slendertone facial and building advocacy…or not…

(source)

I love my beauty products. Despite working in the industry and knowing what I do, I’m still an ad man’s wet dream. A weekly visit to Space NK is my equivalent of the candy store. Like many women I’m on a perpetual quest to find the product that will really make a difference. Actually, there are some that do their job brilliantly and which I couldn’t do without. So for me and many like me, it’s not just about false hope. I’m not averse to spending big money too. But before doing that I like to know what I’m buying, hear what other people have to say about it and even have a go. I was in the market for a Slendertone Face last autumn (priced somewhere around £300 it’s quite a big ticket item as far as beauty products/gadgets go). The stealth-like print ad campaign in places like Grazia had been just enough to whet my appetite and I was ready to part with my money. I did some trawling online looking for reviews, forums, blog posts etc. There was practically nothing and that continued to be the case for many months after the launch. There’s still not much now. I was desperate to find some substantial conversations about the product and how people had got on with it, and was amazed to find so little. In fact, I held off purchasing because I really wanted some feedback, some reassurance. It’s not difficult to work out the target audience for a luxury product like this. Slendertone really missed a trick by not creating some proper advocacy in advance of the launch that would have got customers like me parting with their cash a lot faster and feeling a whole lot better about it. If I’m honest, what finally got me down to Harrods to make my purchase was a positive review from one of my favourite bloggers, The British Beauty Blogger and to whom I am grateful on a daily basis for her great posts and recommendations. And even the Harrods experience was appalling. No one had heard of the product, didn’t know where it was kept and I was sent from pillar to post. Fifteen minutes in, I finally found a makeshift Slendertone stand, but hey, the sales assistant was out at lunch and of course, no-one could help or give a product demo. By that point I was so desperate and cross that I couldn’t wait to leave, and leave I did, despite all the odds, with my purchase made. Don’t get me wrong, I love the product and have used it religiously over the last six month. No, don’t say you can’t see the difference! But talk about a purchase made against all odds!