Jane Iredale Cosmetics Sees 122% Higher Session Duration, 85% Lift in Conversion, with Perfect Corp. VTO

Situation: Providing a Shade Finder Virtual Try-on Experience

Iredale Cosmetics is a clean makeup brand that embraces the holistic approach to beauty developed by founder Jane Iredale. The innovative, cutting-edge powder foundation that launched her eponymous cosmetics line, Jane Iredale, more than 30 years ago was the first to offer healthy skincare benefits in addition to beautiful coverage.

Today, the Jane Iredale brand has grown into a comprehensive collection of clean makeup and skincare products that nourish the complexion inside and out while enhancing its natural beauty. From its headquarters in the beautiful Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts, Jane Iredale makeup and skincare is offered in more than 50 countries through fine spas and salons, destination resorts, apothecaries, medical offices and luxury retail.

As the company prepared to launch its new Jane Iredale Skintuition SPF 30 Radiance-Boosting Liquid Foundation, it wanted to provide a shade finder virtual try-on experience to help its customers find the best foundation shade for their skin. 

Solution: Perfect Corp.’s Industry-Leading AR Virtual Foundation Shade Finder

Iredale Cosmetics chose Perfect Corp.’s industry-leading AR Virtual Foundation Shade Finder technology. Perfect Corp.’s technology, harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) to enable consumers to find the perfect foundation shade to meet their needs, no matter the occasion. Perfect Corp. is the leader in providing AI/AR solutions for the beauty industry. 

The decision was an easy one, as Iredale Cosmetics had some years earlier deployed Perfect Corp. technology to provide virtual try-on for its earlier products. 

“Our Skintuition Foundation represented one of our biggest product launches in the brand’s history,” says Keri Segalla, Senior Product Manager at Iredale Cosmetics, Inc. “We saw this as an ideal opportunity to work with Perfect Corp. again to implement an AI/AR-powered VTO shade finder experience, not only for our new Skintuition Foundation, but also across all of our other foundations.”

The company gives its customers access to the Shade Finder tool from its website, as well as within many of its stores. The company also promotes use of its Shade Finder tool in email campaigns.

Benefits

Iredale Cosmetics has found a number of benefits since deploying the Perfect Corp. AI/AR-powered Shade Finder technology, including:

• 122% longer session duration when engaging with Shade Finder VTO
• 85% lift in conversion
• 29% increase in average order value
• Helping consumers answer the question: What shade am I?
• Bringing the beauty advisor feel into the home
• Powerful tool for physical store locations that carry  Jane Iredale 
• “Awesome technology” of Perfect Corp. helps meet expanding needs

122% Longer Session Duration When Engaging with Shade Finder VTO

Iredale Cosmetics has found that consumers who interact with its Perfect Corp. VTO technology spend longer viewing products than those who don’t.

“Our average session duration of those that interact with our Perfect Corp. virtual try on tools is 122% higher than those that do not,” Segalla says. “This shows that our shoppers find this tool highly engaging and fun to use.”

85% Lift in Conversion

The longer session time that consumers engage in through VTO appears to result in increased sales.

“We see an 85% lift in conversion across all of our products—foundations and cosmetics—when consumers engage with our virtual try-on technology,” Segalla says. “The way that we got that metric was looking at everyone that went to a product page, and then saw whether or not they interacted with the virtual try-on, and at which consumers went on to complete a purchase. We were impressed to find the 85% lift in conversion for those who interacted with our Shade Finder and cosmetics VTO.”

29% Increase in Average Order Value When Interacting with Shade Finder

Iredale Cosmetics has found a 29% increase in average order value when customers engage with its Perfect Corp. Shade Finder technology.

“We see a 29% increase in average order value when consumers interact with our Shade Finder virtual try-on technology,” Segalla says. “This indicates that with Shade Finder, consumers are not only more comfortable and more confident in their choices after they're able to virtually try them on, but they're exploring and playing around with other shades that they might not have considered purchasing if they hadn’t been able to virtually try them on.”

The company is seeing the same boost in order value for its other products that consumers try through virtual try-on.

“The augmented reality of the Perfect Corp. virtual try-on technology is so realistic and compelling, that it encourages shoppers to explore our products more completely,” Segalla says. “And it gives them the confidence to try on something like a bright red lipstick they might not otherwise try and decide they really like it. It gives them the chance to experiment with different foundation shades and find new looks that they like. The realism of the AR in our VTO gives consumers the confidence they need to make purchasing decisions.”

Helping Consumers Answer the Question: What Shade Am I?

Deploying its Shade Finder solution not only helped its consumers find the right foundation shade, it also reduced the number of help requests coming into the company’s customer support.

“With 26 foundation shades, our number one question from consumers is: What shade am I? What shade should I wear?” Segalla says. “In addition to helping customers with their personal shade matching, we’ve found it also  helps our customer service team, through the reduction in shade matching inquiries.”

The customer service team appreciates the help.

“With ‘What shade am I’ as our most asked question, you can imagine, it takes a lot of time from our team to answer those questions,” Segalla says. “So having our AR-powered Shade Finder as a self-service option really helps give that personal touch to each customer, while reducing inquiries to our customer service team.”

“Bringing the Beauty Advisor Feel Into the Home”

The freedom consumers have to explore new looks through virtual try-on, coupled with  curated looks provided through the company’s virtual “Makeover Room,” helps consumers enjoy the Iredale Cosmetics experience from home.

“One of the biggest things that we wanted to do with our virtual try-on, was to really bring the makeup artistry of our  beauty advisors into the home,” Segalla says. “During Covid, we found that this was really needed, and ever since then, it's grown.”

Virtual try-on helps provide a personal touch for each consumer that engages with it. 

“Our brand is very big on makeup artistry and the professional touch point,” Segalla says. “Being able to share that experience with the consumer through the realism of our VTO is great.”

Powerful Tool for Physical Stores Carrying Jane Iredale 

The Beauty Advisors and makeup artists in our professional partner locations find that the Perfect Corp. Shade Finder and cosmetics virtual try-on technology can be a powerful tool.

“Our virtual try-on technology helps our beauty advisors and makeup artists to explore with a consumer multiple different looks,” Segalla says. “This can be especially helpful when preparing for a special occasion such as weddings. The consumer can try on different looks without having to clean the face each and every time. So building those occasion looks and showing someone multiple different looks all within a five-minute time period is really a huge advantage for all. And you're also saving a lot of makeup waste as well.”

“Awesome Technology” of Perfect Corp. Helps Meet Expanding Needs 

When Jane Iredale recently released a new lip glaze, the company was impressed with how well Perfect Corp. virtual try-on technology captured the color and shimmer.

“Through Perfect Corp.’s awesome technology we were able to crank up the shininess factor in the tool and really get that true-to-life, glossy, glazy, beautiful texture that the product has,” Segalla says. “Similarly with our eyeshadow stick launch, which was a huge launch for us, we have a couple of shades that are extremely high shimmer, and I was able to not only turn up the shimmer value, but also adjust the color of that shimmer to capture the true gold shade that's in it.”

The subtlety and realism was especially impressive.

“It wasn't just like you're pouring glitter on the eyes,” Segalla says. “It actually looks like a really perfect gold shimmery eyeshadow. So I think Perfect Corp. is doing great with the kind of the sheen and the sparkle effect, without it looking like it's fake. We were impressed with how perfectly the AR captured the texture and lighting effects.”

Such realism makes it easier for a customer to decide to buy. 

“Glitter and shimmer are things that a lot of people can tend to be a little bit afraid of trying,” Segalla says. “But when they can see the beauty and the flattering texture, it really helps with the sales.”

Perfect Corp. is a Great Company to Work With

Iredale Cosmetics has long found Perfect Corp. to be a great company to work with. 

“The Shade Finder project was super easy to get started,” Segalla says. “The whole project planning was very clear. We've worked together really well. And Perfect Corp. is definitely the leader in this technology. I haven't seen anything else come close to how accurate and realistic the shades look. So that's always been great. We used a previous company before going to Perfect Corp., and I always had gripes with the eyeshadow and how it looked. Once I started playing around with Perfect Corp. technology, I was just blown away by how realistic it was. Ever since, Perfect Corp. has continued to innovate.”

About Perfect Corp. 

With over 800 million downloads globally, Perfect Corporation is dedicated to transforming how consumers, content creators and beauty brands interact together through advanced AI and AR technologies. Our experienced team of engineers and beauty aficionados are pushing the frontiers of technology to create the beauty platform of the future—a fluid environment where individuals express themselves, learn the latest about fashion and beauty, and enjoy instant access to the products from their favorite brands. Further information about Perfect Corp. can be found at perfectcorp.com