Sephora’s rewards program is a successful loyalty program from the beauty brand – Sephora. Many activities of Sephora’s Beauty Insider increase brand awareness and make profits for the business. It is famous for its point-based system, which is free to join as an insider and rewards for all membership levels. The members can choose to redeem points to earn Sephora gifts, discounts, and limited edition items. They encourage engagement and repeat shopping, especially for beauty enthusiasts.

Through this case study, we can learn about the discounts given to customers and also dig into a specific loyalty program for online stores. From improving their reputation to communicating with members are valuable and need to be attractive.f

The Evolution of the Sephora Rewards Program

Early Beginnings of Sephora Beauty Insider

Sephora is one of the most popular beauty brands and cosmetics retailers in the world. The Sephora’s rewards program was created 20 years ago, a crucial factor that makes Sephora a top-class e-commerce website. Now, let’s check out what Sephora’s rewards program is like!

• The Beauty Insider was founded in 2007 with the intention of giving its devoted clients a feeling of being special. The system at that time was sometimes updated to maintain and provide a better customer experience with benefits – as rewards.
• Sephora is popular at ranking different customer levels depending on the money they spend on shopping with Sephora in-store and online platforms. After applying for the Insider tier for 2 years, a higher tier called Very Important Beauty Insider (VIB), for whom they had spent $350, was added. In the Rouge tier, members spending $1000/year will have the sweetest treatment Sephora gives its loyal consumers. Rouge members can access new products’ limited editions and be invited to special events. 
• Sephora introduced The Beauty Insider Rewards Bazaar and The Beauty Insider Community in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The Beauty Insider Community focuses on relationships with consumers. This community helps Sephora and its consumers become closer, as best friends understand each other. Sephora can learn more about the likes and dislikes of consumers so that Sephora gives strong incentives to engage.
• With the 2020 update, users could benefit from improved online and in-store offers. An example offer is Beauty Insider Cash. This cash converts the points through each transaction into a discount on their purchases.

Adaptations and Innovations

Changes made over time

Sephora originated in France, and now it is growing worldwide quickly. It makes many high-end beauty goods available to consumers by offering both this own and those from other luxury brands. Sephora is considered to be one of the best specialist beauty retailer centers in the cosmetics industry.

How Sephora kept up with industry trends

Moreover, Beauty Insider is an innovative loyalty program with many creative strategies. It increases revenue and is an example of how to treat customers perfectly. Listening to customers is the prioritized goal of Sephora Beauty Insider. It includes focusing on what the client says, empathizing with their feelings, learning from customers, and making changes. This is how Sephora always follows industry trends, focusing on customer’s individuality.

How Does the Sephora Rewards Program Work?

Explanation of earning and redeeming rules

Impossible not to mention that the best thing when registering to be a Sephora Insider is earning free samples, coupons, and offers both online and in direct stores. In addition, the earning Beauty Insider points rule is simple and easy to understand, even if this is the first time you make a purchase.

How to earn Sephora points?

“All members earn 1 point per $1 spent” is the earning rule and describes how points can rack up. For every U.S. or Canadian dollar you spend on Sephora merchandise online, in retail stores or on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook Checkout, Instagram Checkout, and YouTube Shopping).

To confirm, an email simultaneously records your points and informs you of the offers for bonus points at Sephora events. Members must note that separate terms and conditions accompany the e-mail. So, as a member, you shouldn’t miss them!

How to redeem all those Sephora points to get rewards?

Sephora suggests gifts in exchange for specific ranges from 50 points to 100,000 points – as Sephora provided through the Beauty Insider Rewards Bazaars website. For each membership level, there are different advantages among the options. Please check the Sephora FAQs website for more details about Sephora Rewards.

Another attractive point in Sephora’s rewards program is that Beauty Insider members can exchange one Sephora birthday gift yearly during their birthday month. As recommended, Sephora birthday gift options are different for each membership status. At any level, Sephora seems to look forward to being “something have to be” on a member’s special month (as Sephora Newsroom has reported).

In addition to the Sephora beauty gifts offered, higher-tier members can add 250 extra Sephora points to their Beauty Insider account.

Unique features that contribute to success

Sephora Vice President of Loyalty, Allegra Stanley answered when interviewing with Forbes in 2020: “The wants and needs of our clients continue to change”. They have more opportunities to learn what clients think and love through The Beauty Insider Community. Beauty lovers join together, ask questions, and get “real recommendations” from “real people” who have “real experiences and feelings” to share. The Beauty Insider Community website always shows the number of members, the number of posts, and the online members in real-time to remind them that their beauty community is always by their side.

It never stops changing and developing its customer experiences with all age ranges. In trying to understand what the clients feel, Sephora launched vouchers and racking points-up programs. Returning in 2023, in-person and online members can join to make these events inclusive and widely accessible to international beauty communities.

Moreover, Sephora keeps the excitement by adding a gamified experience to attract the GenZ customer segment. Its appeal to GenZ is worthwhile since Sephora’s main target market, people born between 1997 and 2012, makes up 20.3% of the U.S. population. Since they are quite young and in really high need of using beauty items. Plus, they are dynamic and tech-savvy enough to get interested in joining the challenges and activities.

Why Sephora Rewards Program is a Success?

They are good at customer engagement and satisfaction

As the former vice president shared, they do not consider loyalty programs to be promotional campaigns. Instead, they know what they should send to their customers is true value in products and excitement with Sephora’s program. This leads to its final goal: build trust and rapport with customers and encourage repeat purchases.

While building brand-customer relationships, provided value is the key. Once consumers think the brand brings lower value than others, the connection might be broken easily. Hence, to increase the customer’s lifetime, Sephora makes customers satisfied and engaged with the brand by emphasizing customer feelings.

Actions like free registration to be a member to get sale-off deals and free-shipping vouchers encourage customer retention. Offering Sephora a birthday gift with no purchase necessary to receive is a practical way to increase satisfaction.

Beauty Insider’s impact on customer retention and brand loyalty

As Statista (“How loyal are the customers of Sephora?” part) reported in 2022, in the US, around 17% of consumers who shop online owners for health and beauty products want to return to Sephora. When compared to the brand’s 21% usage share, this indicates Sephora maintains 81% of customer retention.

On the one hand, some studies said that instead of reaching new customers, planning strategies to keep existing clients save money from 5 to 20 times. Additionally, it boosts sales from 13% – 51% to increase the revenue. According to Adweek magazine, for 17 million Sephora’s existing members in 2020, the company’s sales increased by 80%. So, the more business invests in loyalty programs, the more benefits both the brand and the customer will receive.

On the other hand, with the mindset of emotionally driven loyalty, understanding customers’ feelings directly affects repeat purchase volume. Reliable business like Sephora serves quality products, also the attractive customer program is the factor that Sephora has many loyal customers. The relationship between them is very strong, which many businesses wish to have.

How to Scale Your E-commerce Business Like Sephora

Build a Community Around Your Brand

Importance of community in e-commerce

Following the case of Sephora, the Community works even more effectively! The Beauty Insider Community is a hit of this brand and the beauty industry. It creates a social platform where everyone can share their opinions about the products. And those who join this community platform can see these sharings and comments on many items and products. 

Even though negative sharing or too personal comments can impact the brand and that product to an extent. But will that future happen when your business provides quality, unique products and services to customers? 

If you are confident that your product brings value to customers, do not disregard the power of the crowd, especially for online stores. The crowd will make a boom of positive reviews. They are all about your business and the products you serve if they find valuable to them.

Strategies to foster a sense of belonging

Sephora promotes itself traditional neighborhood shopping area with a varied mix of retailers. In order to connect with customers who may not go to the malls, they can buy beauty products in their hoods. The feeling of belonging to the brand is Sephora’s target, so it puts effort on customer programs to attract consumers and build up that kind of feeling.

This strategy is effective when you follow up with Sephora Beauty Insider. Make your business and customer a best friend; share and experience everything together. Through the success of the Beauty Insider Community forum, widening the circle of friends is a great tactic. Not only to pull your community much closer but also to spread the good things out. Trust is naturally built as well.

Make The Reward Experience Exclusive

Creating a sense of exclusivity

Sephora remembers its friends’ birthdays to make it a really special day that they will celebrate together. Sephora birthday gifts are generous, especially for free for new clients. As we can see, these Sephora birthday gifts made others feel special, and the way Sephora actively reaches new customers made them happy to receive gifts.

Your business should focus on which gifts you send out on your customers’ birthdays, as you are also happy and sharing happiness by giving gifts. However, the gifts must not be too expensive or show that you are just chasing your competitors. The gift shows you want to make friends with consumers and you must build that relationship much stronger later.

Benefits of exclusivity for both the brand and customers

The advantages of the brand-consumer relationship are valid and worthy to both sides. As for the brand side, you will get more data about customers’ habits, love to buy, and general purchasing behavior after making a new friend. Make sure your business follows personal privacy rules while using this information. Since they are really sensitive. For e-commerce stores, they should recommend or “pop up” similar products when customers are online. Secondly, the existing customer’s purchasing ability is the main factor affecting your shop’s revenue; the more taking care of your old customers, the more willing they will choose you again.

From a consumer point of view, customer programs or loyalty programs should be beneficial to you. Such as helping you save your money by reducing the additional fees. Or to make you a very important person by giving presents. Or indirectly contribute to the environment by taking a percentage of your spending to charities for donations. As a customer, your business mindset is the same as yours, and you know what you guys are doing; just follow your heart!

Build your VIP Tier Program

Let’s take an in-depth look into the VIP program in Sephora’s rewards program to find out what are the reasons Sephora chose it as a customer retention program.

Tiered Approach customer program assigns rates, depending on different benefits statuses, with Sephora to receive presents. These ranks are based on customer spending or engagement. The higher the rank, the more gifts and discounts Sephora gives its members.

How tiers can enhance customer engagement

Sephora builds a Tired program that benefits both sides; as a business term is a win-win situation. As Sephora Beauty Insider rewards, by setting different member levels, each stage gives unique advantages. Motivating customers’ purchasing ability will be more beneficial than the lower ones. Because of this motivation, those tiers seem to enhance customer engagement with the brand.

Final Thoughts about Sephora’s Rewards Program

To sum up, after decoding how the Sephora Beauty Insider is successful, it must be said that Sephora is the best example of a customer retention program. By collecting Sephora reward points rule is simple to redeem incentives and rewards that customers love as a pie of cake.

The highlight points are:

• Sephora birthday gifts – provide impressive options.
• The Beauty Insider Community – provides a platform and forum for beauty lovers to share their feelings.
• Exclusive customer program – provides customers with a unique experience with the Tiered program

Finally, Sephora applies both the Tiered loyalty program and a society of beauty lovers in the Sephora case when they combine. Don’t you want to expand long-term growth, go a long path with the customers, and choose your business to buy a lifetime spend product? Install this BON Loyalty and scale up your business.