Beauty Insider Updates + Beta FAQs

[SephoraBIC]

UPDATE 1/25/2020: Thank you for sharing your feedback. The functionality has been fixed to opt into the Beta. Please continue to share your feedback with your experience by commenting below or by emailing beautyinsidercash@sephora.com.

UPDATE 1/24/2020: Thank you for sharing your feedback. We also know that the functionality isn't working for everyone. Due to the overwhelming response, we’re actively working to get the site back up and we recommend checking back Saturday, 1/25, in the afternoon.

How will the Beauty Insider program be evolving? What can we expect to see?

We will continue to evolve the Beauty Insider program throughout 2020 to bring members more access to savings, more sampling choices than ever and new, unique experiences that can’t be found anywhere else. Stay tuned for more updates in the months ahead!

What will be included in the new savings offering?

We will continue to offer all Beauty Insiders premier access to more opportunities for savings. Members will be able to take advantage of new types of savings events, including points multiplier events and new shipping deals. More details about savings benefits will be shared in the coming months, so be sure to check your emails and the Beauty Insider Community regularly.

What are the new experiences you are offering to members? Sephora has always offered premier beauty experiences to our BI members, and in 2020, we will go beyond beauty to offer our clients access to wellness and lifestyle events as well. On top of the tiered choices and never-expiring points that all members will continue to benefit from, we are excited to offer early access to new brand launches, as well as a range of new premium reward experiences, where clients can use their points to gain exclusive access to the most coveted beauty events and experiences.

What will more access to sampling look like in the new Beauty Insider program?

We will bring Beauty Insiders exclusive access to even more sample choices, trial sets, and birthday gifts so they can try more products from the brands they love. We will be sharing more details throughout 2020, so stay tuned for more updates!

Which program benefits are going away as part of these changes?

We are always looking for ways to improve and enhance the client experience. In order to implement some of the program updates, we’ve retired the choice of a tier celebration gift and unlimited custom makeovers for Rouge.

What’s evolving and new in the BI program?

We are always looking for ways to improve and enhance our client experience and bring the best to our most loyal beauty enthusiasts. Clients’ needs and preferences are always changing and we want to ensure the Sephora experience and Beauty Insider program evolves with them.

Can you share more details about the Beauty Insider Cash Beta test?  

We are testing an idea that would allow members to apply points to their purchase for an amount off. The beta test is a limited trial online and at select stores in the U.S. and Canada until 2/28/2020. At Sephora we are always looking to evolve our loyalty experience and look forward to hearing from our clients.

How many times per purchase can I use Beauty Insider Cash offerings during the Beta test?

Participating Beauty Insider Beta members can apply the test offer once per transaction. Your transaction must be $10 USD/CAD or more before tax, shipping and handling to use Beauty Insider Cash.

How does the Beta test work? Is there a difference between online and in store?

We have selected nine stores in the U.S. and eight stores in Canada to participate in the cash Beta test.  For our online Beta test, we invited Rouge members via email to participate on a first-come, first-served basis.  Please see below for the stores that are participating.

U.S.

(Limited to participating stores in the Bay Area, California)

Sephora Corte Madera Town Center

Sephora Daly City

Sephora Embarcadero

Sephora Laurel Village

Sephora San Francisco Centre

Sephora Santa Rosa Plaza

Sephora Stonestown Galleria

Sephora Union Street

Sephora Vintage Oaks Shopping Center 

Canada

(Limited to participating stores in Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver, British Columbia)

Sephora Coquitlam

Sephora Guildford

Sephora High Street

Sephora Metropolis

Sephora Park Royal

Sephora Richmond

Sephora Robson

Sephora Ste Catherine

Who can participate in the online Beta test?

We invited our Rouge members to be part of the test on a first-come, first-served basis.  The sign-up period will close on 1/29/2020, or as soon as all spots are full.

I opted in to the Beta test. If I don’t use my points for $10 off before the end of the pilot, will I lose them?

No. The Beta test is an opportunity to try out a new offer, but you will not lose points if you ultimately decide not to participate in the test before 2/28/2020.

How do I give my feedback about my experience/benefit?

We will be sending a survey to anyone who applied the offer in the Beta test. To share feedback outside of the survey, members can email us at beautyinsidercash@sephora.com or comment on this thread.

I was invited to take part in the online Beta test, but it’s closed. How can I join? 

Unfortunately, our online Beta test is limited to a certain number of participants. A closed page means we have a full list of participants. You can still share your thoughts on the Beta test with us at beautyinsidercash@sephora.com or by leaving a comment on this thread.

I am Rouge—why didn’t I get an invite to the online Beta test?

The invitation was sent to Rouge members who signed up to receive emails from Sephora and acquired their status by 1/15/2020.

Does this Beta test mean Rouge Reward is going away?

Not to worry, Rouge Reward is not going away and will not be affected by this test. With your help, we want to test a new experience offering instant savings.

Are there any exclusions when I redeem my 500 Beauty Insider points for $10 off?

Yes, please see restrictions here: Benefit cannot be applied to gift card purchases, in-store services, previous purchases, gift wrapping, packaging, taxes, or shipping & handling charges. Return of discounted merchandise will be for the price actually paid after the $10 benefit, neither the 500 BI points deducted from your BI account or the $10 benefit will be refunded. Exchanges of the same item will be credited for the full transaction value including the $10 benefit. Sephora is not responsible for damaged, lost, or stolen offer materials. Offer has no cash value without a purchase and may not be altered, sold, bartered or transferred. Rouge status must be attained prior to participation in the pilot, by 1/15/2020. Minimum qualifying merchandise purchase of $10 (before tax, shipping and handling) is required to redeem 500 BI points for $10 off and benefit may only be used once per transaction. Due to heavy demand, Sephora FLASH delivery times cannot be guaranteed for orders using this benefit. Not valid on orders shipping outside the U.S. or Canada. Cannot be used in conjunction with other offers or rewards. Sephora may modify or cancel the pilot at any time for any or no reason. Sephora may exclude a Rouge member from the pilot for any abuse of the pilot or violation of the pilot rules.

[Siun]

Yes to all of this!

[Dahlia19999]

SEPHORA, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.

[falmc]

INSULTING. are you kidding me? I first started getting disillusioned with Sephora when my two day shipping showed up more than a week later with random samples I didn’t pick. But the insane amount of money we need to spend, to get PENNIES back. Think of something better please. I probably will go straight to the website of brands I’m looking to buy from as an alternative. 

[RGbrown]

Back when the Rouge Reward was first introduced, I thought that 2500pts for $100 was a *terrible* joke. Horrible value. Bad deal. 

Then the $50 one came out, and Sephora proved it could get worse. Ditto the $25 one. I thought surely we had reached rock bottom.

Boy was I wrong.

I don't keep a large points balance and am currently around 1600; I tend to spend some here and there on smaller items. All of my gift bags this year had the micro Tweezermans from before Xmas (but if I had realized how small they were, I 100% would have passed, sigh). I have a weakness for the mini perfumes, and so on and so forth. Now I sincerely regret not saving up my points for one $100 Rouge Reward before those quietly exit stage left as well (I have a feeling they will...), but I'm certainly not going to spend another $600 just to have enough points for one either. 

[jozkid]

Nope. Just nope.

Over the last couple of months I've tried to rid myself of my points. I bought one of the $25 rewards (and I felt dirty afterwards). And by some miracle I managed to get a $100 reward recently. I currently have 91 points. So thankfully, I can't even participate in this.

If Sephora really wants to target younger customers with money to burn for the privilege of carrying the black & white bag, so be it. As others have stated, you're not the only game in town — and there are other stores (for instance Nordstrom, Bloomie's and Saks, etc.) that carry brands even more luxe. Do what you have to do Sephora... and so will I.

[riverchild]

THIS...IS...WHY...I...SHOP...AT...ULTA!

[Sephora85Maven]

So is the 100 dollar reward going away???

[keelybt]

@Sephora85Maven The Rouge Reward will still be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[DrMama1]

It hasn't been, and I've been on the site at the stroke of 9am PST to check

[ChanelWorld]

I got one two weeks ago on a Thursday, but it wasn’t there at 9:00 it popped up at like 9:15...

[amanda0543]

I wanted to share why I do not want to be part of this program: This sounds like a terrible deal. As a rouge member I have to spend $333 to get $10 back--that's a 3% return on my purchases. It's also half the value of the $100 reward 2500 points are supposed to be able to get me. Scrap this program and stock more of the $100 rouge rewards so they aren't constantly out. 

I'm concerned that you are planning on replacing the $100 reward program with this. The $100 reward program is part of why I stay a Sephora exclusive shopper, as the 6% I get back on my purchases coupled with the 20% off discounts makes it worth it to stick with Sephora. If you start scrapping those programs it will no longer be worth it to keep shopping with Sephora.

[Dublincalling]

Agreed!!!

[veronika23]

Here's my feedback.

[heartsmyface]

@veronika23  Hahahahah,  omg.  It’s like someone is trying to take Sephora down from the inside!  

[veronika23]

@heartsmyface  I just don't understand their "logic"... I didn't feel like writing a whole post about it and since a picture is worth a thousand words... well there you go. 😄 😄 😄

[amyrs1]

$10.00 for 500 points? Wow this is a bad offer. I’m surprised someone in corporate or whoever thought this would go over well. This is a horrible value. The 500 point rewards sets in the rewards bazaar, whether it’s skincare, makeup etc all have a value over $10.00. This offer is almost insulting.

[TabbyCatKidd]

Agreed, I think $10 for 500 points is under cutting.  Ulta I think gives $17 off or something close to that off for 500 points.  

[lawgal2005]

At Ulta, 500 points can be cashed in for $17.50 in products.  But that’s not even the biggest disparity.  At Ulta, you can aggregate your points for even better returns - 1000 points translates to $50 off, and 2000 points gets you $125 worth of product.  Plus Ulta has way more opportunities to earn 5x (or even 10x points).

[Ldoro]

I guess declining sales and more competition from Ulta has finally spurred Sephora to make much needed changes to your rewards program. However, this solution falls not only way short, but totally FLAT. I've been Rouge for 3 years and this will be my last year. Prior 2019, Sephora was my first choice when it comes to buying makeup. However, Ulta's robust rewards program has finally won me completely over. That, and insulting "rewards" offers like this BETA test. 500 point for only $10 is anemic at best and pathetic at worst. The $100 rewards benefit was nice, but it's virtually non-existent since it's impossible to get due to extremely limited quantity. Currently, the only thing you get for rewards are samples that only serve to add clutter to my life. Rouge shipping is now 3 days, and usually longer than that. There is no more reward or advantage to being Rouge, or for shopping at Sephora. Right now, I have 1068 rewards points with Ulta which entitles me to $50 cashback and I'm not even at the rewards top tier. I've already decided to continue shopping and spending in order to get the $125 rewards which will be much easier to achieve since they frequently offer 2X and even 5X points events. I never thought I'd see the day when I would prefer shopping at Ulta than at Sephora, but the day has finally arrived and this BETA offer has only solidified my decision. I will only be shopping at Sephora for Sephora Collection products. And for those products not sold at Ulta, I will check with the brand first before turning to Sephora. I do hope, Sephora, that you get it right one day. I would be happy to come back. Until then...BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

[03ub]

AGREED! Bye Sephora. Your loyalty program sucks!

[PointsHoarder]

This is completely ridiculous. Right now (if you're rouge) you can spend $1666, receive 2500 points and redeem it for $100 that has a million restrictions on it and you guys only put out small numbers of the reward to increase hype. it's infuriating. That's 6% cashback... NOW you're wanting Rouge members to spend $333 to receive $10? That you can't even stack with other $10 rewards so you're forced to spend more money in order to get the reward? That's 3% cashback. It's insulting. At Ulta, I can spend as little as $400 and get $125 back. THATS THIRTY PERCENT CASHBACK. THIRTY. AND they dont put ridiculous restrictions on it to screw us over. THAT Iis how you drive customer loyalty. I'll be purchasing elsewhere until you guys get your crap together.