A Message to our Clients about Epic Rewards

[sephoraadmin2]

Sephora is committed to offering our valued Beauty Insiders exceptional rewards to thank them for their loyalty and for being part of our community.  Yesterday we held an Epic Rewards promotion, and while we have held similar promotions in the past, yesterday’s promotion was the largest number of Epic Rewards we have made available to date.

Despite our best efforts to predict the response, demand was overwhelming, resulting in our being out of stock very quickly. We deeply regret this and apologize to our Beauty Insider clients who did not get a chance to participate.  

At Sephora our first and foremost priority is to give our clients an exciting and fulfilling shopping experience.  Those Beauty Insiders who were unable to get one of our limited quantity Epic Rewards, please email us by Tuesday, August 25, 2015, to epicrewards@sephora.com and include your Beauty Insider account number or email address associated with your account. 

Beyond that, please know that we are committed to learning from this experience. Thank you for your ongoing support. We greatly appreciate you.

Sephora is committed to offering our valued Beauty Insiders exceptional rewards to thank them for their loyalty and for being part of our community.  Yesterday we held an Epic Rewards promotion, and while we have held similar promotions in the past, yesterday’s promotion was the largest number of Epic Rewards we have made available to date.

Despite our best efforts to predict the response, demand was overwhelming, resulting in our being out of stock very quickly. We deeply regret this and apologize to our Beauty Insider clients who did not get a chance to participate.  

At Sephora our first and foremost priority is to give our clients an exciting and fulfilling shopping experience.  Those Beauty Insiders who were unable to get one of our limited quantity Epic Rewards, please email us by Tuesday, August 25, 2015, to epicrewards@sephora.com and include your Beauty Insider account number or email address associated with your account. 

Beyond that, please know that we are committed to learning from this experience. Thank you for your ongoing support. We greatly appreciate you.

**********************

Updated August 17

Thank you to everyone who has been reaching out to us about Epic Rewards. We value your feedback and recognize your ongoing loyalty to us, and we are working to get back to you quickly.

To that end, please know that if you have contacted us you will hear back from us in direct response to your inquiry during the period between Tuesday, August 25th through Tuesday, September 1st. The timing of the response to you will depend on when we received your initial contact regarding Epic Rewards.

If you haven’t contacted us yet, please email us at epicrewards@sephora.com. We’ve set up this dedicated mailbox to collect the right information quickly and accurately, separating you from the queue for general Sephora inquiries. When you email us at this address, it will generate an automated response that confirms we’ve received the message. You can then expect to hear back from us as quickly as possible with more information.

Please know that our team is listening, and we take your concerns to heart. We value your support, and we will be in touch soon.

With our sincerest thanks,

The Beauty Insider Team

*************************************

Updated September 1

Thank you to everyone who reached out to us about Epic Rewards. We have reached out to all of those members who emailed us on or before August 25th, and are no longer accepting new submissions. epicrewards@sephora.com has been closed. Please contact us at 1-877-SEPHORA (1-877-737-4672) regarding any other questions or concerns. We have reviewed your feedback and are taking it into consideration as we plan for future promotions. Our loyal Beauty Insiders are enormously important to us.

[ALW31427]

I totally agree with this! I had the Becca in my cart and it dissapeared and then added the NARS and that too dissapeared. That was the frustrating part....not having enought time to complete checkout.

[kimmiec2524]

I've posted my feelings on this disaster in a few places now, so I'm not going to recap those. HOWEVER, it's HILARIOUS that you guys think we're dumb enough to buy the story that "despite your best efforts to predict the response, demand was overwhelming, resulting in our being out of stock very quickly."

I'm POSITIVE you guys have Site Catalyst. You can see every click any one of us makes on the Sephora site. You can see how many people have visited your Epic Rewards site. I'm POSITIVE you guys have a team of marketing analysts, whose FULL TIME JOB is to predict response for these kinds of events. You've screwed it up numerous times, so you guys should have a pretty solid model in place by now. 

Also, anyone who thinks Sephora paid for the original rewards is kidding themselves. The products were most likely given to Sephora as promotion for the brand...in most situations like these, the brands actually pay the retailer to be "featured" in such a promotion on top of that.

[Pishimonmishi]

Bravo! These people did not learn from the Watergate scandal. The coverup screws you over more. Just admit you lied and cheated your customers. 

[Anonymous]

Good point. Also, they could have predicted the response rate based on the surge in sales from the previous x2, x3, x4 points promo. 

[NBenna]

 Offering us more points is not going to do one thing. What are we supposed to do with them? Redeem them for samples that we can get for free? That is honestly b.s. The best thing you can do for your company is offer WAY better rewards for 500 and maybe 1000 points. That is the only way I think I will feel better.

[Anonymous]

One of the major flaws with how this promo was executed was- If you're not going to inform the customers the specific time that the promo is to be run, at least make sure the supplies last longer than 3 minutes to account for the customer not knowing the time. Unless of course it is expected that everyone sits at their computer and refreshes all day, which is not reasonable. 

[rlm121]

Very disappointed that I couldn't get one of the 1000 pt rewards.  Wonderful promotion, but worthless if you don't have enough stock.

mikrho@suddenlink.net

[fabulous44]

Epic Rewards was an Epic Fail...it wasn't a lottery, nor was it advertised as one...all that was said was that quantities were limited. In a lottery the quantity is limited to one. Sometimes a few people share a lottery, but usually only one. I am so disappointed in Sephora right now...it was a fictitious scam as far as I am concerned.

I applaud  you Starletta!! You said it best...

[trishavt]

. 

[Anonymous]

I so agree! I just started wearing makeup 5 months ago at age 61 and of course was smitten with Sephora...I rapidly became Rouge and also Platinum at Ulta. I have found the 100 point perks to be little reward for my ample spending since many of the samples are things that Nordstrom gives free and most especially when compared to Ulta's cashback program. Last week I received a box using my saved up $$$ with the Lorac Contour Palette, a Born This Way, some Living Proof curl styling cream, a Tarte Lippie and blush combo,  a set of four Clarisonic brush heads, and TEN packs of their great large oval cotton pads- and NO cash outlay on my part. It made me so happy with being a customer there! Meanwhile my latest 100 point perk- Origins Night-a-Mins, came on a card that made me feel I was made to spend $100 for something that sshould have been free...

[Anonymous]

I'm uncomfortable honestly with how they held this right after their point mulitplier event. It feels honestly manipulative. They should have known the response because very recently they had another large perk event. It wasn't last year, it was a few months ago! So really this just felt like a gimmick to get people to take more advantage of the multiplier and that they really had no intention of making this any more than a lottery. And honestly, offering me more points? What so I can use them on samples of items that I can get else where for free? Sephora's point system is in bad need for an overhall and I feel like they've been going in the absolute wrong direction lately. 

Honestly since the last large perk event, I've been taking my money to Ulta more and more. I feel like their system is so much more straight forward. I get to get cash back for every dollar I spend. I recently got a BECCA foundation for basically free. I found it to be a much better use of points than how Sephora has it set it up. 

And I can't help but notice that other than send us more points that this apology doesn't really offer up any solutions for the future. This just shows me as a customer that Sephora really has no intentions of becoming a better company and would instead rather just give me more meaningless points. 

[BrideSona]

The previous Epic Rewards were also after point multiplier events. This is nothing new. And they did say in the fine print EXTREMELY limited. Would you have felt better if they said only 25 of each was available? Maybe it would have given people a better understanding of what they ment by extremely limited.

[AnnaKay]

I was disappointed for 2 seconds that I did not get an epic reward, although I didn't try as hard as a lot of other people, I just checked the rewards page a couple times that morning then continued on with my work. I shrugged it off thinking if I really wanted one of those items I could just buy it. The only thing that bothered me slightly was employee getting it then saying they might get it in gratis anyways. Not for me, I'm fine without a reward, not heartbroken. But it was unfair for the people who didn't sleep that night hahaha. Then I realized that maybe a maximum of 20-30 employees could've gotten a reward, and that wouldn't change much. There would still be thousands of people complaining without rewards. 

BUT: 

• There is NO WAY Sephora was going to give away like 50,000 reward packages. They mentioned the quantities were very limited. I feel like that's kinda the point. 
• It would be so stupid to announce a specific time. Everyone who shops at sephora would just be on at once and crash everything. There would be a MUCH smaller chance to win if a time was announced. At least this way there was luck, like the lottery. With a specific time there would've been way more "competition" and much smaller odds of winning. I considered staying up at night for a split second, then I saw the amount of traffic on the forum and immediately realized it was going to be too overwhelming. 

Theres literally nothing they they could've done. It was a lottery that's it. At first I was giggling about people  threatening sephora, but honestly this is ridiculous lmfao. Returning everything to punish sephora?  Wtf? That's insane. Why would you guys go through all of that? 

As adults, you made the conscious choice to stay up all night to play a lottery. You had to have known that less that 25% of the customers were going to get it. Although we didn't know the quantities, we knew there was no way they would give away tens of thousands of rewards. 

The only thing this has brought to light is that Sephora should integrate better rewards occasionally. Not a trip to Paris or a box of 20 eyeliners, obviously something more reasonable but better quality than the usual. Possibly providing more incentive to collect points. 

To expect Sephora to send out rewards to each disappointed person as an apology is like expecting the lotto companies to send out a $5,000 check to everyone who didn't win the jackpot. It defeats the purpose. 

It sucks. People stayed up all night and didn't win. But people stayed up all night without guarantee, just a CHANCE. The website glitched and crashed and took items out of carts. That's the internet, it's not tangible, it's a tough problem to fix. S*** happens. 

[HotGeekGirl]

Bravo AnnaKay! I'm bummed I didn't get the "prize" I wanted, but I'm not irrationally infuriated. I used the 4x points promo as an excuse to buy extra stuff, and then spent some time refreshing my screen (it was my day off work, no harm no foul), and then didn't get the prize I'd been obsessing over. Those were all my choices and I could have opted out at any time. 

And I continue to have choices: I can be a big grownup girl, choose to learn from the experience and move on, OR be bitter/angry/resentful and loudly complain all over the place and then take it out on innocent Sephora customer service reps, whose jobs this week have probably been pretty miserable. BT is obviously a natural place to vent and commiserate, and that's a good thing for all of us. But at the end of the day, I choose not to be angry about the debacle, and I choose not to give Sephora any more heII than necessary beyond simply stating that I felt let down. Being angry causes wrinkles and unhappiness, not just for me but for the ones standing in the wake of my rage as well. It's just not worth it. 

Don't get me wrong, a part of me may always wish I'd gotten that magical unicorn YSL palette, but eh, ya win some, ya lose some. On to the next.

[lessthanepic]

Dear sephoraadmin2,

I'm delighted that you are committed to learning from this experience; the lesson I'll be teaching is that when longtime customers feel cheated and taken advantage of, we take our business elsewhere. And we tell EVERYONE we know about the bad service we received.

Ciao!

[grilledchz]

I really appreciate the apology. Thanks.

Sephora, the best thing you can do is offer excellent 500 and 1000 point perks year round.  I'm talking full size desirable products, not sets of throwaway deluxe samples that I get for free elsewhere. If I can spend my points on something I see as valuable, I'm more likely to want to earn more points.  And then I won't freak if I can't unload my points on a mega reward. Those of us who have thousands of points have them because we don't see value in current perks, not necessarily because we're saving up. 

[Fernleaf]

I just have to say. "Bravo!" to Sephora.  I really have to hand it to them from a business standpoint, since these 'rewards/perks' must be VERY entertaining on their end to watch/read how people go crazy over you.

The ability to make people look like thousands upon thousands of peons scraping food off of the floor for only 100 or so pieces of food is pretty ingenious.  

You have us eating out of your hand and coming back for more like an abusive relationship.  

Sephora is probably full of narcissistic people that got excited watching/reading the "hunger games" of Sephora.

[RoxyDoo]

I would appreciate if there were some nice 500-1000 point rewards available. A full sized lipstick and liner in a popular color.  Please no more deluxe sample kits for 500 points. Department stores give those away.

[starletta8]

I'll reiterate what I've been saying elsewhere on the board. My only hope is that someone at Sephora may read it.

Yes, Sephora, I'm furious about this. And I have the right to be, even though I had low expectations. I have been trying to snag one of these fleeting rewards for the past THREE rounds and have yet to be successful. That's not a reward; that's a lottery.

That said, I'm not entitled to anything other than the opportunity to get one of these. And that, Sephora, is why I'm most upset. I was on the site, on multiple platforms, and refreshed at the right time. Never did I see anything come into stock; I was not even given a chance despite hitting the lotto in terms of time of day. That felt like a true bait and switch or a gimmick. I found it to be shady that quantities were not released in the T&C.

I'm happy for those who were able to get rewards; they won the lottery. Clearly the backlash from these past two rounds should be becoming abundantly clear. Simply handing out more points as a "oops, sorry" doesn't really cut it if we aren't ever realistically going to have the opportunity to cash in those points for something that the customer sees as value.

And no, Sephora, I fail to see 100 deluxe mini mascaras as equivalent to the Marc Jacobs reward or one of the trips. 50 mini cleansers is not the same as the Armani set or the Elizabeth & James set. Please don't try to patronize us by suggesting that they're equivalent in any way, shape, or form.

I've been a VIB Rouge since day one; I requalified for 2016 in February of this year. After the last two rounds, I've been moving business to retailers that don't make me play games for my loyalty. I love my local store, but hate the feeling of being taken advantage of. The lack of even opportunity to redeem my 10K+ points reeks of that. I know as a retailer that you don't owe me anything, but I've been giving you my loyalty in exchange for a rewards system which seems inherently unfair on its surface when it comes to this reward.

If you're giving compensation points, you're making the situation worse for next time when there are a larger group of people with inflated point totals. Likewise, holding the epic rewards right after a point multiplier felt disingenuous when so few could realistically redeem. That's not rewarding those who have been loyal for years.

Like others on the board, I hope that you take a hard look at these offerings; a more fair approach would be to offer some of the 2K/5K rewards (particularly handbags& beauty sets) at a much larger quantity and have enough to go around until we've exhausted the points. I'm not suggesting unlimited trips; companies have marketing budgets and you could certainly come up with some great cross-promotions. Heck, I've got plenty of ideas that I'd be willing share.

Instead, I just feel like a fool. Fool me one, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me this third time (yes, I've never been able to get one of these rewards), and I should be seriously ashamed of myself. 

[albablue]

My thoughts right there! I also felt like a fool, and hate to play games to get a "reward". Maybe some people find these lotteries/games enjoyable, I do not.

[liv545]

That was very beautifully put. This was my first time trying. It was awful.