An AI-boosted catalogue
Tailored skincare recommendations, right in the conversation.
70 years of expertise, and a customer relationship reinvented on WhatsApp
90%Open rate
x7Conversion vs email
12%Interaction rate
“The strength of WhatsApp: a meaningful relationship with customers who chose to follow us.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, ClarinsThe stakes
Growing online while keeping the Clarins art of advice
In 1954, in Paris, Jacques Courtin-Clarins opened a beauty institute. Two convictions guided him: listening to women and a love of plants.
As early as 1968, the house created its first customer card. Personalised advice, tailored skincare: the bond with its customers is at the heart of its story.
Now present in more than 150 countries, the house wants to grow its online sales without giving up any of the premium experience it is known for.
As competitors rely more and more on price, Clarins chooses to stand out through the quality of its customer relationship.
1954Founded in Paris
150+Countries
“Our mission: grow digital while keeping a premium customer experience.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, ClarinsChallenge
A closer relationship, where customers already are
To do so, the house wants a more personal and more interactive relationship with its customers.
WhatsApp was the obvious choice: it is where they already talk to their loved ones, in a private and secure space.
There, the brand can reply in real time, advise each customer and offer tailored recommendations.
In May 2024, Clarins launched with WAX, with three ambitions:
- Strengthen customer loyalty
- Listen to its customers, even co-create with them
- Stay competitive with a premium channel
“WhatsApp lets us build a closer, more personal relationship. It is where our customers already are, with their loved ones.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, ClarinsIn practice
70 years: the perfect moment to launch the WhatsApp Club
For Clarins, its 70th anniversary was the perfect moment to launch WhatsApp. As a first step, an email invited its customers to join the channel.
And to boost engagement, the brand offered them the chance to win a Double Serum, its iconic skincare.
On arrival, the customer receives a welcome message celebrating 70 years of innovation and dialogue. One tap, and she joins the WhatsApp Club.
The Club then brings her exclusive content: private sales, personalised offers and new products ahead of everyone else.
The opt-in base also grows in store, when customers create an account on the site, and at the foot of every newsletter.
But email remains the most effective lever: it engages the customer directly on WhatsApp.
79%Open rate
24%Interaction rate
13%Average click rate
“With our first campaign, the goal was to engage our audience interactively, so that every customer would feel privileged and unique.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, ClarinsIn practice
Lipstick Day: finding the right product in a conversation
For Lipstick Day 2024, Clarins invited its customers to an experience on WhatsApp.
A question opens the conversation: intense colour, glossy or plumping? Each customer then discovers the product that suits her in a video.
She is then invited to the Clarins website for personalised advice, with an offer attached.
Along the way, Clarins gets to know each customer’s preferences and fine-tunes its next advice.
Against the same campaign sent by email, WhatsApp achieved 4.5 times more opens and 7 times more conversions.
90%Open rate
x4.5Opens vs email
x7Conversion vs email
“This Lipstick Day campaign let us engage our customers on WhatsApp in a more personal and more effective way.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, ClarinsIn practice
Key moments: every big date becomes a conversation
On WhatsApp, Clarins brings its big dates to life through a conversational experience built on offers, new products and relationship content.
In such a private channel, an offer feels like a thoughtful gesture: the house stays competitive without giving up any of its premium image.
At Christmas, for instance, the Gift Finder asks each customer two questions. Based on her answers, it suggests three personalised gift sets to order online.
The same goes for launches: for a new collagen skincare product, a quiz tests customers’ knowledge, then invites them to a prize draw.
For Mother’s Day 2025, Clarins went further and launched the first WAX product catalogue built into WhatsApp.
There, the customer browses the skincare, asks her questions and places her order right in the conversation.
72%Gift Finder open rate
74%Catalogue open rate
“WhatsApp is a privileged, premium channel: we can offer promotions there while preserving an excellent brand image.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, ClarinsIn practice
Abandoned cart: Adobe data at the service of the conversation
Clarins runs its CRM in Adobe Campaign. A native connector, built by WAX, now links the two platforms.
Adobe data triggers the WhatsApp campaigns and automations. In return, every conversation enriches the customer’s profile in Adobe.
The abandoned cart makes the most of it: the customer finds her products in a carousel on WhatsApp, with free delivery and a button to complete her order.
What she shares in the conversation then refines the brand’s email and SMS segments, directly in Adobe.
82%Read rate
16%Interaction rate
“Conversational data is a real asset. Well orchestrated across our channels, it changes everything.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, ClarinsConclusion
WhatsApp, a pillar of the Clarins customer relationship
More than two years after its launch, WhatsApp complements email and SMS at Clarins, to reach its customers more effectively.
What the house takes away:
- A conversion rate 7 times higher than email
- An ROI twice that of SMS
- More than 50 campaigns and automations launched
The next chapter is written with WAX AI: a catalogue enriched by artificial intelligence, to recommend to each customer the skincare that suits her.
What customers share on WhatsApp will also guide email and SMS: every message will reach them at the right time, on the channel they prefer.
“WhatsApp enriches our multichannel strategy by reaching audiences that respond less on other channels.”
Stéphanie CatarinoE-Commerce, Acquisition & CRM Director France, Clarins
What comes next?
Clarins’ next projects with WAX.
Useful journeys
Order tracking and customer feedback, to enrich the experience and grow the Club.
Orchestrate every channel
Conversational data to speak to each customer at the right time, on the right channel.
600+ brands trust us
There is a conversational use case for every brand, in every industry and on every market.
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Frequently asked questions
Contact usTraditional chatbots answer questions. WAX conversations actually convert: they qualify, recommend and sell, because a real conversation drives revenue better than a robotic Q&A.