How Because Intelligence wants to use automation to tame the wilds of eCommerce

As DTC has become essential in the beauty sector most steps along the purchasing journey have been streamlined, but automation could help focus websites more on conversion from product page to purchase.

CEO of Because Intelligence Ashland Stansbury told CosmeticsDesign that most of the innovation in eCommerce over the past 10 years has been around the checkout process. 

“One of the most forgotten parts of the buying journey on the website is actually the product page,”​ Stansbury said. “The product page and the messaging that site visitors see has never been automated before because it is a very time-consuming process. There's typically anywhere from hundreds to thousands of SKUs to manage on a per store basis.”​

Making product messaging work for the consumer

The main target for Because is the messaging consumers see on product pages. Stansbury said the company can create targeted messaging for issues the brand is focused on, like new products or positive reviews, or function issues for consumers like shipping times and discounts.

With their automation models, Stansbury said they can personalize the messaging to the level where a consumer in the US and one in Canada would get different information on shipping times based on their geolocation.

Fancii, a beauty mirror and accessories company, has partnered with Because to create more personalized product page experiences for consumers.

“As we're growing our audience base, we realized that we needed to be able to provide on-site, on-brand messaging that spoke to our customers to help reduce any purchasing friction,”​ said Regina White, assistant relationship manager at Fancii.

Across 10 product page campaigns, White said the brand had seen an overall 15% conversion increase and a 2% add-to-cart increase. On specific campaigns, they’ve seen as much as a 48% conversion increase.

White also said they are seeing significantly fewer returns on magnifying mirrors, for which Because helped them develop a campaign to help consumers find the ideal product for their needs.

Designing to meet modern consumer expectations

Stansbury said the pandemic pushed brands to engage more in DTC and many chose to become digital-first or digital-only. That means brands have to evolve to meet the demands of modern consumers.

Outside of Because’s work, changes like improved check-out, mobile responsiveness and communicating with consumers outside of a website, like social media, text messaging and email are essential in DTC.

The modern consumer also comes to a DTC shopping experience with a lot of questions, like shipping timelines, shipping costs and how to get free shipping, inventory, discounts and promotions, among other issues.

Stansbury said that meeting those demands is how Because builds its campaigns for brands.

“In an initial trial we set up a bunch of campaigns based on all those questions that consumers are asking to be proactive on messaging the answers in the product page,”​ Stansbury said.

She said automation is also working to streamline the social shopping experience and create integration between social and website shopping.

Because Intelligence currently works on the Shopify platform, but Stansbury said they are looking to expand into more major eCommerce platforms.