PWA Technology Meets Prestige Skincare

AN EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZED FOR MOBILE

The mobile conversion gap (high mobile traffic with low mobile conversions) remains a predicament for many commerce brands and Elemis is no exception. According to Google, industry averages suggest that 62% of all ecommerce traffic comes from mobile but it accounts for only 23% of conversions. That’s a 39% gap. Which is serious revenue left on the table.

Elemis’ data shows an even greater split between devices. Around 80% of their sessions originate from a mobile or tablet device, so it was crucial that Corra’s designers and strategists took a mobile-first approach to design and strategy. Meaning, we designed the experience first for mobile user behavior, perfected the designs with the client, and later translated these designs to the desktop screen. This ensured that we were prioritizing converting the majority of Elemis’ traffic, which takes place on smartphones and tablets.

Corra built two sites for Elemis: the US site (us.elemis.com) and the UK site with an EU storefront (uk.elemis.com and eu.elemis.com). We integrated an extension to allow each store to list product pricing in their respective currencies.

THE BEFORE AND AFTER TRANSFORMATION

For a skincare brand, specifically one that produces clinically proven results like Elemis, being able to showcase before and after transformations is a must. To do this, Corra pushed the CMS tool to its limits to create a template that Elemis can use to communicate the effectiveness of their products, now and in the future. The shopper can drag the arrows to reveal a view of the skin prior to and after using Elemis skincare.

The experience provides an interactive way for consumers to see first hand what kind of results they can expect from using Elemis products. It’s a powerful way to influence conversions and retention. Especially since Corra data suggests that, for 38% of women, quality is the top consideration for being loyal to a specific beauty brand.

Another feature we leveraged from the proprietary component library was the advanced store locator. The rich experience allows shoppers to not only find the closest locations that sell Elemis products, but outlines a suggested route and step-by-step directions for travelling there by transit, car, foot, or bicycle.

OrderGroove Subscription, Customer Retention, and Revenue Growth

Though there is so much new and hyped technology in ecommerce, there are certain reliable gold standards that are always worth investing in. Chief among those standards is customer acquisition and retention. Acquiring customers, and then retaining those customers, is the best way to grow a business.

It is proven that giving a customer a positive experience is the foolproof way to maintain their business. Corra recommended Elemis implement OrderGroove's subscription service so that users can schedule delivery of the products they rely on to look their best.

Implementing the OrderGroove extension entails integrating the subscription functionality with the CMS and PIM so that customers can ensure the product they're ordering is in stock and available. By giving customers the ability to receive the products they depend on every month without having to repeatedly order them, Elemis creates a loyal relationship with their customers that keeps them coming back again and again for years.

This type of stability and consistency is key to retaining customers and growing a business.

STORYTELLING THROUGHOUT THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Elemis' beliefs are routed in Skin Wellness, Proven Results, Feel-Good Skincare, and Transparent Innovation – these are reinforced throughout the customer journey. Shoppers are able to learn about the background and ingredients of any chosen skincare formula and review clinical trial results on the PDPs.

Because education was key, step-by-step directions and video content communicate how to use any given product and the benefits and unique characteristics of each skincare formulation. The consumer can easily build out their regimen and shop additional products within the same collection (or by similar benefit) with shoppable product recommendations below.

Customers are invited to contribute their own product stories by leaving a review. Ratings and reviews powered by Bazaarvoice are featured at the bottom of the page. Reviews are important to Elemis’ business as a beauty brand in an industry where social proof is often crucial to driving purchasing. Consumers want to hear from real people about their experience with the product before buying.

EASE & EFFICIENCY FOR BRAND LOYALISTS

Through the new PWA experience, Elemis is able to better serve the many brand loyalists that periodically visit the site to restock on their favorite skincare products. These shoppers are now able to quickly save the site on their home screen and enjoy a fast, app-like experience.

The biggest change compared to Elemis’ previous PLP is that visitors no longer need to scroll through multiple options of the same products to find the right size they’re interested in. Corra set up product types so that the size variations (simple products) are associated with the main configurable product. Through this approach, the Elemis team doesn’t have to duplicate content and can focus on writing strong descriptions for core product pages only. In turn, these pages will benefit from better SEO rankings.

Additionally, the product tiles on the PLP make it quick and easy for recurring customers to choose a size and add it straight to their bag without having to visit the PDP. To make the experience more intuitive, the images change dynamically to give a visual representation of the size the customer has selected, and the multi-select filter can be toggled on and off to leave more breadth to the product list.

A MODERN MINI CART

Elemis customers can now enjoy a unique enhancement, a mini cart that slides out with the ability to add free samples or input a promotional code before checkout. (Samples change dynamically based on what the customer has in their cart.) For example, a guest buying ‘Superfood Glow Priming Moisturiser,’ a knowledgeable retail associate might suggest complementary items at the register like Superfood Vital Veggie Mask, Facial Cleanser, and Night Cream.

Another new feature automatically adds a gift to the mini cart with the right coupon—without leaving the checkout process to claim it. Users simply enter their code and choose a free item while still in the mini cart. Incentives like these, such as free samples, a potential discount, or a gift, lead shoppers further into the checkout flow. Corra leveraged the Amasty extension on the backend to facilitate this logic and built a custom frontend experience from scratch for Elemis.

ENTERPRISE GRADE SECURITY

In addition to a blazing fast PWA storefront, Elemis also needed an enterprise-grade security deployed on a React frontend with Magento Cloud backend. Corra recommended that Elemis deploy Webscale's CloudEDGE Security. CloudEDGE is a uniquely flexible solution as it can be deployed at the edge, alongside any CDN or WAF, in any cloud and on top of any ecommerce platform. It leverages automation and analytics, to proactively identify and protect web applications uses automation and analytics to proactively identify and protect web applications from SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS), server side request forgery (SSRF) and other sophisticated attacks.