Benefit Cosmetics UK saw an impressive increase in checkout conversions after switching to Bolt

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“I know that I can see it in the numbers that people are finding Bolt way easier. There’s not as much friction going through checkout, and I think that ease of use is reflected in our better results.” 


UK Ecommerce Manager at Benefits Cosmetics

Working in ecommerce for almost a decade familiarized Ursula Casserly, <a href="https://www.benefitcosmetics.com/en-gb" target="_blank">UK Ecommerce Manager at Benefits Cosmetics</a>, with the closed-off nature of checkout experiences, but that all changed when she began working with Bolt.&nbsp;In the past, she found that changing anything checkout-related was a nightmare. Even something seemingly benign could drag on for months and required input from multiple stakeholders, and even then, there was no guarantee her efforts would work.Now, with Bolt, she has more control of the checkout experience. “Bolt listens to our input in shaping the product we ultimately give customers,” she says, “I feel I can now get my hands dirty and contribute to the checkout process based on what I see on the site, what I see in the market, and what I think our customers want.”She saw this firsthand when the company onboarded Bolt. Bolt’s One-Click Checkout addressed Ursula and the global teams’ need to have a seamless checkout experience across their global entities—one that automatically localized address fields, languages, and currencies without sacrificing the customer experience. Bolt’s experience in the UK, Europe, and globally brought a certain level of comfort to the Benefit’s Cosmetics team, but the integration still came on the heels of a busy holiday season.&nbsp;The holidays are a notorious time when shoppers flock to retailers' websites and then never buy anything. In the fourth quarter of 2021, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1254962/cart-abandonment-rate-in-the-uk/#:~:text=When%20shopping%20for%20goods%20online,the%20UK%20were%20not%20completed." target="_blank">nearly 80% of mobile orders in the UK</a> were abandoned at checkout. So it was imperative that Bolt didn’t just launch in time but it had a smooth launch before potential shoppers flooded in.&nbsp;“We were in a learning phase [with Bolt] during that busy period, and, by all intents, we’ve seen some really positive developments since,” said Ursula.&nbsp;In the months after going live with Bolt, Benefits Cosmetics saw a meaningful uplift across all its sites. For the UK channels that Ursula owns, there was a 22.5% increase in unique visitors, and 24.2% increase in checkout conversion rates.&nbsp;More people were visiting the Benefits’ website, and even more promising, they were converting into shoppers. But surely, that initial surge came from the holiday season, right? Not entirely. Bolt Accounts across all of the company’s sites have averaged 21% higher order values than guest accounts.&nbsp;“I know that I can see it in the numbers that people are finding Bolt way easier,” Ursula said, “There’s not as much friction going through checkout, and I think that ease of use is reflected in our better results.”&nbsp;Besides a frictionless experience, customers are also gravitating to the mobile-friendly checkout process and the ability to use alternative payment methods. People in the UK love using their phones, and not just for scrolling TikTok or finding directions. Many use their phones to shop while on the go. A Paypal study found that almost <a href="https://www.paypal.com/uk/brc/article/paypal-commerce-index-social-and-security-top-of-mind-for-uk" target="_blank">three-quarters of UK consumers</a> prefer the convenience of shopping on mobile devices.&nbsp;“The majority of our [UK] customers use mobile and Apple Pay, so now that we have both, it’s become a much quicker way for shoppers to checkout in their preferred way,” according to Ursula.&nbsp;It has been a success on almost every front. But all great partnerships don’t come without some hiccups along the way. Early on, Ursula ran into an issue where postcodes were auto-populating incorrectly. Getting this wrong meant thousands of orders would be sent to the wrong address. A solution for something like this would have taken weeks, if not longer, with another provider, but Ursula and the Bolt team found a quick workaround without disrupting the customer experience.&nbsp;“It instilled a lot of faith and trust in Bolt, which was a nice place to be when we hadn’t been working together for a long period of time,” she recalls.Bolt continues to look for new ways for Benefits Cosmetics to expand its footprint in the UK and its other regions.“Bolt is essentially an extension of our Web team. We collaborate closely on strategic roadmap initiatives and are able to easily roll out new features across our markets based on local needs,” says Cindy Shen, VP of Global Commerce at Benefits Cosmetics.&nbsp;A few of the more exciting initiatives include social commerce and subscriptions. With Bolt’s Checkout Everywhere, Benefit Cosmetics could have the ability to turn social media into a shoppable, one-click surface. This is particularly interesting for Benefit Cosmetics because a growing number of people discover beauty products on social media and could lead to new, meaningful revenue streams for Benefits Cosmetics...&nbsp;The partnership has also freed up time in Ursula’s busy schedule. “[My role now] is more strategic than firefighting,” she says, “I’m looking into the future and thinking what we can do to increase and improve different aspects of the business.”&nbsp;

Benefit Cosmetics UK saw an impressive increase in checkout conversions after switching to Bolt

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