Lush customers approve of its anti-social media strategy

Ethical cosmetics retailer Lush announced earlier this month that the brand would be changing their social strategy and ditching some accounts entirely.

It said in a statement that it was getting harder and harder to talk to customers directly and that it was “fighting with algorithms” that increasingly push people to pay for brand promotion.

Lush complained that only six per cent of its followers were being serviced by their content because they refused to pay for reach and engagement.

Since the announcement there’s been plenty of discussion about whether this is a wise move for a brand whose personality is embedded in social justice and social media. But has Lush suffered?

YouGov data suggests that Lush customers were inclined to support this decision from the outset.

They’re very slightly less likely than the average Brit to think that social media plays a positive role in society (45 per cent versus 47 per cent), but are much more likely to think that it simply helps businesses to make money (61 per cent versus 51 per cent).

Among current customers, Lush’s Buzz score (a net measure of whether consumers have heard anything positive or negative about the brand in the last fortnight) increased after the announcement on 9 April from +29.5 to a peak of +50.5.

This initial positive reaction was not mirrored among the general public, where Buzz scores initially dipped from +4.4 to +3.5.

Lush’s customer Impression scores (whether someone has a positive or negative impression of a brand) had fallen 16 points prior to the announcement (from +100 to +83.9), but then improved by 6.7 points (+90.6) afterwards, implying customers are viewing Lush more favourably now.

Consideration scores (whether someone would consider purchasing from the brand in future) among this group also improved (+84.4 to +89.3).

The increase in these metrics suggests that this will be a cost effective and positive move for Lush.

However, only time will tell if this will inhibit the brand’s ability to engage with the public and new customers.