I started my career in skincare as an aesthetician who depended on clients seeking professional advice, so many people are surprised when I say that I’m trying to give customers the tools they need to be their own experts. While it might not make sense on the surface for me to cannibalize my own business in this way, I wholeheartedly believe that it’s actually a better business strategy to empower customers by providing substantive and reliable skin guidance—for free. Here are just a few of the ways that my company, StackedSkincare®, is guiding consumers towards expertise.

Be a Reliable Source of Proven Knowledge

At StackedSkincare®, we have invested an incredible amount of time and effort building an expansive library of skincare content for our customers. Our rationale is simple: we want to be the resource for all our customers’ skincare questions. Whether we have a product to treat their specific concern is inconsequential; by adding value to their lives in the form of information, we’re building a lasting relationship based on trust and mutual benefit.

There’s so much incorrect and uninformed skincare advice out there. As customers become more and more barraged by information, it’s even more vital that they have a trusted resource to consult. They’re already consuming the content; make sure you’re the one serving it to them.

Create Products that Validate Your Customer’s Intelligence

When I first launched my line, one of my premiere products was my Micro-Roller, a device that at the time, was pretty much only used by aestheticians and skincare professionals. While other brands might not have trusted their customers with a tool that contains hundreds of tiny needles, I believed that my customers were intelligent enough to use something this advanced. This trust in my customer’s intelligence meant that I was one of the first to go to market with this kind of tool, and I’ve been repaid over and over again for believing that my customers can follow safety instructions and know what’s right for them.

It’s this faith and trust in my customer that helped me launch my Dermaplaning Tool—another device that was once reserved only for in-office treatments. Again, I invested in safety and a patented design to make it as foolproof as possible. But without the trust in my customer, I never would have launched these groundbreaking tools in the first place.

Feed Them Science, not Marketing Fluff

I’m not a fan of trade secrets, marketing ingredients added in at useless concentrations, and other techniques that the skincare industry uses to woo customers. As customers become more and more suspicious of brands and their motives, they become less and less susceptible to this kind of messaging. At Stacked, we flip the script—providing substantive knowledge about our formulation choices and our techniques. Sure, it opens us up to copycats, but it makes our customers feel more in charge of their purchasing choices and turns them into informed advocates for their own skin.

Bring on the Innovation, But Make It Easy

At StackedSkincare®, we attract customers who love doing it themselves when it comes to their skincare. We validate that passion by providing them with safe and effective tools and methods. But we also continue to provide them with newness over and over again—things they never thought possible to do themselves. That said, we also try to make things as simple and accessible as possible. There’s an important balance here: we give the customer the tools to be their own expert, but also make it simple. If we go too far in either direction, we’ve lost the magic touch.

At the heart of our company is the belief that people are their own best advocates for their skin. Our customers have proven themselves to be intelligent, insightful, and curious. By acting as their partner on their journey toward becoming a skin expert, we hope to build a relationship that outlasts trends and fads.