BRAND AWARENESS & CONSUMER FEEDBACK ON PRODUCTS OR SERVICESFeaturing: Tatcha

Improving Sales and Marketing with Consumer InsightsUsing SurveyMonkey Audience, a luxury skincare company was able to get feedback from their ideal customers and develop an informed marketing strategy.

IntroductionIn a marketplace saturated with content, how can compa-nies ensure marketing e!orts are making an impact on their target demographic? While traditional advertisements like print campaigns and television commercials fight to remain relevant, consumers are increasingly relying on their personal networks to help guide their purchasing decisions.

From perusing fashions on Pinterest, to following brands on Facebook, buyers are taking control of how, when, and where they engage with companies. Thus, capturing the attention of consumers has become increasingly di"cult, making the need to conduct regular and thorough research a necessity for businesses.

In the case of Tatcha, a luxury beauty brand inspired by ancient geisha skincare traditions, the company had already

identified its quintessential customer—a woman committed to purchasing the very best in skin care products. Carried in luxury retailer Barneys, sold online, and featured in magazines including Vogue, Elle, and Vanity Fair, Tatcha had begun to establish its reputation as a retailer of high-end beauty products.

Eager to intensify their marketing e!orts, the team at Tatcha, first needed to learn more about their ideal customer; namely the factors that influence the beauty purchasing decisions of a#uent women and the marketing channels most relevant to them. Armed with the questions they knew they needed answering, Tatcha turned to SurveyMonkey Audience to gain access to their target demographic.

Key Insights Ultimately, Tatcha wanted to understand the process of how consumers review the various skin care products presented to them, the factors that influence their decision-making process and finally the goods they intend to actually buy.

After working with the SurveyMonkey Audience team to craft a survey and sending it out to high income-earning women, Tatcha gained tremendous insights about the ways their target demographic consumes beauty-related media and content and were able to identify the single most important influencer when purchasing a skincare product.

Insights

MEDIA CONSUMPTION HABITS

Not surprisingly, Tatcha’s potential customers spend a great deal of time online. Yet, they still love reading print magazines, partic-ularly when consuming beauty content.

Despite shrinking budgets and decreased print circulation, womens’ fashion magazines still remain an important beauty product and skin care marketing channel.

Almost a third of Tatcha’s target customer base reads magazines like InStyle, Vogue, and O, to learn more about the latest in skincare and makeup products.

Many are also reading other magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Good Housekeeping, as evidenced by the word cloud created using SurveyMonkey’s text analysis tool.

PURCHASING HABITS

When it’s actually time to buy makeup or skincare products, trying out products by testing samples has more influence than any other factor on consumers’ purchasing decisions.

Additionally, respondents reported that seeing a product in a store and receiving a recommendation from a friend were both important parts of the decision-making process.

For more than 80% of respondents, trying out a skincare or makeup product before buying is at least moderately important. While people buy all kinds of items online, from big-ticket electronic goods to vacation packages, they are unlikely to purchase a skincare or makeup product for the first time online, with only 15% respon-dents reporting they were willing to do so.

Project Overview Great surveys begin with clearly defined objectives. Goal-based projects ensure that survey questions will produce data that can drive straightforward results and simple analysis. Tatcha started their project by identifying several key goals prior to writing their survey.

GOALS:

Learn more about how a!uent women consume media

3 How do they consume news-related content? 3 How do they consume lifestyle content? 3 Which publications or outlets do they read and watch?

Understand more about how a!uent women purchase beauty products

3 What retailers do women use to make their purchases? 3 What influences their purchase decisions? 3 What is important when buying a skincare or makeup products?

Creating the SurveyUsing SurveyMonkey Audience’s Jumpstart program to help build their survey, the Tatcha team was able to collect data that achieved all of their project’s objectives. The team provided its key goals and several important survey questions they wanted answered, which the SurveyMonkey

Audience team was able to draft into a survey and make ready for review. After a round of edits, SurveyMonkey uploaded the survey into the Tatcha account and launched the project.

Finding an AudienceFor this project, Tatcha wanted feedback from potential customers: women who are educated, care about taking care of themselves and their skin, and have money to spend

After reviewing SurveyMonkey Audience’s targeting criteria, Tatcha selected an audience of college-educated women, ages 30 and above, who own smartphones, with household incomes over $90K.

Respondent SnapshotThe group of respondents came from across the United States, and from a variety of di!erent industries and company sizes.

An infographic of basic demographic details about the project’s respondents was automat-ically provided to Tatcha in downloadable PDF format.

Putting Results Into ActionTatcha confirmed their hypothesis that their ideal customers are women who consume content from a variety of sources. However, what surprised them was that these women are still turning to print magazines for beauty product ideas. The company has received a great number of press mentions from many fashion magazines and based on the survey’s results, they have decided to focus their PR e!orts on print outlets. This continues to be an e!ective way to drive awareness to the Tatcha brand and their skincare products.

They also learned that women still rely on traditional brick and mortar establishments when purchasing beauty products. They prefer to visit stores, try on products, and purchase makeup and skincare goods at retailers like Bloomingdale’s and Sephora. While online distribution channels are great

for repeat purchases, particularly when women just simply need to replace products they ran out of, Tatcha plans to focus on distributing samples and marketing their products at physical stores. Including three free samples with every online order—as they currently o!er—will be a practice they intend on continuing.

Armed with the insights gained from their SurveyMonkey Audience project, the Tatcha team was able to use action-able data when developing their marketing strategy. With a greater understanding of their customers’ behaviors, Tatcha is now able to better serve their existing clientele and develop a well-researched and thoughtful plan for expanding their growing business.

Learn MoreFor more information on how to run your own project with SurveyMonkey Audience, visit our website today: http://audience.surveymonkey.com.