Our Company Told Women They Were Putting Bras On The Wrong Way And It Went Viral. Here’s What We Learned About Education Marketing
In the fall of 2017, Brittany Packnett bought one of our bras at ThirdLove. And when she saw the tag, she was shocked.
It was the same tag we’ve been using for several years, which tells women how to put them on:
- Start by wearing your bra on the loosest hook.
- Gather each breast into the cups.
- Tighten the straps every other month.
She tweeted out a photo, and the tweet caught fire. Suddenly, we had all kinds of women reacting to what sounds like a fairly simple set of directions.
But the reality is: Most women had no idea they were putting their bra on wrong every day.
I certainly didn’t before I got into the industry.
And women related to this for the same reason. Most of them had never heard of these points before, either. We still get comments from stunned customers telling us no one ever taught them how to do this.
I think the real story here is how important it is to educate your customers. Not dictating what they should do, just presenting them with the necessary information to make decisions for themselves and to get the best experience out of the product you are providing to them.
Here’s why educating your customers is the best decision your brand can make:
Informed customers make ideal decisions.
The ultimate goal of education is to make the customer happy.
It’s about sharing what you know to improve your customer’s lives, not just through the product, but through real, valuable, often overlooked information.
I’m truly an average bra wearer, not a lingerie aficionado. I’ve never worked at Victoria’s Secret, and I don’t have an elaborate ‘bra story’ to tell. But I’m a woman who wears a bra every day — and for years I didn’t have one that fit me well.
That’s why I started ThirdLove. It’s not about how I’m different, but how I’m like the vast majority of women.
As it turns out, I was wearing the wrong size bra, just like 80% of women out there. I learned this at 33 years old, and now it’s my mission to make sure other women have that information available to them.
Educating customers is really just about presenting the information and letting them choose what they want to do.
But if they don’t have the necessary information, that limits their agency to make choices on their own. Honestly, the best customers are empowered by information, and they use it to make great decisions when purchasing products. If you tell them what they need to know, they’ll stick with you for the long haul.
It’s the opposite of pushy marketing.
As a brand, we never want to force a product. Our customers are smart and can make decisions for themselves.
They just need to have the right information.
Our goal has always been to create a buying experience that feels like you’re shopping with your best friend. Someone who really knows what they’re doing and can help educate you on things like putting on a bra, finding the perfect fit, how to care for bras so they last.
The emails we send after a woman gets her bra include little reminders to help them have the best experience possible with our product. I know that when I have content sent to me that’s educational — but not pushy — I feel more willing to engage with the brand and check out what they have to offer.
The outreach feels more natural and a little friendlier.
It builds your credibility.
Just about every company wants to have a personal connection with customers.
They want to be a brand people trust. The brand they return to over and over again because they know they’re going to get a quality product, even if they’re trying something new. And in my mind, that comes down to educating the customer and being a thoughtful partner. It’s not just about selling stuff. Plenty of companies do that.
You only become an authority once you’ve built trust.
For instance, if you search for various bra-related terms like “bras,” “t-shirt bra,” or “bra size chart,” ThirdLove is the number one ranked company on Google. That’s not an accident. It’s because we’ve created real content that supports our claim of being an authority on bras, sizing and finding the perfect fit.
In almost every niche, you can probably think of one or two companies that stand out. The ones you perceive as credible and trustworthy.
I guarantee you those brands spend a good amount of time thinking about how to educate and connect with their customers.
