive, of course, everyone has a favorite feature or favorite piece that they really enjoy using. That can be from sign up units to Journeys or even adopting some of the latest AI products. What are some of your favorite features or capabilities within Attentive? As a whole, I love how user friendly it is. Like, I it's it's so easy to use and navigate even if you're not kind of a native. But for me, the reporting is amazing. I absolutely love the fact that it tells me everything I need to know, but it tells me more. It tells me why. Absolutely love that. And I have to give a shout out to White Glove as well. I abs it has saved my day numerous times. I like the fact that I'm able to ask a question, and I get the advice. I get the help, but I'm also kind of shown for my own education, and I'm never made to feel like it was a stupid question Yeah. Even when I think it might be. Yeah. No. Definitely. And and that's the great thing. The platform is there because we want our users in it. If that is making a last minute campaign because you can have an SMS campaign standing up Yeah. Within a few minutes. But also having those team of experts on the other side of chat, on the other side of the phone to say, hey. Yeah. Let me show you. Let me enable and empower you, mister customer, to actually get stuck in because that is when we actually see some of the best campaigns come to life as well. Yeah. Totally. And our CSM team have are always there to give bet best practice if they don't think that, you know, something is that I think maybe you could do this a certain different way. Have you looked at it this way? Or have you tried this? Oh, that's a great idea. Let me help. It's just for end to end, a really, really seamless experience, from platform and also with with the teams that we work with. And I love, Cath, that you love data. I'm a data girl. So I'm in those dashboards day in and day out. And, of course, with that data comes a lot of insights from the consumer behavioral insights into performance data and also how customers are adopting maybe to a certain campaign or certain journeys in their performance. How are you using this data to help build your strategy and drive that ideal moments for our consumers as well? Yeah. I think, actually, something that Attentive does amazingly is be able to be so reactive, the test and learn approach. And I think we've been able to have a look at what we're doing, have a look at our custom behaviors, like you say, have a look at data, and really act on it. So, for example, we love to, in big sale moments, cyber, all kind of annual sales that we do, change our abandonment journey messaging. So, you know, people are dropping off. We would normally send our abandonment messages. How can we tailor that? So they're shopping during one of the biggest sale periods, cyber, for example. We need to tell them in our in the messages that they're missing out on on the sale. They might not be aware. They might have dropped off at a certain point where they weren't aware of the sale. You know, it's things like that. And, actually, that's had a really, really good impact, since doing that. I think that it's it's spoken to customers like, hey. Wait. We have something for you. And if they still don't wanna shop, then that's fine, but we're doing everything we can to retain. And it's that sort of understanding how customers are thinking as they're shopping on our site that Attentive has been amazing at being able to tell us and and grow with that. And if at any point it doesn't work, then we won't do it. But that's the beauty of being so reactive. And that's the the data's available there. Immediately, you can act on it. You can AB test it, and we can look at base to optimize as well. Always a favorite of me to ask is, do you have a favorite campaign that you've done with Color Wow that really stood out and drove those moments home? Oh, that is a great question. We've had so many good campaigns. Some of our best performing campaigns kind of come back to that point I was making about, you know, the VIP access giving someone I mean, the Instawire launch, we we gave our tech customers VIP access to that. And, you know, that did really, really well for us. And I think, again, you might think that, oh, email, that's why you'll do it. You'll send a picture of it. No. It's about giving the customer something that potentially they they wouldn't get somewhere else, and that's where it goes hand in hand and really sits in in alignment with our other channels. And that is exciting because just thinking of, again, being at the right place at the right time, I would love to learn more of how the team is utilizing AI within ColorWell today and how that sits into your future strategy as well. So I think with AI Pro, what's what's great about it is being able to look at your audiences and, you know, be able to make that incremental revenue based on, you know, people you might not have reached before. I really love the same time testing. I love any sort of testing. I love to see the difference in the data and kind of then pull those pull those findings from that data. And I really I've always kind of we send at a similar time, but I really liked testing. It gave me a completely new view on on kind of how and it different from campaign to campaign. So there might be a launch campaign that we did that worked better at a certain time versus a promotional campaign and that that hit in the inboxes at a different time, and that was much better. So I really enjoyed testing that out. I think also AI Grow has the opportunity to really, really grow and personalize our acquisition journey, which is what I mentioned earlier, you know, that personalization and not the one size fits all and and, again, tapping into what that customer is looking for and giving it to them. And that's how you're gonna get, you know, that's that's how you're gonna get the new valuable leads. So yeah. And I know we've talked about this before, Kat, again, capturing that customer upper funnel is so crucial. It's capturing the capturing our new subscribers, bringing them along for the journey. And with that, of course, you've built a really advanced welcome journey to really keep these customers engaged and warm them up to the brand and help them really consult them on that concern they want to solve for. Can you share a little bit more about how you've evolved some of these journeys and the impact you're seeing as well? Yeah. I think our welcome journey is really, really important to us. I think that that is in any method of communication, that is the first point that your customer is receiving some communication from you. That's what that's the first impression. And I think that, obviously, what comes next as part of the welcome series or further is really important. But that first week, they are the warmest they will ever be. They are they are chosen to hear from you, and it's about what you do in that moment to keep them. And I think not just to keep them for, you know, a box ticking exercise and to have a little bigger list, but, you know, you've you've let them down if they if you've not delivered what what they wanna hear. So I think that's really important to us. And and like I said, our customer is very important to us, and that moment is where we have to nurture the most, essentially. 100%. And I think that is critical. For us, it is not just about let's get customers in, but it's really about building that that long term loyalty that you've mentioned. And with that, of course, many techs, we've seen really great success with our journeys. Our overall CVR for our journeys has been significantly above industry benchmarks, which is amazing to see. And I think we just wanna keep that momentum going. And that's amazing because I think, again, coming back to your strategy, Katharine, you mentioned the importance of data, learning about our customer, and really keeping them engaged through that early part of the customer experience, but all the way through even after that first purchase. And to really achieve that, a lot of tech comes into play. There is many partners in your tech stack that really helps you drive this strategy forward. How does Attentive and this other tech really comes together to help drive that vision for Colorwell? I think that the support is amazing. So I think, you know, we've had support from day one. I think the attentive team are always there to kind of take us through anything new that's coming down. I think anything that we can be doing to better our business, any ways of being the best in class, I think, is always at front of mind. And it's the way that, you know, we're first in line. We wanna be testing that. There's always an opportunity to test and learn, as I said before, which we find really, really valuable, not just, you know, you need this. You've gotta have it. You you understand what's right for your business and being able to kind of add that alongside your other channels to kind of support your whole business. Also, with our integrated journey, you know, for our customer with our sign up units, it's a multichannel experience. They, you know, they enter their email. They enter their their phone number. And I think that that again puts it like what I was saying earlier about putting it all together and kind of everything working hand in hand and the customer receiving the best possible journey. And that's important because those multitouch points is needed. Like you said, on email, you can bring the experience to life, the education. And in SMS, we bring that urgency, that level of FOMO in really driving that real brand value home using multichannels at the same time. And I know we've talked about it thinking ahead, thinking of where we're going in 2026 and beyond. Kath, what is the strategy when it comes to CRM for ColorWell? I am really, really excited for, like I spoke about it earlier, our subscription program really focusing on that, you know, kind of keeping that customer attention at front of mind. Also, acquisitions, so, you know, trying new ways of customer acquisition, like testing and learning. I've spoken about that so much on this, but it really is important to us. I think that every day, we learn different things about our customer, and kind of how they wanna shop and also how they wanna be communicated to. I think I would love to really kind of have those as my two pillar points, the acquisition and retention. I think a lot of people have the same answer, but I want to make sure that whatever we're doing is really considered, really personalized. And that's the exciting thing. When I know when I spoke to the team and I've started to look at the strategies and the planning, it is bringing that personalization to life and driving that FOMO, but also that education Yeah. And staying front of mind Yeah. For our customers, bringing a lot of these new experiences to life as well. And then as we look at the attentive team, I know you've spoken about some of our white glove and our CS experiences as well. What do you enjoy the most of working with this team, Kat? I think it's the I think the flexibility, the reactivity, and also the genuine collaboration. There's been times when we feel like we all work for the same company, and I think that that is a lovely way to work with a platform because, you know, I have to give a shout out to Roanne who has been our CSM for well, since I've been here for the last four and a half years. And she is just amazing at delivering not only what we don't know. So she's the expert in the field, and it's really great to hear her best practices and and her advice. But, also, you know, whenever we're having challenges, she is there to help and not make me feel like I'm asking silly questions, which I know that I said before. I think that I have to I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to get through the days without Roar. And that's that's for us so key. Like, we see ourselves as an extension of our brands. We love our brands. We live our brands. And I think this is really allows us to bring those strategies to life and go so much faster Yeah. As well because you have all these experts and all the experience coming from all over in different industries, really bringing it to life, Kat, going back to Color Wow. I know there's not a specific audience we're looking for, but we're trying to solve that real problem that they are experiencing today with their hair. Who is that ideal Color Wow girl that you're targeting and really driving them into getting the first Color Wow product. I think what it all comes down to is if you have a hair concern, we can solve it. I think thinking about customer behaviors, obviously, is a separate point. You know, how people are shopping, the more data driven points. I think for us as a brand, our real ethos and our view of our customer is how can we help you? You know, the the brand was started from our founder having hair concerns. You know, it's all about solving that problem, and I think it's less of, you know, who specifically is the person. The person is anyone who's got a hair concern. And I think then the next step is how do we talk to those people? So I've said the word one size fits all about 300 times in this in this session, but it really is true. It's not no one has all their your hair concerns wouldn't be the same as mine. We were talking earlier about how you love our Speed Dry product because your hair takes forever to to blow dry. For me, my hair takes five minutes, but I love it because then Speed Dry makes it two minutes. So I think there's something for everyone. I need the volume in my hair. I don't wanna be dramatic, but it does change people's lives, the products. And I think that that comes from a place of where our innovation is so considered, and I think we don't create solutions for problems unless we can really, really solve them. And I think that that comes out in our products, and we wanna talk to our customers like that as well. Yeah. And I absolutely love that because it is putting the customer at the heart of it and really solving for it because hair care is such a big part of our everyday. It drives confidence. It is part of us. Yeah. I know if I have a good hair day, you feel a million dollars. You feel empowered. You feel strong and ready to go. And I love how the brand really empowers people Yeah. As well through this journey and helping to solve that problem. Kat, thank you so much for joining us today. I absolutely loved learning more about the ColorWell brand, the ColorWell consumer, and really how you're driving this CRM strategy forward. And I am excited to see where we go in the next year and years to come. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It's been amazing to talk to you. I'm obsessed that you're obsessed with Color Wow and really excited for for our partnership. Kat, what is something only a CRM manager will understand? Last minute copy changes? What is the funniest response you've had to a color wow campaign? I love the shopping lists, but it also encourages me reminds me to do mine. So, actually, I'm I'm not mad about it. My favorite is someone to send a breakup text. Oh, I've got one of those before. I've got one of those before, which is heartbreaking to read. Kat, who would be your dream celebrity collab? I mean, this is a personal one because I'm obsessed with her, but Miley Cyrus, I am just obsessed with her. So there's no other words to say about it. I just love her. I love her hair. I love her vibe. I just love her.