The Natural Health and Beauty industry is booming and projected to grow to $54.5 billion by 2027. Industry experts believe its growth is fuelled by an increasing number of people becoming more conscious of harmful chemicals in products, the benefits of natural ingredients and the merits of ethical consumerism. With the exponential growth seen in the eCommerce industry, more of these brands are now opting to sell online rather than in brick and mortar stores. Never has there been a better time to own a natural beauty eCommerce business and to kickstart it with a savvy marketing strategy! With nearly 3 billion users, Facebook advertising is the perfect way for your brand to get in front of your ideal customer. However, the world of Facebook advertising can be treacherous to navigate on your own, so here are some proven tips to help make your campaigns a success!

1. Know Your Audience Inside Out

Before you start advertising on Facebook, it’s really important that you have a detailed understanding of who your target audience is. Spend some time fleshing out your customer avatar. Think about what problems your product solves for your audience. When people buy a product, they are actually buying a solution to their problem rather than the physical product itself. Research your audience’s language and the terminology they use. If you use language that resonates with your ideal customer and explains to them why your product solves their problem, your ads have a much higher chance of success. Having an in-depth knowledge of your audience will also give you a massive advantage when you setup your ads and you have to decide what demographics, behaviours and interests you are going to target. Think about what other brands your audience would like, relevant figures in your industry or even publications they would read. You can also use Facebook’s Audience Insights tool to research this and come up with a broad selection of targeting options.

2. Use Creatives That Give Customers the Pre-Purchase Experience

People like to be really confident that a product meets their needs before they make a purchase. This is particularly the case in the beauty world where promises of miracle transformations are rife and consumers want to be sure a product can deliver. Facebook also wants people to have a good idea of what they are buying before purchasing. This helps to protect the user experience, creates transparency and differentiates the genuine businesses from the unscrupulous ones. We have found in our agency that videos showing customers “unboxing” their products are outperforming all other types of adverts. These user-generated videos give prospects the full experience before they buy, enabling them to get an idea of granular detail such as how a product feels, tastes or even the texture of the packaging. This is incredibly powerful as it gives customers an in-depth insight into your products and potential customers love to engage with it. The more engaging the content is, the more Facebook rewards you by showing these adverts to a larger segment of people. This is a double win and will help your campaign performance skyrocket and result in a surge in sales.

3. Retargeting Will Be Your Best Friend

It’s commonly known that most people won’t buy a product on their first interaction with a brand. Consumers are sceptical of companies they don’t know and it takes them a bit of time to warm up to you and decide to buy. This is why retargeting is so powerful and everyone advertising on Facebook should be using it. The idea is to keep showing ads to people who have engaged with your brand in some way and therefore have a higher buying intent. This usually includes people who have visited your website, viewed your product pages or added a product to their carts. Use incentives like discount codes, free gifts and vouchers to entice them back and make that purchase!

4. Exchange Value for Email Addresses

It’s also a great idea to build a list with potential customers email addresses, so you can diversify your marketing channel strategy. The best way to do this is to run a Facebook campaign that captures email addresses. Once you have the list you can continue to establish and nurture relationships with your potential customers. But to convince these prospects to hand over their email addresses, there needs to be a value exchange and you need to offer them something they perceive as valuable in return. Here are some great ways to do this that have proven to work well in the natural beauty industry:

• A free downloadable resource – This could be an e-book, a product guide with tips or a video with interesting information related to the product etc.
• Free gifts – If you’re a skincare company you could offer a sample of the product or a makeup company could send a limited edition make-up brush. Gifts are also a great way to create brand awareness because potential customers now have a product with your logo on it, so you stick in their mind!
• Exclusive Access – Offer them the chance to get VIP access to new products that are released. This works best for companies who have a bit more existing brand awareness.

5. Nurture Existing Customer Relationships

Very often brands put all their efforts into acquiring new customers and forget to nurture their existing ones. This is a big mistake as it is far easier to sell to the same customer twice than it is to acquire two new customers. This is especially true for the natural beauty industry because customers repeat buy products more often and so their lifetime value is much higher. Try setting up a Facebook campaign that targets your existing purchasers, offering them loyalty discounts and exclusive benefits. If you haven’t already acquired customers through Facebook, you can upload your customer list and create a custom audience from it. You’ll find these campaigns convert really well because existing purchasers already know your brand and like your products. It takes far less to convince them to buy and so your advert costs will be lower and your conversions will be considerably higher!