Ulta Beauty has been accused of cleaning and reselling used makeup, by former employees. While other employees have negated the allegations, and while the brand has come forth with a response that addresses the accusations, stating that they “do not allow the resale of used or damaged products,” the risk of these types of allegations are that they are memorable enough, in a negative way, that they can cause doubt in the minds of consumers. And a little bit of doubt can go a long way over time.
Let’s put ourselves in Ulta Beauty’s shoes.
Would you want customers questioning the sanitation of your products?
No.
Would you want customers having any doubt as to whether the cosmetics they are purchasing are in fact new and unused?
No.
Not at all.
You want customers to confidently trust, beyond a shadow of a doubt, in the quality and cleanliness of your brand and its products.
The thing with these types of allegations, is that they seed doubt. There’s too much (disgusting) risk involved with the potential of used makeup – risk that can impact our health as consumers – for the doubt not to be planted. Therefore, while Ulta Beauty is proving to take the situation seriously and is responding accordingly, the reality of the risk is that a seed of doubt may very well have already been planted within their customers.
Now, does this mean customers will stop buying from their stores? No.
It does mean, however, that Ulta Beauty would be smart to pay close attention to mitigating any other types of incidents and allegations that can put their credibility on the line.
What does this mean for your organization?
It means a couple things:
- It’s important to understand, and not underestimate, the impact of emotional relatability. Just because this type of situation is not a crisis, doesn’t mean it doesn’t risk having a long-term impact on the emotional sentiment stakeholders have towards your brand.
- This particular scenario is predictable. In other words, it is a likely issue-scenario for Ulta Beauty, as well as other cosmetic and consumer goods organizations (ahem, maybe yours?). Therefore, measures should be put in place to prevent this type of activity, to report this type of activity, and to monitor against this type of activity. Ensuring it doesn’t happen in the first place, means you never have to find your brand in this type of situation at all.
So, with that said, let me leave you with this:
What kinds of scenarios, allegations, or rumors risk planting emotional doubt in the minds of your stakeholders?
Answering this question now, and choosing to mitigate these types of issues before they ever have the chance to materialize or escalate, will go a long way in helping you build brand invincibility.
Featured image credit: By pathdoc | Shutterstock
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Crisis Ready.
The book to help you build an INVINCIBLE brand.
By Melissa Agnes
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Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Nice post, Yes doubts can really hurt your brand at certain points which involve the factor of risk of losing clients or losing brand equity overall in that case what I suggest we should do is:
1. Consumer questions with reviews.
2. Try to get Feedback from customers.
3. Try to improve their experience regarding your Brand.
4. Make some personal connections with customers and try to improve their perception regarding your brand.
5. Promote videos regarding your brand portraying positive message.
Well these are few suggestion that I wanted to share, there could be many more ways to cater doubts depending on its niche. Thank you for sharing
Great suggestions, Al. The whole point is to be connected, to listen, and to find opportunities to strengthen relationships on a regular basis. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on how you might approach doing this.