Interactive Content Spotlight: Estée Lauder, Heal's Furniture, Tory Burch, + More

January 24th, 2017 | 3 min. read

Check out the latest installment of the Interactive Content Spotlight, a monthly roundup of the coolest and most cutting edge digital experiences from around the web. Enjoy!

1. Estée Lauder - 3 Minute Beauty

What it is: A multimedia and shoppable buying guide linking to makeup tutorials Why we love it: Makeup tutorials are some of the most popular videos on Youtube, with more than 45 Billion views to date. Since we know women want this kind of information via video, it’s smart for Estée Lauder to create this great example of cosmetic educational content. Since makeup is often hard to purchase online, content that shows the products being used while providing usage tips is powerful. The context for this experience is perfectly clear – everyone’s busy, so here’s a simple, three-minute guide to an everyday makeup look that features Estée Lauder’s products. We love the use of multimedia in the experience, featuring gifs that not only show the products in action, but make the page dynamic and engaging. All images and gifs are clickable, and link out to mini-tutorials that provide more information on how to recreate the featured looks. Including brand ambassador Kendall Jenner and Joan Smalls allows shoppers to make that all-important brand connection. What it’s missing: While featuring clickable images and graphic calls-to-action is a good start, the experience can be brought to that next level of shoppability through integrated quickviews. When a customer is ready to purchase, the last thing retail marketers want to do is take them away from the content that inspired them in the first page. Allowing them to add to cart within the experience will reduce the chance that shoppers, frustrated with the navigation, will simply abandon their plan to purchase.

2. Heal's Furniture - Heal’s goes Beyond Caravaggio

What it is: An editorial experience done in collaboration with the National Gallery Why we love it: It can often be difficult to combine rich editorial with interactive and shoppable content, but we love how Heal’s Furniture married the two in this experience. As part of a collaboration with the National Gallery’s exhibition Beyond Caravaggio, the experience features a series of still-life photos done in the style of the famed Italian painter, featuring Heal’s products. And of course, you can just happen to buy those items through clickable plus sign calls-to-action. The experience takes a very non-aggressive approach, providing in-depth information on the artist and the exhibit instead of the products. What it’s missing: We love the use of plus signs, but instead of linking to another page, having them activate a quick view would reduce the risk of losing a sale. Keeping shoppers on the experience to hopefully buy more is a key driver of upsells.

3. Ralph Lauren - The Haberdashery Shop

What it is: A long-form experience that breaks down the Ralph Lauren suit Why we love it: This experience has a little bit of everything: carousels, embedded videos, outfit inspiration, product education, and a killer recipe for an old fashioned cocktail. It’s a lot to take in, but works because they keep the navigation simple, and let the content tell the story. From detailed sketches of each style of Ralph Lauren blazers, to a three-step guide to dressing down, the experience acts as a general how-to style guide for men. With lightbox videos and clickable images, it’s interactive, dynamic, and memorable. What it’s missing: Not a single item in the experience can be bought without being taken to a static product page. The entire experience is built around providing inspiration, both style and lifestyle, so to take the shopper away from that inspiration right when they’re ready to buy is a mistake. Quickviews would make it easy for the consumer to complete the purchase. We’d also love to see social media content integrated into the experience; customers trust other customers, and it’s a great way to let them see how different pieces look on real people.

4. Tory Burch - The Gemini Link Collection

What it is: A handbag buying guide featuring Kate Bosworth Why we love it: This a great piece of inspirational content, showing customer exactly how the Gemini cross-body bag can complete an outfit. Through integrated quickviews, shoppers can make their purchases directly on the page, instead of searching through endless product grids. Featuring Kate Bosworth’s personal tips and comments is a powerful use of their brand ambassadors, making the entire experience feel like it’s coming directly from a celebrity they admire. What it’s missing: Integrating shoppable gifs would make the content much more dynamic, and featuring Kate Bosworth in a behind-the scenes embedded video would be a great way to connect with shoppers. Having Bosworth speak directly through the customer is an impactful way to strengthen the consumer-brand relationship. We’d also like to see more of a shop-the-look angle, allowing shoppers to not just purchase the handbags on the page, but the entire featured outfit. Tory Burch does such a great job of building a complete look around the bags that it’s a shame they can’t be easily added to cart without going through category pages – a dangerously easy way to lose a would-be buyer.

Interactive Content Spotlight: Estée Lauder, Heal's Furniture, Tory Burch, + More

1. Estée Lauder - 3 Minute Beauty

2. Heal's Furniture - Heal’s goes Beyond Caravaggio

3. Ralph Lauren - The Haberdashery Shop

4. Tory Burch - The Gemini Link Collection

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