In the age of experience, the brand that understands its customers better wins. But “understanding” is not enough, you need to nurture that relationship every day, naturally and consistently through emails, messages, notifications, offers…

Sephora, the world’s leading cosmetics retailer, has done it successfully thanks to marketing automation: a system that helps them communicate personally with millions of people without increasing staff. And the results are amazing.

Who is Sephora?

Sephora is the world's leading cosmetics retailer, founded in France in 1969 and now part of the LVMH group.

Unlike traditional cosmetics stores, Sephora is famous for its open-concept experience, where customers can try, compare and explore thousands of products from over 300 global brands, including Sephora Collection's own brands.

After more than 50 years of development, Sephora is not only a "beauty paradise", but also a symbol of innovation in customer experience.

From pioneering mobile applications, loyalty programs, AR makeup try-ons, to implementing personalized marketing automation, Sephora has always been at the forefront of combining technology and emotion, helping customers feel cared for in every small detail — whether they are shopping in-store or online.

As the number of customers increases, the experience becomes more “diluted”

Before the automation system, Sephora faced the same problem that most businesses are facing:

• Sending bulk emails, lacking personalization → low open rates.
• Disjointed messages between email, website, app → customers do not feel “brand consistency”.
• Marketing teams are tired of having to manually send small, continuous campaigns.

As customers grow exponentially, all efforts manual care becomes ineffective.

Instead of “touching” the right person at the right time, brands accidentally send the wrong content to the wrong audience.

Solution: Automate the journey – personalize each touchpoint

Sephora completely changed its strategy by introducing automation into its customer care process.

Every action from signing up for a newsletter, adding a product to the cart, to a birthday becomes a trigger activating the appropriate care chain.

Specifically:

• When a customer signs up for a new account, the system immediately sends a personalized welcome email, helping to increase the open rate by 86% above the market average.
• If a customer leaves their cart unchecked, after 24 hours, the workflow automatically sends a reminder email with an offer - helping reduce the cart abandonment rate by 5.2%.
• On your birthday, Sephora sends you a congratulatory message with a gift that matches your preferences.
• Customers who haven't been back in a while will receive a series of "We Miss You" emails with exclusive offers.

All of these activities are completely automatic, without the need for human intervention.

The system automatically streams, personalizes content, sends at the right time, and saves all interaction data to optimize for the next time.

Results: Personalization doesn’t just make an impression – it generates revenue

According to a report from WBR Insights and Socital (Sephora Greece):

• Average revenue per subscriber increased by 142%.
• Personalized email open rates were 80–86% higher than mass emails.
• Subscriber numbers increased by 118% in just 9 months thanks to automated workflows.
• Email automation accounts for 3.3% of online revenue at Sephora Greece Lap, largely from orders recovered via shopping cart emails.
• Globally, digital revenue (email, app, web, push) will contribute 30% of total retail revenue by 2024.

It all comes down to one seemingly simple principle: Send the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

Why Is Automation Marketing So Effective?

Automation is not just a tool to cut down on effort, it is the golden key to building deep relationships and sustainable growth. Its power lies in its ability to turn generic interactions into uniquely personalized experiences:

• Customers feel understood: Each message is written for them, based on their specific behavior, not for a vague customer "file". This drives superior conversion rates.
• Free up your marketing team: Manual, repetitive work is fully automated. This frees your team up to focus on big strategy, innovative content creation, and deeper analytics.
• Data centralization, optimized decisions: All customer journey data is aggregated in one place. This is a solid foundation for optimizing content and refining the customer journey continuously.
• Continuous brand emotion: The brand is always present in a subtle way, not "forgotten" among hundreds of other promotional emails. This consistency fosters long-term loyalty.

Case in point: Sephora doesn't just sell cosmetics, they sell experiences nurtured by small but consistent messages. That is the power of Automation.

Vietnamese SMEs can do the same thing

Hearing Sephora, you might think that Automation is a playground for billion-dollar corporations. That's not entirely true!

The power of automation is now within reach of Vietnamese SMEs.

• You don't need a technical team of hundreds of people like Sephora or Amazon.
• What you need is a smart platform that can automate the customer care and nurturing process (Lead Nurturing) effectively.

This platform needs to meet the core criteria: Flexible, Easy to use (no need for complex programming), and Cost-effective.

That's why GTG CRM Automations was born. We help small and medium-sized businesses turn sophisticated marketing strategies into reality, optimizing every interaction without spending huge resources.

GTG CRM Automations - Turn the customer journey into a self-operating system

With GTG CRM Automations, you can:

• Send emails, messages, and notifications automatically according to existing or self-created scenarios.
• Personalize content according to customer behavior, preferences, or status in CRM.
• Intuitive drag-and-drop workflow design, easy to control the entire process set.

For example:

• When customers register for a form → the system automatically sends a welcome email.
• After 2 days of no response → send a reminder message by AI.
• When a customer clicks on the link → moves to the “after-care” scenario.

Every action is recorded in the CRM, helping you know exactly who is where in the journey and what the next action should be.

Automation not only saves time; it helps you build seamless, personalized, and memorable experiences.

Conclusion

Sephora has proven that automation is not a luxury technology, but the smartest way to build customer loyalty in the digital age. With GTG CRM Automations, small businesses in Vietnam can do the same: personalize communication like big brands, nurture existing customers effectively, and increase revenue without expanding staff. One system, multiple touchpoints, all automated, that's the future of customer service, and you can start today.