All of this UGC helps cement purchase decisions as they scroll through – discover products from other ranges – and learn how to use the product they're viewing.

Check how Tree Hit leverages their social media UGC at the bottom of their homepage:

Real customers, real results: Beauty sales soar with user-generated content

Quick Tip: UGC is a go-to conversion tool – use it to create product videos – like a “how to use {product name} for {pain point}.”

4. Shorten product discovery

Beauty shoppers window-shop a lot – that means: they have done their research.

Honestly, all you need to do is lead them to the right pages.

Here's how Lush does it with need-based categories in their navigation:

Faster product browsing boosts beauty sales

Other than that, you should also consider the following to shorten product discovery on your eCommerce beauty store:

✅ Keep a section on your homepage to help resume browsing activity – like “you had your eyes on these 👀”

✅ Incorporate the latest deals or best-performing products in your hero banners – update them by seasons

Quick Tip: Add icon-sized thumbnails of the best-selling products to extend the visual appeal – which will make shoppers want to click through.

**5. Create visual product descriptions**

A good product description justifies your pricing – and reduces product page drop-offs.

This is why, every eCommerce beauty store’s product descriptions should:

✅ Describe things as they are:

People don’t get it when you say “muted” or “saturated”
Explain the why – like “goes for {skin tone}”
Show the ingredients (50% of shoppers look for this)

✅ Show ‘how to use it’ – consider adding these:

Include a video tutorial from UGC
Photo-based tutorial using tabbed content
An easily short, crisp, and concise description:

Clear beauty product instructions for confident purchases

✅ Have an understandable tagline like

"The perfume of desire"
“Try living for every mood – a {product} to match every mood”
"It feels light on your skin"
"A spicy floral that tells everyone you mean business"
“Tone up for the meeting”

✅ Highlight who the product is intended for, saying something like

“Best for heavy sweaters”
“For ages over 40”
“Crafted for winters”
“Tested for allergies”
Also, show everything as visually as you can—aim for easy comprehension:

Eye-catching graphics describe beauty products for the perfect match

✅ Include info about the packaging:

The durability or ease of use
How to use/recycle the packaging
Highlight the “social cred”
Describe what the packaging contains

Details & ingredients tabs: Know what's in your beauty products

Pro Tip: Practicing inclusivity goes a long way – consider first-time buyers who are transitioning – remember this while writing your “how-to” (or, a badge to show support).

6. Back your claims with solid proof

Made a claim? Prove it to them as visually as possible.

Here’s how Living Proof shows it, with a before and after on their homepage:

Before & after results on homepage: See beauty products in work (Living Proof)

Other than your homepage, you should display proof on key pages such as your category, product, and about us pages with:

✅ Data and statistics from customer surveys – ensure you provide your sources along with reviews:

✅ Ingredient information – explain how those live up to your manufacturing claims and statements:

Transparent ingredient & packaging info for conscious beauty shoppers

✅ Show your positive and critical reviews in equal measures – note the average rating with “most liked positive review” and “most liked negative review”:

7. Have them try it

Virtual try-ons may seem like an expensive affair—however, an interactive virtual try-on like the one below helps create a better value proposition:

Virtual try-on technology: Confident beauty purchases every time

All you need are:

in-page navigation based on a range of use cases / pain points
show relevant product recommendations for the above use cases or pain points (skin tone in this case)

Quick Tip: Pair some form of UGC with the recommendations—this will help show your recommendations are on point.

8. Offer help 🙂

Long purchase spans – confusing shades – and concerns about quality – are all concerns beauty shoppers share.

Showing active support helps you catch drop-offs in real-time:

✅ Send a nudge through an in-website push – trigger this on inactivity:

✅ Keep some FAQs along with an option for live chat – check how Bio True does this with a virtual chatbot:

AI beauty assistant for faster purchases & sales growth

✅ Provide updates about shipping delays – remember to update over SMS and emails as well:

Clear shipping updates reduce beauty customers/orders churn

Quick Tip: Consider offering customers ‘book a 1:1 video consultation’ on your chatbot/live chat – this helps move the sales along quickly – here’s one way to show it:

Expert beauty advice via chat/SMS for informed purchases

9. Partner with experts

Selling beauty products online has a singular challenge: trust.

The way out? It comes from the people themselves—tl;dr: your expert reviewers (and the buzz they build) gets the job done.

Thus, if you want to get talked about and build a buzz, consider:

✅ Getting a feature in forums – specifically niche-based forums or platforms or marketplaces like Templatia or Allure

✅ Invest in Reddit – act as a user – and ask questions about your own brand on popular subreddits:

Leverage Reddit reviews to inform beauty purchases

✅ Notify subscribers about upcoming live streams – pick topics on common pain points like Act + Acre does:

Live beauty expert streams announced via email

**10. Use your TikTok**

eCommerce beauty founders – this one’s for you!

No one else knows more about your brand than you – what better way to showcase your expertise than your own TikTok?

TikTok brings not only engagement but also:

→ generates brand awareness

→ helps you provide support

→ build social proof (and sales, ofc)

@jacattack runs her own beauty store – she uses her personal TikTok to open up a 1:1 channel and talk about her choices:

Leverage TikTok for engaging beauty content & sales

Need inspiration for your TikTok marketing?

We recommend reading: TikTok eCommerce: 40 Brilliant Ideas (With Examples) For 2024

11. Set clear delivery expectations

Hey, we’ve all been there – a last-minute Christmas gift – or worried about the condition of the parcel during summers.

Which is why, you should always provide clear information about when your products will deliver:

Clear delivery timelines boosts beauty cart additions

Quick Tip: Upsell faster shipping during hotter months or before holidays like Easter, Father's Day, etc.

You'd also like to read: How To Offer Free Shipping And Recover Costs

12. Create a threshold for free shipping/gift

Or make it tiered with a progress bar, as Duradry does on their cart page:

Beauty cart deals from Duradry: Save more, spend more

The offering is simple:

✅ Add products up to $X and get free shipping

✅ Then, you add products up to $X and you qualify for a free gift of $X Value (and so on)

Doing this helps you bump up your AOV and translate into sales with more revenue.

Quick Tip: Limit the recommendations, show only products with a 30% price difference (or show bundles).

Also Read: eCommerce Tiered Discount: 10 Awesome Examples You'd Want To Copy

13. Make gifting easy

When we visualize the beauty shopper, we often think of a person shopping for themselves.

However, beauty products are among the most gifted products – it only makes sense to cater to them as well.

Here's what you can consider for shoppers looking for beauty products as gifts:

✅ Upsell a VFM gift card (because the perfect gift is the gift of choice) – consider an offering such as this that acts as a magnificent bundle:

Great value beauty gift cards boost sales

✅ Display popular gift categories on your navigation – for example ‘popular among X ages’:

Streamlined navigation simplifies beauty gifting

Quick Tip: Consider creating gift guide type posts/blogs before key holiday periods – repurpose through partner creators, YouTube, or relevant channels (for max reach). Make sure each post/guide leads directly your gift category pages.

You may want to read: 21 Last-Minute Mother's Day Marketing Ideas For eCommerce Stores

14. Talk about your brand - tell them your story

Beauty brands often go too deep into proving the science behind their products 🧪.

But, what good does it do to a customer who hasn't heard that much about your brand?

The way out? Include a line about ‘you’ as a brand – here's what you need to do:

✅ Include a short section on your product pages about your backstory – what pain point do you solve (or a cause you support)

✅ Show visuals about your manufacturing processes/locations – like “sustainably made” or “made in the US”, or ‘as seen in’:

✅ Use a dynamic notification bar to show a quick statement about your brand – like your tagline (or reviews)

15. Show how easy it is to checkout

Surprise costs are #1 when it comes to cart abandonment.

Which is why you should add nudges like this one to incentivize the checkout:

Promise of transparent checkout for a smooth beauty shopping experience

Some other tips to improve the add-to-cart rate for your beauty store:

✅ Auto-apply any discount (if applicable) at checkout – like your welcome offer

✅ Show BNPL payment options – and maintain clean visual UX like Clinique does:

Flexible beauty payment options for smoother sales

16. Minimize checkout distractions

Once you get your beauty shoppers to the checkout page, it's critical that they don't leave midway.

Here's how Drunk Elephant does it with a one-page checkout:

Fast one-page checkout for faster beauty purchases

Remember, your checkout page should have:

✅ An option to edit the order

✅ Autofilled form fields

✅ Multiple payment options

✅ Show trust badges and support options

✅ Reminder about policies

Quick Tip: Ensure there are little to no upsells – if needed, offer smart value upgrades like faster/safer shipping or product insurance.

Keep reading: eCommerce Checkout UX: 13 Tips To Boost Conversions (+ Templates)

17. Upsell popular routines (with a little goodie)

Sure, personalization is one way to go, but putting forward a proven routine is a sure way to get your beauty store to sell more (and increase CLV):

Expert beauty routine suggestions for higher sales

Here’s why this works:

✅ Shows that the combination works – and there’s proof to back it up

✅ Invokes the reciprocity principle – with the promise of a free gift

✅ Opens up the brand to open a feedback loop (if the purchase goes through) – which can help create repeat customers

18. Help them compare products

Beauty products have a longer purchase span – one that involves significant to-and fro’ – a comparison chart cuts that process short.

What you should keep in mind: Remind, reassure, and rekindle—that is all a beauty shopper needs.

It should feel like they have arrived at their own decision – but, that doesn’t mean you can't try upselling (subtly).

Easy product comparison drives beauty sales

Here’s how you can compare products for your beauty eCommerce store to increase sales:

✅ Use the decoy effect effectively (showing higher/better options). Simply compare the outcomes/use cases. Use visual cues like “bestsellers” or “as seen in” badges on product images.

✅ Don’t compare more than four products at a time. To avoid choice paralysis, duh!

✅ Compare your own products in similar categories – this helps add weight to your recommendations (and discover products that they would’ve otherwise googled)

We Recommend Reading: 11 Secrets behind Amazon’s high-converting product comparison charts

19. Tease members' benefits

That means lower pricing – lower waiting periods – lower delivery times (and a lot more).

You can show it in these ways:

✅ As comparative pricing on the homepage, category, and product pages – here’s how Beauty Pie does it:

Membership perks: Compare beauty prices & save

✅ Displaying it within your notification bar – here’s how Danessa Myricks Beauty does it:

Sticky bar highlights membership benefits for beauty shoppers

✅ As microcopy below your CTA – as a subtle nudge:

20. Give them an unbeatable deal

Like ‘take x items and get it for FLAT $X off’!

Check out how Youth to the People does this with a ‘Build your Own Bundle’:

YTTP: Build your own beauty bundle: Customize & increase sales

What's even cooler: this bundle can act as a:

✅ Full blown wishlist and lead magnet – add a timed nudge on inactivity or exit intent – say “save these to wishlist & we’ll keep em’ aside just for you”

✅ A routine to recommend – set them up with a consultation – to personalize the bundle to their needs – you can follow up on emails/a medium of consent

✅ Help achieve replenishment naturally – once they purchase, you can give the option to upgrade the bundle to a subscription – do this in your post-purchase review emails

21. Create an ‘intelli’ search

This is an area that most eCommerce beauty stores overlook – your search functionality is THE product discovery machine:

Smart beauty product search based on popular trends

When beauty shoppers arrive at your store, they need cues – which means you should:

✅ Show suggested popular searches – show this as help text – or as drop-down search results

✅ Remember last searches – or recommend on last purchases

✅ Show product thumbnails – and ensure product titles don’t overflow beyond the search box

✅ Highlight the search bar on mobile – if needed, make it sticky:

Easy mobile beauty product search for faster product discovery

We recommend reading: eCommerce visual search: 9 smart optimization tips (+ 4 tools to use)

22. Improve your SERP listings

Search results are critical in the awareness and consideration stages of the customer journey – however, in 2024, it applies to the conversion stage as well.

Let’s take a look at this listing as an example – there’s a coupon on the listing and a price of $5.39:

Optimize Google listings for higher beauty store visibility

However, on clicking through the price is $7.99 – this can immediately lead to drop-offs.

Even more so, the “OWN40” code doesn’t reflect in the first fold – which isn’t all that ideal:

However, it does apply on the checkout page – only if a user remembers to do so – which is why it’s critical you auto-apply discounts:

Key Takeaways:

✅ Enable "Business type" in GMC to show-case your business type – like “small-business” or “women-owned” – here’s more information

✅ Make sure coupon codes and prices sync on your listings and product pages – here’s how you can add coupon codes to your Google Merchant Center listings

✅ Enable checkout on the search results itself – here’s how you can enable checkout on Google Merchant Center

✅ Use the right schemas – for example, product schema, aggregate rating schema, etc.

✅ Upload product review feeds correctly – here’s Google's official take on product reviews on Google Merchant Center

✅ Ensure product descriptions incorporate the following:

Product size, material, shape, and pattern (include these in the product title as well)
Intended age range
Special features
Technical specifications

23. Use YouTube smartly

What already works: Getting reviewed by YouTubers opens up your brand and products to the test – and creates a buzz:

Beauty products with YouTuber approval drive sales

The buzz gets your products moving – but, there’s more you can do on YouTube.

The bigger news: There’s now a YouTube Affiliate program – which means you can now have YouTubers as affiliates – selling your products directly on YouTube videos/shorts:

YouTube affiliate partnerships: Build trust & boost beauty sales

The only catch is that YouTube is slowly onboarding sellers – here’s a link to the YouTube Affiliate seller signup form.

However, if you already have a Google Merchant account and meet the partner program guidelines, you can create a YouTube Shopping Feed.

The benefit here is that you can partner with eligible creators or connect your own store to showcase your products in YouTube videos/shorts.

Keep Reading: Getting started with YouTube Shopping

24. Cross-sell - with some advice

Recommended beauty products for a complete routine

You can send these through emails to existing subscribers and customers – or on your website:

✅ Cleaning advice

Send brush cleaning methods and product recommendations (or similar advice + products) to customers who’ve already made purchases

✅ Storage advice

Show how to store makeup etc. – show related products – show this to customers with a cart of more than two products (this will prompt an impulse buy)

✅ Pairing advice

Think “Goes perfect with” sections – consider matching by skin tone – use your UGC here effectively – make sure you display a diverse range of customers

25. Use replenishment nudges

Subscriptions work for beauty stores – as long as you frame them right:

Key Takeaways:

✅ Remind that makeup has an expiration date – talk about setting up a frequency for a subscription (with free samples)

✅ Reinforce popularity with microcopy – stand by for support

✅ Show the cancellation policy – along with the refund/return policy

Hey, you'll love reading: Writing Replenishment Emails That Convert

26. Take back expired products

No one knows what to do with expired or empty bottles – having a recycling program like Beautycycle adds to the brand value:

Sustainable beauty shopping with take-back program from Nordstrom

However, you can go a lot further with a recycling program if you combine it with your loyalty program:

✅ Consider adding points for every recycling made

Create a tier to incentivize replenishment – consider throwing in a free gift or redeemable coupon on a $X sale
Reaffirm that they’re giving back to the environment – reducing plastic waste (beauty industry waste stats)

You may want to read: Inclusive Marketing: 22 eCommerce brands that do it right

27. Open up a ‘special’ offer zone

If personalization is key, custom offers are the gateway to getting more sales:

Find Clarins beauty deals & promotions easily

Key takeaways:

✅ Bring attention to your deals – show them dynamically in your notification bar and your navigation

✅ Highlight the offers on your product pages as well – along with a line about future rewards:

Clear offer reminders drive beauty sales (Clarins)

✅ Remind once more on checkout with a ready-to-copy code – and get the purchase confirmed:

Streamlined beauty checkout for faster sales (Clarins)

Pro Tip: If you offer too good a deal like 3 samplers on a $21 order, customers won’t even mind the shipping cost – alternatively you can down-sell a smaller package/sampler bundle.

28. Real pictures please 🙂

Most beauty eCommerce stores tend to go overboard with product photos.

Make sure your customers see people they can relate with – which is why it's helpful to have relatable and unedited photos such as this one:

Realistic beauty product photos for informed purchases

Other than that, here’s what you should consider adding to your product display:

✅ Photos of product labels and packaging – displaying certificates and key ingredients

✅ Diversity in models (in terms of ethnicity, shape, and gender) – if needed, use customer photos from your product reviews

✅ Show diversity in your size or measurement charts – that means body shapes, ages, and skin tones

✅ Be careful of ageism – don't be afraid to use your own images if needed:

Inclusive beauty photos for a wider customer base

29. Optimize for mobile

Unless you are selling luxury beauty products, your store’s mostly going to be viewed on mobile.

This is why it's important to consider your mobile UX – particularly product discovery – check how Bambu Earth displays its categories:

Easy mobile browsing for beauty purchases

What's even more important is that you should have:

✅ A sticky header – make sure it displays not more than 3 items at a time

✅ Mobile payment options – think Venmo, Apple Pay, etc – this is to ensure that users can check out in one click:

Clear call-to-actions with mobile friendly payment options

✅ Intelligent color psychology & design hierarchy – note how the above example leads the eyes to the subscription option – by simply matching the colors on the CTA and the ‘free-shipping’ microcopy

✅ Easy ways to filter reviews – offer a search bar within reviews as well to improve your mobile UX:

Easy search & reviews for mobile beauty shopping

30. Make it Theirs

This is extremely doable if you are a DTC brand or have control of the manufacturing process.

What's even more cooler: you can even get away with longer delivery periods or charge more.

Guerlain lets a customer customize the perfume bottle (a great example of co-creation) – that too for free:

Personalized recommendations for increased beauty sales

However, you can take this up a notch by bringing in the right amount of exclusivity:

✅ 1:1 co-creation sessions to fully customize the product/routine

✅ Create a count-down period to show that the personalization will cost them – unless they get it within a certain timeframe

Quick Tip: Ensure to add in your custom returns policy for personalized products – most eCommerce brands don’t accept returns for personalized products.

31. Don't fake exclusivity

Beauty shoppers can see right through urgency triggers like these – note the “only 16 left in stock”:

Avoid fake urgency for better beauty sales

This is why we recommend personalization to create exclusivity—or, going through your sales data to create a claim such as this one:

Back up limited-time offers with data for effective beauty salesBack up hype with data for effective beauty sales

32. Use your emails to close the sales

People love shopping on eCommerce beauty stores for the deals—and they will wait for it—only if you ask them to:

Email marketing: A key to beauty store sales success shows Reddit

Thus, your emails are the place to not only close sales but also get them started; take a look at this welcome email:

Welcome email with beauty discount for happy shoppers

Here are some more ideas on what you can do with emails for your beauty store to improve sales:

✅ Ask them to complete their wishlist – which is also a way of handling browse abandonment

✅ Create a secret sale – like a back-in-stock sale – or a flash sale

✅ Send early access to high spenders – remind them about loyalty points and more

Want more inspiration for your beauty eCommerce email marketing?

Read: Beauty Brand Email Marketing: 30 Great Examples (+ Templates)

33. Retarget like a champ

Last, but not least, your retargeting efforts must continue – check how Credo Beauty sends a humorous cart abandonment retargeting ad:

Facebook retargeting reminds beauty shoppers of abandoned carts (Credo Beauty)

Other than that, you can also use your SMS channels to send subscribers notifications about product launches, or exclusive offers that they may be missing out on:

VIP SMS reminders for forgotten beauty purchases

Need more inspiration?

Read: Brilliant eCommerce Retargeting (and Remarketing) Examples

Don’t Leave Your UX Hanging

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Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors.

And this is the problem Convertcart solves.

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Let us help: Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions. And we won’t charge for this one.

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33 Brilliant Ways To Improve Online Beauty Store Sales

33 Amazing Ways To Improve Your Beauty Online Store Sales

1. Welcome them – ask for their preference

2. Make sure your first fold is amazing

3. User-generated content is gold 🙂