How Snif drove a 23x ROI and incremental profit with TryNow

"We knew our product would speak for itself once it got into a customer’s hands. Our free trials have effectively brought new customers in with a seamless experience and kept them coming back for the scents they love.”

- Bryan Edwards, Co-Founder of Snif

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About

Snif is a premium fragrance company that provides customers with high-end, non-toxic, and eco-friendly products. Since October 2020, the brand has built a reputation as the first and leading try-before-you-buy shopping experience for unique scents. From award-winning fine fragrances to an ever-growing variety of candles, Snif makes finding your favorites more accessible and convenient.

Challenge

A reimagined fragrance shopping experience was built on TBYB

Before the brand officially launched, Snif sought to solve a specific shopping pain point: finding a fragrance you like without navigating a pushy sales experience. So co-founder Bryan Edwards wanted to offer customers a way to sample novel fragrances at home until they found one worth keeping.

Because customers want to sample fragrances before committing to them, Bryan knew returns might be a problem for an online fragrance retailer. So he invested countless hours into finding a “try before you buy” (TBYB) customer experience for their Shopify store. After searching for applications to enable their TBYB vision, they decided on TryNow and began integrating with their shop.

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“I’m not good at knowing if I will like a scent just from a description, so being able to burn a candle and know what it’s like before buying is huge for me!”

- Snif Shopper Lauren, Needham, MA

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Solution

TryNow helped Snif perfect its shopper-focused TBYB program

Investing in TryNow to establish a new standard for fragrance retail served as a crucial tool for customer acquisition. Fragrance is a product that needs to be tested. Customers have to trust the brand or scent if they plan on spending money on a high-quality item. And returns for fine fragrances or candles can be costly, for both buyers and sellers.

Snif launched their business on TryNow’s platform when Snif launched in late 2020. They have expanded from a pilot program of select fragrances to a wider array of products. And other brands in the fragrance industry have noticed, with some trying to compete by offering similar TBYB programs to keep up.

From Bryan’s standpoint, it reinforces Snif’s product market fit while serving as “confirmation that we were on the right track.” Of course, that’s in addition to the revenue boost TryNow helped them unlock.

"TryNow’s rate of deploying new features and improvements has been remarkable, and it’s all in response to feedback that teams like ours give them. Their flexibility, adaptability, and willingness to go above and beyond to make us happy has made for an amazing partnership."

- Bryan Edwards, Co-Founder of Snif

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Results

Snif stands out with TBYB fragrances, powering $ millions in incremental sales

Since Snif started using TryNow, 80% of the brand’s trial orders ended with at least one item kept, bringing new shoppers in and converting them into loyal customers. But a high keep rate isn’t the only sign that customers love Snif’s TBYB program.

At the end of the trial period customers receive a survey about their experience. The consensus? Customers love using TryNow. In fact, 91% of TBYB shoppers said they would be “very or somewhat disappointed” if Snif moved away from the program.

In the first three years of its TBYB journey, Snif recorded transformative results:

• 80% keep rate with TryNow
• 23.1x ROI after accounting for incremental return costs
• 91% of shoppers associate Snif with its “7-day free trial”

Partnering with TryNow helped Snif lead a dramatic shift in online retail for fragrances. Looking ahead, Snif aims to expand trial offers to all of its latest products and keep new customers coming for a novel shopping experience.

For Bryan and his team, it’s also validating that customers associate a “try first” customer experience with the Snif brand.

"As we think about category expansion or new products, we always filter ideas through a lens of, ‘Does this make sense for a customer to try before they have to commit?’ TryNow has always been a fundamental tenet of the way that people can experience Snif online, and we don’t see that changing."

- Bryan Edwards, Co-Founder of Snif