The beauty industry has always set unrealistic standards, especially for women. But in recent times, the health and beauty industry has started leaning in to utilizing customer testimonials and reviews.
Advertisements are an undeniable part of the shared human experience. Beauty advertisements date back to ancient civilizations, while testimonial advertising is a fairly recent development. Earlier, beauty advertisements depicted famous models or actors, and set unattainable standards for the common man or woman. All that started changing when customer testimonials were incorporated into mainstream advertisements.
The Beauty Industry’s Shift Towards Everyday Beauty
For the longest time, the beauty industry encouraged the pursuit of perfection. Beauty brands that advocated for perfection in one’s looks have in recent years started steering the conversation towards body-positive mindsets and overall well-being.
Glow Recipe, a Korean-American skincare brand has promised to avoid words associated with perfection, like flawless, poreless, ageless, anti-wrinkle, anti-aging and perfect, across all brand touchpoints. Similarly, in March 2021, Unilever said that it will eliminate the word “normal” from its beauty brands and personal wellness products.
From showcasing celebrities who seemed to look flawless, brands have started normalizing differences and acknowledge that people have different body types, textures, and needs. The first major shift was in using models of different ethnicities in beauty advertisements as the beauty industry woke up to its market potential. Studies pointed out that millennials and Gen Z-ers were not okay with stigma and wanted beauty brands to act responsibly.
According to research from Mintel, in 2021, almost one in five (17%) US consumers feel left out of beauty advertisements, rising to a quarter (25%) of Gen Z consumers. While it is easy to ignore a few radical voices, it is much harder to ignore pointed research findings. The beauty industry knew that they needed to change. And fast. Enter customer testimonials-based advertising.
“Brands have to convince you that you need them, or you won’t buy their product. That has been the case for years,” Taryn Myers, a psychology professor at Virginia Wesleyan University told Vogue. However, she remains skeptical about brands’ intentions. “In general, society is moving towards body acceptance and that’s coming over into skin and complexion acceptance as well. But a cynical part of me recognizes that this is also to sell products, and now that this is on trend, people will advocate for this.”
A Case for Testimonial Advertisements
Money is the single biggest driver of all advertising campaigns. As the beauty industry made adjustments to be inclusive in its product lines, the next step was to make people feel like they are part of the ongoing change mechanism. Mintel found that when it comes to beauty/grooming advertisements, 86% of their intended users look for realistic signs of aging. Add to it, 79% who look for people of all genders/identities.
This factor is difficult to incorporate when you hire professional actors, who often take help of surgeries and Botox treatments to maintain their youthful looks – a luxury unaffordable to the average working professional. A tall order that cannot be filled if you hire a mega star for beauty advertisements. Customers wanted someone relatable and average-looking.
Social Fresh discovered that customer testimonials have the highest effectiveness rating for content marketing at 89%. The sentiment was echoed in Webdam’s study which also found that 89% of marketers say that customer testimonials and case studies are the most effective content forms for influencing purchases. Points Group noted that 92% of consumers read online reviews and testimonials when considering a purchase.
How Customer Testimonials Helped Beauty Brands
Unable to ignore research and the changing landscape, the beauty industry soon latched on to customer testimonials as a way to market their product. Testimonials are effective tools in convincing customers that the people marketing them are regular people and seem more trustworthy. Testimonial advertisements have now become part of mainstream beauty advertisements, with companies even hiring lesser-known models to act like consumers and advocate their products. But the results are there for everyone to see.
One of the first brands to use customer testimonial advertising, in a bid to shift perceptions of beauty was Dove. The Unilever brand also launched multiple campaigns to advocate for True Beauty, involving everyone from children to older women in marketing their products. Global sales for Dove went from $1 billion to $7.3 billion and counting.
Testimonial advertising through video, print, and social media have been found to be much more engaging than any other form. It also indirectly invites users to share their experiences and attracts new customers.
