Featured Partner
e.l.f. Sees 200% Higher Conversion for Online Consumers Using Virtual Try-On
“Perfect Corp. gives us the augmented reality technology to provide our consumers with an amazing, personalized, discovery experience.”
Ekta Chopra
VP of Digital, e.l.f.
Services enabled with PERFECT.
200% higher conversion rate
953,000 sessions in the first quarter of offering virtual try-on
Situation
e.l.f. makes high-quality, prestige-inspired beauty accessible for every eye, lip and face. Established in 2004, as an e-commerce business, e.l.f. Cosmetics continues to attract a highly engaged audience and set benchmarks with new digital platforms. The brand is widely available at leading retailers such as Target, Walmart and Ulta Beauty, and has a growing international presence.
e.l.f. has grown-up in a digital world and was early to provide online makeup tutorials. The company viewed augmented reality (AR) as the next logical step to take in creating memorable and personalized experiences for its online consumers. The challenge was to find the industry’s best AR to support its virtual try-on experience.Solution
When e.l.f. began searching for the best AR partner to work with, it identified Perfect Corp. as the leader in providing virtual try-on experiences. Perfect Corp. combines powerful artificial intelligence (AI) with its industry-leading AR to provide stunningly lifelike results that delight consumers.
Initially, e.l.f. deployed Perfect Corp.’s AR platform as part of its website, to enhance the discovery experience for its online consumers. The website experience, which offers consumers a self-directed virtual try-on as part of their shopping experience, worked so well that e.l.f. used the Perfect Corp SDK to integrate its virtual try-on experience into its app as well.e.l.f. offers its virtual try-on experiences across its product lines—from eyes to lips to face. “We keep adding SKUs to our virtual try-on,” Chopra says. “Everytime we add a product, we include it as part of our virtual try-on experience.”
As an added benefit, Chopra notes that many of its retailers also use Perfect Corp. technology to power in-store virtual try-ons.
“When you think about your digital ecosystem, it is ideal when the consumers can have the same virtual try-on experience with your retailers that they have on your site and on your app,” Chopra says. “This provides a complete circle for consumers to enjoy the discovery process that virtual try-on provides.”
Winning Formula: Creative beauty offerings at a bargain price.Benefits
e.l.f. has enjoyed a number of benefits since deploying the Perfect Corp.-powered virtual try-on technology, including providing an “amazing, personalized, discovery experience,” and gaining a higher conversion rate within the first six months of launching its AR try-on. The company is also benefitting from using AR to solve consumer needs, and drive innovation.
Providing an “Amazing, Personalized, Discovery Experience”
e.l.f. is always focused on its consumers—and wants to provide a best-in-class user product exploration and discovery experience.
“Looking at the full consumer journey, discovery is a huge element,” Chopra says. “You want to create a digital environment where they can discover new products, try them on, and make the purchase. Perfect Corp. gives us the augmented reality technology to provide our consumers with an amazing, personalized, discovery experience.”
An eye for beauty.The company knew it was providing its consumers with a special experience when it saw the way its users were reacting to e.l.f. virtual try-on in posts on social media.
“People share videos of themselves using our AR on TikTok,” Chopra says. “They say they love the experience, show viewers the looks they’ve created, and ask for feedback. It’s a way for them to get affirmation and confirmation, something that became especially important during the Covid-19 pandemic. We see a lot of love and enthusiasm for our AR experience on Instagram, too. Tons of comments. We even get e-mails thanking us for the experience and asking for more SKUs to be added.”
“People share videos of themselves using our AR on TikTok,” Chopra says. “They say they love the experience, show viewers the looks they’ve created, and ask for feedback. It’s a way for them to get affirmation and confirmation, something that became especially important during the Covid-19 pandemic. We see a lot of love and enthusiasm for our AR experience on Instagram, too. Tons of comments. We even get e-mails thanking us for the experience and asking for more SKUs to be added.”
Chopra says that Gen Z was especially eager to dive into AR.
“The positive reaction we’ve seen from our community confirms once again the value of offering a rich AR experience,” Chopra says.“Augmented reality might have once been seen as just buzzy and fun, but we see it as an important part of our business model. AR powers a rich discovery process, increases connection with the consumer, and creates a fun sense of community, all of which results in increased sales from enthusiastic consumers.”
200% Higher Conversion Rate for Consumers Experiencing e.l.f. Virtual Try-On
e.l.f. was happy to see that its consumers were quick to embrace its virtual try-on experience. During the first six months of going live, the virtual try-on experience attracted nearly 1 million sessions.
“In our first quarter of offering virtual try-on, we saw 953,000 sessions,” Chopra says. “And we could also see that those who engaged with our virtual try-on experience spent more timeon the site, and in our app. And we also found that those interacting with our virtual try-on had a 200% higher conversion rate—from shopping to actually purchasing. This means that augmented reality isn’t just cool technology, it’s actually working for us.
“In our first quarter of offering virtual try-on, we saw 953,000 sessions,” Chopra says. “And we could also see that those who engaged with our virtual try-on experience spent more timeon the site, and in our app. And we also found that those interacting with our virtual try-on had a 200% higher conversion rate—from shopping to actually purchasing. This means that augmented reality isn’t just cool technology, it’s actually working for us.
e.l.f. provides a world of color and joy.Great AR to Solve Consumer Needs
The precision of Perfect Corp. AR immediately impressed e.l.f., which was key to moving forward with its virtual try-on initiative.
“When we tried the Perfect Corp. AR experience, we were all impressed by how it brought color and the texture to life,” Chopra says. “It was as if you were engaging with our products through a live try-on. This realism was critical for us because we didn’t want to offer our consumers an experience that didn’t feel real.”
The realism of the e.l.f. virtual try-on experience is so true that e.l.f. is exploring how to use the technology to provide ever more value for its consumers.“We are interested in building out new experiences to go deeper and to solve skincare challenges that our consumers might have,” Chopra says. “We are looking at how our AR can help our consumers pick products for different skin conditions—dry skin, oily, or any other factors they may want to address. We want to advance our AR into a way of addressing consumer needs, as so many factors can be involved. Every person is unique. This really excites us because the opportunities here are endless.”
Shana Rungsarangnont, Digital Products Manager at e.l.f., speaks of the significance of the virtual try-on for consumers.“We know that makeup is incredibly difficult to purchase online,” Rungsarangnont says. “Unless you are ordering an item that you have already tried, buying something that you physically cannot see and feel is somewhat of a risk for our consumers. Virtual try on helped us to bridge that gap for the consumer and remove the concern of 'What this is going to look like on me?'"
e.l.f. is for every eye, lip and face.Always Driving Innovation
Here’s how Chopra describes the company’s constant drive: “At e.l.f., innovation is in our DNA. Innovation is what we do.”
In practice, the company’s innovation means bringing new products to market quickly, staying close to the consumers to see what connects with them, and to constantly improve to enhance consumer delight and satisfaction.“Innovation means not taking months to bring a product to market,” Chopra says. “Innovation means looking beyond what you already have and identifying ways to be different and more exciting than everyone else.”
Perfect Corp. “A Great Technology Partner . . . Ready and Able to Support Us”
When striving for innovation, it helps to have the right AR partner. “Perfect Corp. is a great technology partner because they see the potential for innovation, and are eager to support it,” Chopra says. “We are continuing to innovate the digital ecosystem, and whenever we come to Perfect Corp. with an idea, they are ready and able to support us.”
e.l.f. has found that Perfect Corp. is not just responsive, but proactive in supporting their quest for innovation.“We like that we have a dedicated person at Perfect Corp. that we can go to,” Chopra says. “I also like the fact that they know that e.l.f. is very disruptive, so they've brought some really cool partnership ideas to us. We both have innovation in our DNA, so it’s a very good match. We are both trying to solve for consumer needs. If you aren’t doing that, then it’s just technology.
About Perfect Corp.
With over 850 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
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