How SHAKEUP COSMETICS INCREASED ITS AOV BY 27%
Platform
WAREHOUSE
Results
27%
Increase in average order volume
Shakeup Cosmetics is an innovative beauty brand on a mission to redefine men’s skincare and cosmetics.
Founded by brothers Jake and Elliot Xu, Shakeup is committed to creating vegan, cruelty-free products designed for men’s skin.
By building their brand with their customers in mind, Shakeup is creating a loyal community and fostering long-term customer relationships.
Challenge
Before partnering with Penny Black, Shakeup Cosmetics had a clear vision: to build lasting loyalty through emotional connections with their customers.
As pioneers in an emerging beauty category, they understood that a powerful and relatable brand narrative was essential for fostering a strong emotional connection with their audience.
Another goal for the team was to drive more repeat purchases, attracting customers back online to discover new products, join the mailing list, and interact with the community. By doing this, they could maximise their shoppers’ lifetime value (LTV).
Solution
To create a long-term loyal following, Shakeup Cosmetics embraced a new marketing channel: personalised inserts powered by Penny Black.
This strategy transformed its packaging into a powerful communication channel, fostering emotional connections, driving repeat purchases, and ultimately, securing sustainable growth immediately from the unboxing moment.
To drive customer loyalty with Penny Black, they:
- Integrated Penny Black with their Shopify store to pull in customer data and build specific customer segments
- A/B tested messaging and discounts, experimented with QR code placement, and launched timely campaigns around new product launches and seasonal events
- Launched targeted campaigns with tailored messaging for different customer groups, motivating every shopper to take loyalty-building actions right from the unboxing moment.
Here’s how Shakeup personalise their messaging for different customer segments:
- Welcoming newcomers: First-time customers receive a personalised discount code on their insert to motivate a second purchase and QR codes leading to instructional videos to help them get the most out of their products
- Rekindling engagement: Returning, happy customers are gently nudged to subscribe and save
- Rewarding loyalty: Loyal customers were sent exclusive content, invitations to join the brand community, and opportunities to refer friends
- Converting new customers: Gift recipients received personalised notes and enticing discount codes inside their orders to incentivise repeat purchases
Results
- An uplift in AOV, with customers who engage with the inserts now spending 27% more per transaction than customers who don’t
- A consistent user experience, even after checkout
increase your aov with trackable inserts
strategy deep-dive
Educating and incentivising first-time customers
To introduce new customers to Shakeup Cosmetics, educate them about the product, and encourage a second purchase, Shakeup launched a welcome campaign with Penny Black.
Each personalised insert featured user-generated content (UGC) from the existing “Shakers” community, showcasing real customers using and loving the products. The inserts also share a personalised message from the founders, addressing the customer by their first name, acknowledging their first order, and highlighting the brand’s B Corp certification. A QR code leads them to a helpful video tutorial. And finally, they included an exclusive 10% discount code to incentivise a second purchase.
This Penny Black campaign resulted in an 8% scan rate and a 0.98% conversion rate – that’s 1.7x higher than the average post-purchase email. This illustrates the importance of motivating repeat purchases early in the customer journey to make a second purchase and how that can be achieved immediately from the unboxing moment.
Turning repeat purchasers into loyal advocates
Shakeup Cosmetics developed a targeted campaign with Penny Black to encourage repeat purchasers to connect more deeply with the brand.
The personalised inserts for this segment featured messages encouraging customers to stay connected with the brand via email and social media. Shakeup emphasised the 20% savings available through product subscriptions (increasing LTV) and provided a discount on the next order to spur additional purchases – encouraging customers to try different product SKUs. Finally, customers were encouraged to leave reviews in exchange for entry into a competition, helping the Shakeup team to build their social proof.
Driving acquisition through seasonal campaigns
Shakeup Cosmetics have also used their Penny Black inserts to capitalise on seasonal peaks. They’ve created personalised insert campaigns to turn non-gift givers into brand advocates and gift recipients into repeat customers.
The inserts included “Give the gift of good skin” messaging, motivating non-gift givers to consider Shakeup products as gifts for loved ones. Unique referral codes were also included, offering 10% off the first order for referred shoppers – another great reason for customers to share the brand.
For the gift recipient’s insert, they offer 10% off when they make their first order, encouraging them to purchase themselves and build loyalty with the brand.
This campaign demonstrates how effortlessly brands can adjust their inserts to release seasonal and timely content, which can be printed in their warehouses within minutes.
