Beauty and skincare marketing. Growth from new customers.
Skincare gets used up and bought again. That makes an ad account look healthy long after growth has stalled. We run the channels so new customers come in first, and repeat purchases follow.
Broke the plateau: from relying on retargeting to growth from new customers.
- +57%
- REVENUE YEAR ON YEAR
- +278%
- EXPOSURE TO NEW AUDIENCES
- +30%
- AVG. ORDER VALUE
We bring new customers to beauty brands and get them to buy again
We are a performance agency in Aarhus, Denmark. As a skincare marketing agency, we run Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, email marketing and tracking for beauty and cosmetics brands that sell online. The work is built on NatureCell, a skincare brand in a tightly regulated field, where we moved the centre of gravity from retargeting and repeat purchases to new customers and got growth going again. All copy is checked against the rules for cosmetics before it goes live.
Skincare is a good business once it runs. A customer who likes their cream buys it again. But that is also the category's trap. Retargeting and brand searches convert cheaply, because the customers already know you, and the numbers look fine while the curve flattens. That is how it looked at NatureCell when we started: too much revenue came from existing customers, and the ads were too similar to reach new people.
- How much of the revenue comes from new customers
- Whether there is enough content to reach people who have never heard of you
- Whether copy and images stay within the rules for cosmetics
- Whether the first purchase is followed up before the product runs out
- Whether the numbers in the ad accounts match the orders in Shopify
Skincare customers buy on trust, and trust is built before the search
A new skincare product is a small risk for the customer. It goes on the skin every day, and whether it suits them only shows after a while. So a brand usually has to be seen more than once before it is bought: in the feed, in use, and in an explanation of what is in it. Often the customer only searches for the name or the product type after that. A name customers have never heard does not get searched for.
That gives an order. First someone has to see you, and that typically happens on Meta. Then you have to be there when they search, and that is Google's job. Once they have bought, email makes sure the second purchase comes before they try something else. That is the order we build the channels in.
Meta creates the demand, Google catches it, and email turns it into repeat purchases
None of the channels can do it alone. Meta can reach people who have never heard of you, but does not hold on to them. Google catches the people who search, but does not create the searches. Email is the cheapest revenue, but only from people already on your list. So we run them together and let them compete for budget on the same numbers.
| Channel | Role | What we steer by |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Ads | New customers at the top of the funnel | Exposure to new audiences, and CPM |
| Google Ads | Searches for the brand and product types | Non-brand kept apart from brand |
| Email marketing | Second purchase and replenishment | Revenue per recipient |
| TikTok Ads | More reach once the content flow runs | Test results per post |
| Tracking & Data | The foundation under every channel | Platform purchases against Shopify orders |
- Meta Ads
- RoleNew customers at the top of the funnel
- What we steer byExposure to new audiences, and CPM
- Google Ads
- RoleSearches for the brand and product types
- What we steer byNon-brand kept apart from brand
- Email marketing
- RoleSecond purchase and replenishment
- What we steer byRevenue per recipient
- TikTok Ads
- RoleMore reach once the content flow runs
- What we steer byTest results per post
- Tracking & Data
- RoleThe foundation under every channel
- What we steer byPlatform purchases against Shopify orders
TikTok comes last among the paid channels on purpose. It can bring a skincare brand new customers, but only once there is a steady flow of content and creators you already work with. Without that, Meta is the right place to start. Read how we run Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, Email Marketing and Tracking & Data.
The rules for cosmetics are part of the work, not a brake on it
Skincare is a regulated category. Cosmetics may not be marketed as having medical effects, and a claim about what a product does has to be documented. On top of the law, the ad platforms have their own rules. Meta, for example, does not allow ads that imply the viewer has a particular health condition. NatureCell works in a tightly regulated field, and that shapes everything we do for the brand.
What a product may be said to do decides what the ad can say, so the copy is checked before it goes live, not after a rejection.
At NatureCell we built a compliance system: a GPT, trained on Danish marketing law and the rules on product claims, checks all copy before it goes out, with internal sign-off as a fixed step. All copy for the sister brand AlfaLab, men's skincare, is checked the same way, and we have been there since its launch. The rules do not slow production down. They decide how it is written.
NatureCell broke its plateau by no longer harvesting the same customers
NatureCell had hit the ceiling in its existing market. The goal was to break the reliance on retargeting, bring new customers into the top of the funnel, and do it within every relevant law without slowing production. We moved the budget to broad prospecting as the main growth engine, split content into a tightly branded track and a flexible test track, rebuilt Google Ads from scratch with brand and non-brand separated, and gave the Shopify webshop a UX and CRO check-up.
- +57%
- REVENUE YEAR ON YEAR
- +278%
- EXPOSURE TO NEW AUDIENCES
- +30%
- AVG. ORDER VALUE
The revenue and order value are the webshop's total numbers, not one channel's. The exposure is measured on Meta, where CPM also fell 24%. When NatureCell got major national TV exposure, we coordinated paid, email and content in one effort, and it became the biggest regular sales month in the brand's history. The whole story is in the NatureCell case.
Graphics, automations and Shopify come with the partnership
Broad prospecting needs new material all the time. So we make graphic material and graphic videos in-house, so a test does not wait for a design. We also build automations where they take out manual work. We sell neither on its own. They are part of a performance partnership, and we are paid on results.
The ads are only as good as the webshop they send traffic to. We build webshops on Shopify and only on Shopify, and in a performance partnership the Shopify work is part of the deal. If you are on another platform, we move the webshop as part of the partnership. More on how we work with online stores in general: e-commerce marketing.
Tell us how much of your revenue comes from new customers, and which channels you run today. We will say honestly where we would start, and whether we are the right people for it.
Book a call30 minutes. We look at your account and your numbers and tell you honestly what we would do.
Book a callWhat we are often asked.
We run the channels that bring in new customers and get them to buy again: Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, email marketing and tracking. For a skincare brand that especially means enough content for broad prospecting, ad copy that stays within the rules for cosmetics, and flows that follow up before the product runs out.
Usually tracking, so the platforms see the right purchases. Then Meta, because a skincare brand has to be seen before anyone searches for it. Google catches the searches that exist, and email turns the first purchase into repeat purchases. TikTok makes sense once there is already a steady flow of content.
Cosmetics may not be marketed as having medical effects, and a claim about what the product does has to be documented. Meta has its own rules on top, including against copy that implies the viewer has a particular health condition. We write about the product, its use and the experience, and check all copy before it goes live.
Because a high ROAS can come from customers who would have bought anyway: retargeting, brand searches and repeat purchases. That kind of revenue cannot grow beyond the number of people who already know you. At NatureCell that was exactly the problem, and the fix was to move the weight to new customers.
We have done it before, with NatureCell and its sister brand AlfaLab, in a category with strict rules on what you may say. The people in the meeting are the people who work in the account. And we have 14 years in e-commerce behind us.
In-house we make graphic material and graphic videos as part of the partnership, so the tests do not wait. Product images and video from you and from the creators you work with go into the same tests.
