In health and beauty, a curious paradox has emerged. While personalization is the proclaimed king, most brands are struggling to even get past the castle gates. We’re not talking about just adding a customer’s first name to an email subject line. We’re talking about true, 1:1 personalization at scale, the kind that makes your customers feel seen, understood, and catered to. The kind that turns a one-time buyer into a lifelong advocate.
The reality? It’s hard. So hard, that many brands have simply given up, resorting to generic, one-size-fits-all marketing that’s about as effective as using a single foundation shade for every skin tone. But what if we told you there’s a better way? A way to not only meet but exceed your customers’ expectations for personalization, and in turn, unlock unprecedented growth for your brand?
In this blog, we’ll dive deep into why most health and beauty brands are failing at personalization, what your customers want, and how you can leverage the right strategies and technology to finally crack the code.
Customer Expectations: What Your Customers Want
Today’s health and beauty consumers are more discerning than ever. They’re not just buying products; they’re investing in their well-being, and they expect the brands they shop with to be a partner in that journey. This is a far cry from the mass-marketed, one-size-fits-all approach of the past.
Here’s a closer look at what your customers are looking for:
- A Deeply Personal Experience: It’s no longer enough to just have a great product. 88% of skincare and cosmetics shoppers expect tailored experiences, and a staggering 72% of consumers now expect brands to recognize them as individuals. This means going beyond basic segmentation and understanding their unique needs, concerns, and preferences.
- Guidance and Expertise: With an overwhelming number of products and ingredients on the market, consumers are looking for brands to act as their trusted advisors. They want help navigating the complexities of skincare and beauty, and they’re looking for personalized recommendations and routines that are tailored to their specific goals.
- Authenticity and Transparency: This is especially true for Gen Z, who value authenticity above all else. They’re looking for brands that are transparent about their ingredients, sourcing, and values. They’re also more likely to trust user-generated content (UGC) and recommendations from real people than they are to trust celebrity endorsements.
- Simplicity and Efficacy: While younger consumers are often more willing to experiment with new products and trends, older demographics tend to prioritize simplicity and efficacy. They’re looking for proven ingredients and straightforward routines that deliver real results. However, don’t mistake this for a lack of digital savvy. This demographic is increasingly comfortable with online shopping and expects a seamless and personalized digital experience.
- Seamless, Shoppable Experiences: In our fast-paced, digital-first world, convenience is key. Customers want to be able to discover and purchase the products they need, whenever and wherever they are. This means creating shoppable experiences across all your channels, from your website and app to email and social media.
What Brands Are Not Doing Today
So, if that’s what customers want, where are brands going wrong? The truth is, most health and beauty brands are still stuck in the old way of doing things. They’re struggling to keep up with the pace of change and are failing to meet the evolving expectations of their customers.
Here are some of the most common mistakes we see:
- A Fragmented View of the Customer: Many brands have a wealth of customer data at their fingertips, but it’s often siloed across different systems and platforms. This makes it impossible to get a single, unified view of the customer, which is the foundation of any effective personalization strategy.
- Generic, One-Size-Fits-All Marketing: Without a deep understanding of their customers, brands are forced to resort to generic, one-size-fits-all marketing. This is not only ineffective, but it can also be a major turn-off for consumers who are looking for a more personal and relevant experience.
- A Leaky Bucket Approach to Customer Acquisition: Many brands are so focused on acquiring new customers that they neglect to nurture the ones they already have. This is a costly mistake, as acquiring a new customer can cost up to five times more than retaining an existing one. And with repeat purchase rates in the health and beauty industry hovering around 30%, there’s a massive opportunity for brands that can crack the code on customer retention.
- Failure to Anticipate Customer Needs: The best personalization is proactive, not reactive. It’s about anticipating your customers’ needs and delivering the right message, at the right time, on the right channel. Unfortunately, many brands are still stuck in a reactive mode, responding to past clicks and purchases instead of looking ahead to what their customers might want or need next.
Lessons Learned
So, what can we learn from all this? Here are a few key takeaways for any health and beauty brand that’s serious about scaling personalization:
- Lesson 1: Data is Your Foundation, but a Unified View is the Key. You can’t personalize what you don’t know. The first step to effective personalization is to break down your data silos and create a single, unified view of your customer.
- Lesson 2: Personalization is More Than Just a Name in an Email. True personalization is about understanding your customers on a deeper level and using that understanding to create a more relevant and meaningful experience. It’s about moving beyond basic segmentation and delivering 1:1 personalization at scale.
- Lesson 3: Retention is the New Growth. In a crowded and competitive market, the brands that win will be the ones that can build lasting relationships with their customers. This means shifting your focus from acquisition to retention and investing in strategies that will turn one-time buyers into lifelong advocates.
- Lesson 4: Proactive is the New Reactive. The future of personalization is predictive. It’s about using AI and machine learning to anticipate your customers’ needs and deliver proactive, personalized experiences that will keep them coming back for more.
What You Should Be Doing
Now for the good part. To overcome these challenges and deliver the experiences your customers crave, we recommend adopting a five-step methodology for building a powerful personalization engine.
- See the Full Customer. The foundation of everything is data. Your first step is to break down internal silos and build rich, 360-degree customer profiles. Go beyond basic demographics and unify their skin concerns, product preferences, browsing behavior, and purchase history into a single, actionable view. You can’t personalize for a customer you don’t truly know.
- Create Tailored Journeys. Once you have a deep understanding of your customers, you can move beyond generic campaigns. Implement intelligent, AI-driven search and product recommendations. Use this insight to build personalized routines and guide customers to the right products, transforming your brand from a simple retailer into a trusted advisor.
- Anticipate Needs, Proactively. The most powerful form of personalization is predictive. Use AI to anticipate your customers’ future needs. This means sending timely replenishment reminders before they run out of their favorite serum, suggesting complementary products for an upcoming season, or helping them build a long-term routine that evolves with their goals.
- Leverage Social Proof. Your customers are your most authentic advocates. Encourage them to share their experiences through reviews, photos, and videos, and then leverage that user-generated content (UGC) across your marketing channels. Gen Z trusts UGC far more than traditional advertising, making it a powerful tool for building trust and authenticity.
- Engage Everywhere, Seamlessly. Make it easy for customers to shop with you, whenever and wherever they are. Create seamless, shoppable experiences across your website, app, email, and social media. Think shoppable emails, virtual beauty assistants, and personalized product carousels embedded directly into every touchpoint. The less friction, the better the experience.
How Netcore Powers It All
Unified Customer View
Netcore breaks down data silos by consolidating customer data across channels, email, app, website, RCS, WhatsApp, and more, into a single profile. This includes real-time behavioral signals, preferences, affinities, RFM scores, and predictive propensities. With this holistic view, you can target smarter, personalize deeper, and act faster.
AI-Powered Personalization at Scale
At the heart of Netcore is the AI Engine, our proprietary engine that personalizes everything from search results and product listings to email modules, on-site banners, and regimen builders. Whether it’s segment-of-one personalization or affinity-driven recommendations, you can now deliver relevance at every touchpoint—automatically.
Oz Hair and Beauty used this to increase clicks by 4X and conversions by 3X.
Agentic AI for Autonomous Marketing
Our Agentic AI goes far beyond static automation; it actively senses, learns, and adapts in real time. These AI agents can autonomously trigger campaigns, optimize journeys mid-flight, and even reallocate spend across high-performing channels—with little to no manual input. It’s like having a smart co-pilot for every customer experience decision.
To learn more about our Agentic AI capabilities in the realms of health and beauty, please take a look at this blog.
End-to-End Lifecycle Automation
From welcome flows and replenishment reminders to churn reactivation and advocacy loops, our platform lets you orchestrate intelligent, multi-channel journeys—at scale. With event-based triggers, social proof elements, and built-in A/B testing, you can engage customers in the moments that matter most.
Shoppable, Frictionless Experiences
With Netcore’s shoppable modules, every surface becomes a sales opportunity. Enable embedded carts in emails, click-to-buy journeys on WhatsApp, Emails and RCS, and personalized storefronts across web and app. We make it easy to blur the lines between engagement and conversion—while reducing drop-offs and decision fatigue.
Bottom line?
Netcore doesn’t just support the above—we operationalize it with tools built for the speed, complexity, and personalization demands of modern marketing.
The future of health and beauty is personal. The brands that win will be the ones that can deliver a truly personalized experience at scale. Ready to see how Netcore can help you unlock the power of personalization?
Book a demo today and let us show you what’s possible.
