From Sephora to Stardom | Makeup by Mario

Mario Dedivanovic, the world's most-followed makeup artist, wasn't always a celebrity influencer. His journey began at Sephora, where he nurtured a passion for makeup and developed a vision to create his own line. This dream materialized in 2020 with the launch of Makeup by Mario, a brand offering high-quality cosmetics and tools designed to empower individuals to express their unique beauty.

MBM's innovative formulas, luxurious textures, and inclusive shade ranges resonated with beauty enthusiasts and professionals alike. However, the existing website struggled to keep pace with the brand's rapid growth, hindering product discovery and customer engagement.

Placing Mario at the Heart of the Experience

To address these challenges, Makeup by Mario partnered with VAAN for a comprehensive redesign guided by Brand Conversion Design. This focused on three pillars: user experience, brand identity, and technological innovation.

Our first step of Brand Conversion Design was to deeply understand the user journey. Our research involved usability testing, competitor analysis, and heuristic evaluations. This revealed a cluttered homepage hindering user engagement, a disorganized navigation system impeding product discovery, and concerns around shade matching and brand transparency.

These findings led us to develop a clear vision for the redesigned website, aiming to create a platform that not only highlighted Mario's unparalleled expertise but also empowered users to embrace and enhance their individual beauty. Central to this vision was the idea that a clean, user-friendly homepage would present essential information and key products in a way that was engaging yet unobtrusive. We envisioned integrating Mario’s personal insights throughout the site to foster a deeper connection with visitors, making his expertise an integral part of the user experience.

To improve product discovery, we planned to categorize offerings by makeup looks and styles, simplifying the process for users to find exactly what they needed. Our strategy also included introducing interactive educational features, such as step-by-step application guides and virtual try-on tools, to boost user confidence and engagement. Additionally, we aimed to implement a self-serve, technology-driven tool for precise shade selection, ensuring users could easily find the perfect match. These guiding principles ensured that the website not only looked great but also delivered a functional and valuable experience for users.

To ensure our redesign was innovative and competitive, we looked at leading beauty ecommerce sites for inspiration. We observed how top brands Damelio Footwear and Pink Friday incorporated shoppable looks, interactive tutorials, and user-generated content, providing a valuable benchmark for our redesign.

By integrating these successful features, we aimed to create a website that not only met but exceeded industry standards.

The redesigned website featured a decluttered homepage, organized product discovery, interactive education features and advanced shade matching.

But the real magic came from integrating Mario's expertise throughout the website. His insights and quotes permeated the entire platform, guiding users towards the perfect choices for their needs. Product pages featured his recommendations, and the website became an educational haven with step-by-step guides and video tutorials showcasing his techniques. By placing Mario's voice and story at the forefront, we transformed the website into a personal connection between the brand and its customers.

While the “About Us” page traditionally serves as the primary space for introducing a brand’s founder, our redesign demonstrated that a founder's story can—and should—permeate every aspect of the site. Integrating Mario's personal insights and recommendations across various pages and features created a more authentic and engaging experience for users.

Why is this important? When a brand is synonymous with its founder, the About page becomes the cornerstone of brand identity and customer connection. For more insights on crafting a compelling “About Us” page and integrating a founder's story throughout a website, read our detailed article here.

Results The redesigned website’s success was evident in the metrics. A/B testing using Convert.com directly compared VAAN’s redesign to the previous site, revealing a 20% increase in conversion rate and a 22% uplift in revenue per user (RPU).