Key takeaways on beauty’s biggest missed opportunity for growth
- New research from Mention Me identifies three consumer profiles influencing brand recommendations: evangelists, opportunists and pragmatists.
- Pragmatists represent the biggest untapped commercial opportunity for fashion and beauty brands.
- Human recommendations remain a major trust driver, but relevance is essential for activation.
- Marketers must understand behavioural differences to unlock sustainable, organic growth.
New consumer research from software company Mention Me reveals three distinct buyer profiles shaping fashion and beauty buying behaviour.
The findings show that many of today’s shoppers make product or brand recommendations at least once a month on average, with more than eight out of 10 people having recommended a brand at some point. However, their motivations, confidence levels and triggers behind those recommendations differ significantly.
Three new consumer profiles influencing brand recommendations
The three profiles Mention Me has identified from the research are:
- Evangelists, who are natural brand advocates and recommend brands instinctively without incentive. This group has a strong emotional connection to the brands they love and share recommendations frequently and with confidence.
- Opportunists, who are driven primarily by incentives. They are willing to recommend brands, but only when a clear reward is offered. Their advocacy is transactional.
- Pragmatists, who want to be helpful but will only recommend when it feels relevant, useful and socially safe for them. They hesitate until they have full confidence in the recommendation they are making.
Why pragmatists offer the strongest growth potential
According to Mention Me, pragmatists actually represent the largest and most commercially significant growth opportunity for brands.
“Marketing teams have traditionally placed the highest value on, and invested the most in, the loudest promoters with the biggest followings,” explained Mention Me CEO, Wojtek Kokoszka.
“But our research shows that growth doesn’t come from volume alone,” Kokoszka continued. “The biggest opportunity sits with pragmatists; those customers who already like products but need relevance and confidence before they recommend. Brands that understand this shift will unlock more sustainable growth than ever before.”
Mention Me’s CMO Neha Mantri added: “This is a wakeup call for CMOs. Not all customers have the same psychological relationship with your brand.”
Mantri says that understanding the behavioural patterns of a brand’s true advocates is the next step for marketers who wish to boost organic growth.
“This is how teams can work smarter, not harder, making the most of existing loyalty and love that consumers hold for their favourite brands – and amplifying their authentic recommendations,” she explained.
Trust driven by human recommendation
The research also showed that trust still appears to be driven by human recommendations. Over half of the consumers quizzed (53%) said they most often received recommendations from friends and family, and 51% trusted those recommendations above all other sources.
“The future of growth isn’t about louder campaigns or bigger incentives,” shared Kokoszka. “Brands need to understand how different customers promote them and subsequently give the right people the necessary amplification.”
