Sometimes less is more

Every week I take a suitcase of products back to Hearst HQ, to offload into a central beauty cupboard. This isn’t a plea for PRs to send my post there instead of to my house, however. Our hybrid working approach means I’m at home more often than not, so I can’t afford to spend my office hours unboxing at my desk.

Plus, many items require testing. Since lockdown necessitated home mailings, I’ve found it very useful to have samples where I actually want to use them (ie, my bathroom).

The thing is, we beauty eds are spoilt with an outrageous number of deliveries, and my spare room looks like a Space NK warehouse. Believe me, I often bask in it like a beauty ball pit, but truly there’s only so much one person can try – and much of it isn’t actually suitable for me, or relevant for my publication.

So, where can we go from here? A few ideas:

Do double check delivery preferences now that work spaces are opening up, and ask if journalists are happy to receive deliveries.

Explore the ‘samples available on request’ idea. Make it seamless by having an automated ‘click to request’ within your email, where personal preferences can be selected.

With items specific to hair/skin type and tone, only send suitable formulas and shades. I can’t test brunette colour masks or dark concealer shades, though I’ll happily see info on them – and suggest better Guinea pigs in my team.

Consider offering testers (samples up to 20ml) instead of full-size products. This would certainly be of benefit when it comes to fragrance launches.

These won’t work for certain strategies, and I get it. But for those times when it’s a simple product send-out, some streamlining would be welcomed.