About the brand 

The power duo that redefined glamour with a dash of magnetic magic

Founder and CEO Ann McFerran loved how false eyelashes made her feel but hated how they felt. A chore to put on and a literal pain to take off, she knew she could do better.

So she went to work on the product development side and came up with the idea for magnetic eyelashes that she would actually want to wear, and Glamnetic was born. Since then, McFerran has continued to evolve Glamnetic’s products and the brand has grown into a global, multimillion-dollar company. She also made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2021.

While McFerran is the creative talent and living mood board of Glamnetic, her co-founder (and founder and CEO of Kombo Ventures), Kevin Gould, brought his own unique experience in e-commerce and brand development to the table. While he initially started his career in the mailroom at a Hollywood talent agency, he left to start his own company managing digital influencers and acting as a liaison representing Silicon Valley startups on their entertainment strategy and partnerships.

Gould saw the magic in the beauty space when he invested in Beautycon and attended one of the massive events. After that, he knew he wanted to work with beauty companies and found McFerran and her life-changing lashes. He also co-founded the beauty brand INH Hair (which uses Tapcart for its app).

Since their launch in 2019, they’ve also added press-on nails, which have become a coveted category for the brand. With this innovative product, consumers can ditch nail appointments and get on-trend manicures in minutes in the comfort of their own homes.

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The challenge

Capitalizing on their cult following (a beauty industry trademark)

The Glamnetic team knew how to capitalize on their strengths in the beauty category. Beauty brands typically develop a cult following with avid fans—and Glamnetic was no exception.

Gould says that the beauty industry, with its sense of community and consistent release of new products, is prime for a mobile app.  

“Beauty as a category generally has consumers that if they like a brand, they really buy into it, and it's very community oriented. By virtue of that, having an app that they can use makes total sense.” Kevin Gould, Co-Founder

Part of the leadership teams’ challenge is their goal of being first-purchase profitable and not making decisions based on an assumed lifetime value (LTV). This outlook has made them even more focused on retention as they strive to maximize their customer LTV.

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The solution  

Building an app for the Glam Fam

In the beauty industry, having a great product is table stakes. Gould says it takes a great product and a well-rounded marketing strategy (including retention tactics) to build a successful brand. 

As the Glamnetic team grew and their retention strategy became more sophisticated, they knew layering in a mobile app would be part of that magic formula.

“From a pure cost ROI perspective, Tapcart users have a much higher AOV and LTV than customers buying off of Tapcart. We are upsizing the customers by giving them a better experience in the app. And in turn, it's giving us a higher ROI and LTV on a per-customer basis.”Kevin Gould, Co-Founder

A year after launching their brand, they started looking for a partner to help them build their app. They knew they needed a stronger retention strategy, a place for their Glam Fam to congregate and get access to exclusive deals, products and more.

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The result 

Push notifications are perfect for high-value customers

The Glamnetic team began working with Tapcart in 2020 and launched their app in September. Over the years, they’ve succeeded with Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) deals featuring exclusive in-app sales and early deals. These exclusives helped incentivize lots of shoppers to download the app and opt-in for push notifications. Leveraging their biggest sale on the app channel was a long-term strategy to build the app-user base beyond peak season. 

Given the value of push notifications and their 90% open rate, the Glamnetic team reserves them for special launches, deals, and exclusive in-app drops. They look at push notifications as a valuable tool for their most valuable customers.

Instead of seeing them as an SMS text replacement, the brand uses push notifications as another less-crowded way to connect with customers. You’re not competing with ten other brands with the same holiday sale as you are with email. Gould believes that you need to reach out to customers from all angles in this market at all customer journey touch points. And push notifications are a pivotal way to do that.

“Customers get hit with emails and SMS's all day. There is a different relationship when you're getting a push notification from the brand. It's super easy and intuitive for the consumer to use and go into the app and buy.” 
Ann McFerran, Founder & CEO

After 4 years of working with Tapcart, Gould says their app is a must-have for Glamnetic to continue making big moves in customer retention. With a 92% app user retention rate, 2.6x conversion over the mobile web, and a 126x return on app spend, Gould says their LTV is higher than any other purchasing channels. 

For Glamentic, it’s about giving their best customers a better experience and an easier path to purchase.

What’s next for Glamnetic and Tapcart? The Glam team will be putting their app efforts toward ensuring cohesiveness across touch points and continuing to improve their brand following.

“One big focus this year is making sure that we have cohesiveness across our brand, across all channels as we have different touch points for the consumer and making sure that brand vision and like is aligned throughout those channels.”
Kevin Gould, Co-Founder

Find out how Glamnetic and top beauty brands — like Florence by Mills, Grande Cosmetics, and INH Hair — are breaking boundaries and sales records with Tapcart. Let's chat.