Virtual Consultations: Why Beauty & Wellness Brands Need To Try It

From skin quizzes that help build personalized routines, shade finders to find that perfect match, and virtual try-it-on features to visualize a look, brands have turned to virtual beauty technology to humanize the online shopping experience.

And while these solutions work, they miss the mark in a critical way: the actual human touch.

Enter 1:1 virtual consultations.

These private appointments allow customers to connect with brand professionals through video and live chat functions. Just like an in store sales associate, virtual consultants listen intently to a customer's needs, answer questions, and recommend products based on their conversations – creating a much more dynamic, flexible customer support system when compared to other virtual beauty tech.

With brand experts guiding customers through a buying journey the experience starts to look a lot like an in store shopping experience. Let’s take a look at the many different use cases within the beauty and wellness space.

Use Cases for Beauty & Wellness Brands

Skincare

1. Determine Skin Type

Choosing skin care products with your skin type in mind is essential to product efficacy and safety. Analyzing a customer's skin over video rather than relying on a quiz, allows consultants to determine a customer's skin type – oily, dry, normal, combination, or sensitive – and recommend appropriate products.

2. Evaluate Skin Conditions

You can’t solve a problem you don’t understand. Skin conditions such as cystic acne, eczema, or keratosis pilaris can be difficult to evaluate, but through video consultants can assist customers in understanding their skin conditions so they can treat them properly.

3. Build a Personalized Routine

Not every product works for every customer. For instance, different skin types and conditions or a customer's age and gender can help determine product fit. Consultants who talk with customers can truly understand their situation and unique goals, and then can recommend a personalized routine based on their conversations.

Cosmetic & Make Up

1. Find the Right Shade

With so many different options, finding the right shade of foundation can be difficult. Nothing is worse (for customers and brands) than ordering a foundation that doesn’t match. By looking at customers' skin tone over video, consultants can easily recommend a perfect match – just like heading to a beauty bar for a makeup consultation.

2. See Products in Real Time

It can be difficult to know what makeup actually looks like on a person. Consultants can try on different products in front of customers in the most authentic way – in real time – to show quality and build trust.

Health & Wellness

1. Personal Training

Host personal training sessions to help clients reach their fitness goals. Workout with them in real time, or help them plan a workout routine for the week. If you sell health related products or services add them directly to the live video session so customers can purchase directly from the video interface.

2. Meal Planning

Talk with customers about their weight loss and muscle building aspirations, and help them hammer out a meal plan that will help them achieve these goals.

3. Find the Right Supplement

Finding the right supplement for your physical and emotional needs is difficult. After hearing customers out, consultants can more effectively recommend the right supplement.

Find the Right Solution

Social Chat’s One-to-One product allows you to easily embed virtual consultations into your website giving customers the personalized experience they crave. Give it a try by requesting a demo!

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

‍