Most entrepreneurs start out with an idea of what they want to create and see in the world and then build their products around it, but L’AMARUE flipped the script. Starting with an amazing product that uses proprietary cell-communicating science, the team built the brand and what they wanted people to attach themselves to second.
L’AMARUE stands out in the skincare space with an elevated brand experience, including a VIP membership subscription program coupled with a loyalty rewards program. In the past 60 days, L’AMARUE is seeing a 180% increase in active subscriptions, 170% increase in subscription revenue, and average order value up 30% with Smartrr!
Founded by mother and daughter duo, Nicole and Ande, in December of 2019, L’AMARUE began out of pure curiosity. Noticing that a supplement targeted at hormonal health was significantly improving their skin, Nicole opened a capsule and threw together her own skincare formula. After discovering the Heart to Heart Complex®, the miraculous natural compound diindolylmethane 3’3 (DIM), and seeing unbelievable results in just a short time, they shared it with friends and family who encouraged Nicole and Ande to patent it – which they started in a Starbucks.
Noticing that many players in the cosmetics industry didn’t have any strong differentiators besides their packaging, the two set out to create a brand that speaks to people on an entirely different level than the norm. Wanting to create a brand built around their superstar, straightforward formula, Nicole and Ande strayed away from the typical “rejuvenating” and “revitalizing” messaging, and instead, focused on what makes them feel good about themselves. Inspired by French pharmacy beauty brands with a straightforward, science-based approach that also evokes feelings and emotions that consumers attach to, the two knew that their brand would be all about loving yourself and feeling confident in your skin. Combining the French words for love and road, l’amour and rue, the journey to self-love was born: called L’AMARUE.
Launching in the market without knowing who their core customer would be, the team did a lot of testing during the first 6 to 12 months. L’AMARUE now has more than 50 different skin conditions it pairs well with, from daily hydrating and anti-aging all the way down to pre-cancerous lesions, radiation burns during chemotherapy, and psoriasis.
“We love our brand, we love the product, and we love what it does for our people. A lot of it is our personal aesthetics and feelings – this brand truly is us. Most of what we do is from what our customers have mentioned to us.”
– Ande Sozzi, L’AMARUE Co-Founder
With a product so personal, it’s no surprise that L’AMARUE found itself with an abundance of loyal customers who see it as something they can’t live without. Not only that, but these brand champions chat with the L’AMARUE team often and share their love with others, even unintentionally turning an ad into a massive skincare forum!
This miracle ad inspired L’AMARUE’s “Skin Chat,” a text line they started about 2 years ago which has turned into the most popular way for customers to come to them with questions. In an effort to create genuine, deep relationships with their customers, Skin Chat is aimed at making customers feel like they’re your friend, sitting in front of your vanity, trying samples and figuring it out together. In addition, the team encourages 2-way conversational engagement in very creative ways, like a Valentine’s Day SMS campaign where they asked people to send what they love most about themselves to be entered in a giveaway.
Because of this “obsession product,” customers were requesting a subscription program to match their needs. Kicking off their subscriptions with Recharge, L’AMARUE migrated to Smartrr to level up their customer experience, loyalty, and retention strategies with enhanced LTV touchpoints.
“We’re really focused on the customer experience and we spend a lot of time talking with our customers, so there’s a true relationship with them. Recharge just wasn’t meeting our standards in terms of customer experience, making subscriptions simple, and matching the L’AMARUE brand. It just wasn't what we were looking for anymore and Smartrr came at the perfect time, offering a greater ease of use and convenience for the customers.”
– Ande Sozzi, L’AMARUE Co-Founder
With Smartrr, L’AMARUE is seeing impressive subscription growth! In the last 60 days, active subscriptions are up by 180%, subscription revenue by 170%, and AOV by 30%! The L’AMARUE team applauds Smartrr’s Advanced Analytics for allowing them to dive deeper into their customers’ order frequencies, which has sped-up dramatically since migrating. They also love the ability to see what their best subscription products are. Specifically, their bundles as-is do really well, but especially on a subscription basis.
“Looking at customer frequency has allowed us to really dig into our customers’ behavior. We were not expecting our frequency to be quite so fast. Our frequency numbers since we moved to Smartrr has shortened dramatically, which is really important when looking at cash conversion cycles.”
– Ande Sozzi, L’AMARUE Co-Founder
With these obsessive customers, some even ordering over 35 times, L’AMARUE looked for unique ways to reward them. Starting their loyalty program on Yotpo, L’AMARUE realized that it was not the right tool anymore as they learned more about their customers. Since the rewards process was separate from the buying process, customers were frequently confused with having to switch between sections on the website. Seeing it as too cumbersome to use with such a small team and looking to reward customers on a lifelong basis, L’AMARUE switched to Smartrr’s loyalty rewards program, built directly into the customer account portal.
“We really asked ourselves, ‘How do we reward our customers, not only in terms of just “here’s a reward,” but more so continually on a lifelong basis? How do we make it more feasible for them to easily just buy this forever, gift it to friends, and how do we make it all work together? On an ongoing basis, how do we make it easier for them to get their products?’ You guys make that simple. A lot of it frankly is UI. That’s your guys’ thing and it really does show off and it truly does matter for the overall customer experience”
– Ande Sozzi, L’AMARUE Co-Founder
“With Smartrr, the setup is so easy for loyalty rewards. I spent 10 or 15 minutes on it and then it was done. And the UI is beautiful and matches the rest of the website, so customers aren’t seeing anything different than they normally would. It’s clearly laid out so customers know exactly what they do to earn points, and then can seamlessly redeem their rewards. Overall, it’s much less complicated than the other rewards options out there.”
– Ande Sozzi, L’AMARUE Co-Founder
To further elevate their brand experience L’AMARUE stocked their tech stack with the best, including our friends at Octane, Rebuy, Alloy, Klaviyo, Postscript, Gorgias, and Junip.
Given the success of their Skin Chat line, the brand is doing a lot of SMS and email marketing to communicate their loyalty program and push subscriptions with exclusive discounts. To show customers how simple their loyalty program is, the team frequently includes screenshots and clear copy on how after X orders, customers will receive X gift. They simply just log in and add the product to their upcoming order. Ande praises Smartrr’s UI for being clean and clearly laid out on the website, making it super easy to communicate with customers since it looks exactly like the brand experience they’re used to, solidifying this trust.
The L’AMARUE team is most proud of the launch of their balm this past year! Having the same 3 core products since they launched the brand, they were really excited to introduce a highly requested product to their customers.
In 2023, the L’AMARUE team is excited to launch new products, in addition to focusing more on their subscription program. L’AMARUE also plans to launch an app with Tapcart to further build a community around their loyal customers and provide more resources for them!
