With over $17 million in funding and a business that has grown by over 500 percent in the past year, Curology is on a mission to provide personalized prescription skincare for acne and anti-aging directly to tens of thousands of subscribers

Curology sets itself apart from other skincare companies by offering their patients customized combination treatments and one-to-one interactions with licensed dermatology providers.

To achieve this personal touch, its team of marketers need a growth marketing platform that can deliver highly personalized content and relevance at scale.

Iterable’s Impact at Curology

In the past, the growth marketing team at Curology used two separate platforms to manage email and SMS campaigns. Data silos hindered the company’s ability to build robust subscriber profiles and deliver personalized messages in real time.

“When two communication channels don’t talk to each other, you can’t execute cohesive user engagement campaigns. With Iterable’s true omni-channel platform, we know we can provide the seamless experience that our patients expect,” says Fabian Seelbach, VP of Marketing at Curology.

Now, by partnering with Iterable, Curology has eliminated its data silos and increased its treatment plan compliance by 14 percent by incentivizing its customers with highly relevant messages.

For example, members receive a daily SMS reminder to apply their acne treatment. Those that do are rewarded with a funny gif, encouraging patients to stick with their prescribed treatment regimen.

Using Iterable’s visual, drag-and-drop Studio, Curology can now identify which members aren’t engaging via SMS, and reach these individuals with targeted email follow-ups, tracking email and site metrics to ensure that they’re achieving relevance across all marketing channels.

This true omni-channel approach to supporting patients throughout their journey has improved Curology’s customer engagement by 26 percent, increasing revenue by 10 percent.

Targeted Text Messaging to Teens

At Curology, licensed dermatology providers create treatment plans and customized formulas; to ensure their patients’ success, they need to know if patients are following through on those plans and what the improvement looks like.

“It sounds simple, but getting teenage patients to apply their medication every night is difficult,” says Seelbach. Sending a daily email reminder fell short as a solution, which led the Curology team to add SMS messaging to their campaigns.

Now, thanks to Iterable’s flexible data model, Curology can create custom events for any customer data point, including whether members have uploaded a recent photo of their skin’s progress.

Those who haven’t are segmented and sent a targeted SMS, reminding them to send a photo update and explaining why it matters. Most importantly, members are able to snap a selfie and respond directly to the text—dramatically reducing the friction in patient-to-provider response rates.

Curology’s segmentation becomes even more sophisticated during the customer journey. Email follow-ups are triggered automatically if members haven’t shared a photo in a designated number of days.

These dynamic segments are leveraged in other email campaigns as well, creating a cohesive customer experience that directly results in higher engagement.

How Does Curology Work?

Curology’s mission is to connect customers with highly customized prescription skincare for acne and anti-aging—and that sense of connection and customization needs to shine through its marketing messaging as well.

To keep its young user base engaged with the product and in dialogue with the team of dermatology providers, Curology has mapped several highly specific communication touch points.

But there’s no one-size-fits-all to how—or where—members interact with the brand, so flexibility is paramount.

Here is how it works:

• The onboarding campaign is triggered by Iterable when someone signs up for a Curology subscription.
• Habit forming is paramount to Curology’s growth rate, so users are invited to participate in a 21-day challenge, receiving daily SMS reminders to apply their customized formula as prescribed.
• Based on the individual’s behavior, personalized emails may also be sent to increase their engagement.

This measured approach to SMS and email messaging is part of an in-depth process to drive relevance at every stage of Curology’s customer experience.

The company uses Iterable to ensure that members are following their skincare regimens and achieving better outcomes. And as Curology’s marketers can attest, the more satisfied customers become, the greater the impact on top-line growth.