Luxury brands face a unique set of challenges when it comes to marketing. When a brand is asking a customer to invest in a high-end item, they need to ensure that they’re communicating the value of their products at every touchpoint. And for small luxury brands with limited resources and budget, delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time can be a challenge.
Luxury home goods brand Karen Jai Home was part of the first class of Yotpo Grow — our accelerator program for Black-owned eCommerce brands. (Update: Yotpo Grow is now Yotpo RX!) Prior to joining the program, the brand focused on email marketing, social media, and press to grow their brand. Through their participation in the program, they have now expanded their marketing channels to include reviews, loyalty, and SMS.
“I think the program is awesome,” said Janelle Langford, founder of Karen Jai Home. “I think it provides a lot of value in the heavy lifting. As a business owner, we don’t always have the opportunity, or the bandwidth, to get some of these things done.”
Find out how Karen Jai Home was able to connect and engage with more shoppers and elevate the brand by utilizing Yotpo’s products and expertise.
SMS and the value of simplicity
When Karen Jai began SMS marketing, her Yotpo SMS Manager had a surprising suggestion — zeroing in on just one product for SMS promotions, and to only choose a product that had no variations in size, color, or other attributes.
“The simplicity of it really helps the customer focus and consider more easily than having five options to consider. It allowed us to take away discounts and just focus on product.”
The result? It immediately started converting. The brand is currently running around three campaigns each month and seeing 62x ROI.
Customer reviews and knowing what works (and doesn’t work) for your brand
While the brand knew that UGC was important and they definitely wanted to take advantage of Yotpo Reviews, they weren’t too keen on having visual content in customer reviews, like photos and video. As a luxury brand with a strong aesthetic, they worried that seeing their product in an environment that didn’t match the look and feel of the brand might impact them negatively.
“I think as a client of Yotpo, you really have to know your brand, because there’s things you want to take advantage of, but you have to ask yourself, does this make sense for my brand?”
Karen Jai Home ultimately decided against visual content in customer reviews, but for their standard reviews, they have seen a nearly 30% engagement rate.
Loyalty and luxury = better together
When Karen Jai Home initially joined Yotpo Grow, the brand didn’t intend to roll out a loyalty program. Many luxury brands are hesitant to explore loyalty, worried that it will encourage customers only to shop when discounts are available. The brand worked with the team at Yotpo to create a visually stunning program that was on-brand and elevated the customer experience.
“When you have a partner like Yotpo, the benefit is you can be incredibly thoughtful about how you want these products to work for your brand instead of just using a template,” said Janelle. “The loyalty program rewards people for investing in themselves and investing in their spaces, which is just such an intimate part of them.”
For a luxury brand like Karen Jai Home, incorporating third-party eCommerce solutions into your store while maintaining your brand identity can be a challenge. But through their involvement with Yotpo Grow, they have been able to implement thoughtful, sophisticated solutions that have helped elevate the brand, expand their marketing channels, connect with their target audience, and grow their AOV.
Are you a Black-owned brand looking to grow your business? Apply now for the 2022 class of Yotpo Grow.
