This was a review that could have gone bad in a hurry. Instead, a delightful customer service rep named Victoria saved the day for Estée Lauder, and for me.
But let me start at the beginning.
One of the great things about working with BlogHer is when you get asked to review products. This time I was one of the lucky bloggers chosen to receive a $100 gift card to try out the new Estée Lauder website.
Everyone knows Estée Lauder is a classic brand, with a well-deserved reputation for quality. But I have to admit it never occurred to me to visit their website.
It was a pleasant surprise to find the homepage was well organized, easy to navigate, and there were some cool tools, like the Foundation Finder and Skincare Finder.
It's always tricky to buy foundation and moisturizer online, but with a couple of quick questions these two tools proposed good suggestions for products that matched my skin type and tone. Plus the interface was fun, with nifty sliding bars, so you can pick where you are on a continuum. If that sounds confusing, just go try the tools, it will make sense when you see it.
From a makeup fiend's perspective, Estée Lauder's range of products and colors are a bit limited, but the ones they do offer are solidly on the mark -- they're not wasting our time with green and blue nail polish or glitter eyeshadow.
This is a line for women who want to look polished and pretty. You'll want to wear most of the "Vintage Jewels" holiday collection all the time, not just to parties. They have all of the important items, plus a really comprehensive range of skincare.
There were a few things about the site I disliked. Flash intros? Hate. Always a waste of time. I don't even see what's going on, I'm so busy looking for the "skip intro" button.
At times the grey text was a little too subtle. I know it's a design thing, but please: black text on a white screen is boring but effective. And some of the pages take eons to load. Maybe getting rid of those flash intros would speed things up!
In terms of content, the "How To" demos were a mixed bag. I get really impatient watching long videos, like the one for the "Classic Look." I know 4 minutes doesn't seem long, but it's an eternity when the only action is powder brush basics.
Remember to tap excess powder off the brush? That's the kind of thing you learn in Teen Cosmo. Estée Lauder's target market is...shall we say...more mature and experienced? We know the basics.
On the other hand, the quick clips that were less than 60 seconds long, like "Dramatic Eyes" and "Captivating Lips" were more entertaining and useful.
Also interesting were the Model Looks, which I liked because they were a combination of text and photos, so I could scan them quickly.
Are you sensing a theme? Yes, I like things that are quick and easy to mentally digest, especially online.
The other thing I liked about the Model Looks was that they were more sophisticated than the Classic Look. They put the products used to create the look right next to the directions, so it only takes two clicks to put it in your shopping bag.
Again, the range of looks is narrow -- behold the many shades of beige neutral eye shadows! -- but also again, universally pretty and flattering.
One of my favorite things is samples, so I was delighted to see they had a special offer for orders over $50 with a bunch of trial size treats. Also, on the special offers page I noticed that they give double points for American Express membership rewards, although it would be nice to have that pop up on the check out page.
But then again, maybe it does. I wouldn't know, because I broke the internet when I tried to checkout.
Oops.
No live chat, no "click here" for help, no link back to home page. Just a dead end page.
Good thing was the 800-number was on the page. I had nothing to lose, so I picked up the phone and called.
An exceptionally nice woman named Victoria answered, and she took the time to try to figure out how to make the site work for me.
When that failed, she placed the order for me, answered my random questions about the moisturizer I chose, and sent me a separate box of samples when I was disappointed that the special offer samples were sold out.
Victoria was awesome, and she had no idea that I was doing a review. I believe she's always an incredibly gracious brand ambassador for Estée Lauder. And that says a lot for the organization.
She apologized for the trouble I was having, shared that they'd been doing some work on the site but never bad mouthed the company. I hope someone important reads this and gives her a spot bonus.
The site and the products were good, but the thing that sets Estée Lauder apart, the thing that will make me return and spend my own money, or tell my friends to check it out, is knowing how well they take care of customers.
Well, also the incredibly moisturizing Resilience Life Extreme -- that stuff is pretty amazing. But mainly, I'll recommend Estée Lauder for their outstanding customer service.
Thank you, Estée Lauder, BlogHer and especially Victoria, for what turned out to be an excellent reviewing experience.
Check out the other BlogHer reviews here.
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