How Oz Hair and Beauty achieved a 38x ROI with personalized SMS

Oz Hair and Beauty doesn’t just sell premium products. It’s a place where customers can get personalized recommendations for everything from the best dry hair shampoo to the right skincare routine for acne-prone skin. 

“We want to have conversations with our customers about their hair and skin, so we can guide them to the right products,” said Chris Haddad, CRM and E-Commerce Manager at Oz Hair and Beauty. 

But as the retailer tripled in size over the last few years, maintaining customer relationships in store and online became a challenge. This time, Chris and his team needed some personalized recommendations of their own.

Chris reached out to Sinch to learn about cost-effective ways to reach customers. Together, they landed on SMS marketing.  

To test the idea, Chris sent a simple campaign with an offer from a major brand. The response was immediate and overwhelming. The warehouse saw a surge in orders, and customer service channels lit up with inquiries. 

“That’s when we knew we needed to get more strategic with SMS. We’d had our fun, sent out a blast, and got a great result, but we wanted to expand on that,” Chris said. 

Now, Oz Hair and Beauty uses SMS to increase customer engagement and sales through: 

For major sales events, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Chris segments contacts based on past purchases, interests, and behavior. For even higher engagement, he personalizes messages with custom fields like the customer’s name, location, and product preferences. 

“With Sinch’s help, we’ve figured out what works,” Chris said. “We know we can smash out a 160-character SMS in a matter of minutes – and people will respond to it.” 

Oz Hair and Beauty’s targeted, conversational approach has led to impressive results. For instance, their 2022 Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaign generated:

• 12% click-through rate
• 15% response rate
• 100% delivery rate 

Since then, every promotional SMS campaign has achieved a click-through rate of 10.32% or higher. 

“By using SMS as an engagement and conversational tool, we can add more value for our customers,” Chris said. “And Sinch is the easiest-to-use platform to have those conversations.” 

They also integrated Sinch’s SMS services with Shopify to trigger messages based on customer behavior. For instance, if a customer abandons items in their cart, they’ll receive a text inviting them to complete their purchase. 

“We have seen a 13% conversion rate for that, which is amazing,” said Annaliese Evans, Oz’s CRM and Loyalty Specialist. 

Even better, they’ve generated up to 38x ROI on their abandoned cart messages. 

Customers can text product questions to Oz’s SMS hotline and receive personalized recommendations from beauty experts.  

Beauty experts can provide advice while sharing relevant promotions to encourage sales. 

“We know what our customers want, and with Sinch, we can send them offers for the products they love using the channel we know they prefer,” Chris said. 

Building on this success, Oz Hair and Beauty has implemented an omnichannel strategy that connects online and in-store experiences. 

For example, if a customer receives a promotional SMS for a product not stocked in their local store, staff can immediately facilitate an online order with direct shipping. 

Integrated retail experiences like this, powered by Sinch’s SMS capabilities, will help Oz Hair and Beauty stay connected with customers as they grow.