Glossy Recognizes Zoovu with “Best Ecommerce Experience – Beauty” Award

Zoovu digital consultation assistant designed for personal care brand Clairol leverages AI and machine learning to cut down on product choice overload

NEW YORK – July 18, 2019 – Zoovu, the world’s ultimate AI-driven conversational marketing platform, today announced that it has been recognized by Glossy with the “Best Ecommerce Experience – Beauty” award for its partnership with Clairol, part of the Coty Inc. family, to bring human-level, personalized hair consultation to the brand’s digital channels. The Glossy Awards honor leading organizations transforming the fashion and beauty industries, with companies including Aerie, Rent the Runway and Stitchfix previously winning.

The health and beauty industry offers an abundance of product options and variations, and while this is valuable for empowering consumers with choice, it can also lead to an overwhelming shopper experience in such a personal space. Recent research found that 70% of beauty shoppers are overwhelmed by the number of products available, while Zoovu also discovered that 54% have stopped making purchases because “choosing” was too difficult. With a catalog including more than 1,000 combinations of hair color, conditioner and activator products, Clairol wanted to remove the complexity and choice overload that often plagues the digital shopping experience by helping consumers easily find the perfect items for their specific hair coloring needs.

With this, Clairol turned to Zoovu to deploy a tailored-made digital assistant on its website. Combining machine learning, AI and behavioral analytics, with the knowledge of Clairol’s hair color experts, Zoovu and Clairol are able to better provide highly personalized consultations and a customized hair color kit recommendation for every consumer. Ultimately, this resembles the same, intimate, 1:1 experience found in salons and in-store.

“We are incredibly proud of the partnership between Clairol and Zoovu and remain steadfast in our commitment to creating the ultimate consumer experience, building upon our award-winning work,” said Cynthia Elmastian, senior marketing manager, Coty, Inc.

Factoring in millions of data points stemming from explicit answers, product details, sales information and behavioral data from the Clairol/Zoovu “consultation quiz,” Zoovu’s machine learning algorithm builds a hair profile for Clairol consumers and recommends products, along with personalized user instructions and a before/after comparison. Of note, after launching the solution, Clairol saw over 90% of consumers who start the consultation quiz complete it, with 42% of these users then clicking on the product’s detail page after receiving a recommendation.

“Choice overload and the desire for unique, catered experiences are increasingly coming into play in today’s shopping landscape, and digital technologies that provide context, personalization and transparency are must-haves for competitive brands,” added Rob Mullen, CEO, Zoovu. “Working with Clairol, we were able to develop a tailored solution that enables their consumers to navigate a vast product set in order to help guide them to their ideal choice as quickly and low-touch as possible. We’re thrilled with the recognition from Glossy and look forward to partnering with additional brands to bring similar human-level engagement to the shopping journey.”

To view the full list of Glossy Award attendees and learn more about Zoovu’s work with Clairol, visit here.