Interview with Blair Skincare CEO: Entrepreneurship, Brand-Building & Loyalty Beyond Discounts

Standing out isn't just about having great products—it's about creating meaningful connections with customers.

Recently, Flaunt CEO Connor Kelley sat down with Blair Hayes, founder and CEO of Blair Skincare, for an insightful fireside chat that peeled back the layers of building a successful skincare brand and implementing a truly innovative loyalty program.

This webinar was a masterclass in adapting to market needs while staying true to one's values. Blair and Connor explored the challenges of scaling a business, the importance of choosing the right partners, and the game-changing decision to implement a loyalty program that goes beyond the typical points-for-purchases model.

There was some raw (and refreshing) honesty, too. Blair shared her experiences, from the initial struggles of running a lean team to the strategic decisions that have shaped Blair Skincare's unique position in the market.

Here are the key insights from the interview:

The Blair Skincare Story

Blair Hayes, a board-certified physician assistant, founded Skin by Blair in 2019 as a medical practice focused on aesthetic medicine. What started as a solution to meet her patients' specific skincare needs quickly evolved into a thriving skincare brand.

Initially, Blair's focus was on providing personalized aesthetic treatments like Botox and fillers. However, she noticed a gap in the skincare products available to her patients. Unable to find existing products that met her standards and addressed her patients' needs, Blair took a leap of faith and developed her own.

The response was overwhelming. What began as a single product to fill a specific need in her practice exploded into a full-fledged skincare line. This unexpected success thrust Blair into e-commerce and brand building—a world she admittedly knew little about at first.

The Importance of Mission, Vision, and Values

One of the most crucial lessons Blair learned was the importance of establishing a clear mission, vision, and values for her business.

Q: What's your top advice for business owners?

Blair Hayes: Get super clear on mission, vision, values. Like, what is your why? What standard do you hold yourself to? What are the values that you want this brand to represent? Because at the end of the day, you're going to be presented with so many avenues that you can explore. If you're so clear on what your values are and what your mission is, it helps align you to make those decisions so much better.

Rethinking Customer Loyalty

The Charlotte-based brand’s approach to customer loyalty goes beyond traditional discounting, focusing instead on value-added experiences and community building.

After a year of researching various loyalty program providers, Blair found that most solutions didn't align with her brand's values or offer the customization she desired.

Q: Why did you want or didn't want in your loyalty program?

BH: We very much want it to be value add. We didn't want to have a problem where it's like, "hey, here's $10 off your next purchase if you have 1000 points." None of [the other programs] felt any different from anyone else, and they all felt like they were discount led, and that's just not what we wanted.

The Flaunt Difference

Blair said Flaunt's customized approach and willingness to build tailored solutions set them apart from other loyalty program providers.

Q: What surprised you about working with Flaunt?

BH: The nice thing about Flaunt is that they basically built everything that we needed, so we could go to them with any idea. And, of course, different things take longer to build, but the Flaunt team will always find a way to make our ideas come to reality, which no other rewards program could. It's so refreshing to have a company that's willing to work around your needs to make you stand out, to allow you to be customized and not just do what everyone else is doing.

Investing in Quality Partnerships

Blair also emphasized the importance of investing in quality partnerships, even if they come at a premium. Her experience taught her that cutting corners often leads to higher costs in the long run.

Q: Why invest in premium services like Flaunt?

BH: Two years ago when we first started looking at rewards programs, I just remember seeing a price per month and thinking, 'Wait, so I'm paying this amount to then lose more money by giving away discounts on products?' It didn't really make sense to me. But over time, we learned the hard way that going with less expensive options can be costly in other ways.

We went with a company for subscriptions in the beginning that was just a nightmare. Yes, they were less expensive, but there was so much wrong with it. The customer experience was terrible. We were losing customers because they were so upset by how terrible the experience was. They couldn't cancel, couldn't skip, and were just getting randomly charged out of nowhere.

The amount of hours it takes to fix issues, to address customer experience problems, to meet with developers to fix things – it’s a lot. If you look at what that hourly cost is on the fixing side, you're not saving any money in the end.

Having someone upfront that will have your back, that you know what you're going to get, that you know will address any issues. I mean, Flaunt worked through the night on a couple of things for us. I know that this partnership is worth more than just some dollar amount

Thinking Beyond Discounts

Blair Skincare demonstrates the power of staying true to your brand values while innovating in customer engagement. By partnering with Flaunt, the brand has created a loyalty program that goes beyond discounts, fostering genuine connections with customers and driving sustainable growth.

For founders and business leaders looking to elevate their customer loyalty strategies, Blair's experience offers valuable insights into the importance of alignment with mission and values, and the benefits of partnering with service providers who can truly extend your team.

Now’s your chance to dive deeper into building a value-driven skincare brand and revolutionizing customer loyalty —watch the full interview here, password is x+3w@W#H

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