Dollar Shave Club Review: The Art of Smooth Shaving
Glory-Anna Oshafi
The main challenge people face with shaving is the side effects it brings, such as ingrown hair and irritation. The Dollar Shave Club (DSC) solves that problem with its shaving kit, which leaves a smooth and nice finish.
While they don’t have many reviews on their website, they have a few praises from happy customers describing how the brand has efficiently met their expectations.
Besides customer satisfaction, we commend their website design and the beautiful blend of captivating colors with calming vibes. Furthermore, the idea of joining a club promotes a sense of community with exclusive perks that can attract customers.
The design is just one aspect of the website we found impressive. Now, let’s do a complete Dollar Shave Club review.
Comprehensive Features Analysis
What differentiates Dollar Shave Club from other brands? We’ll answer this question by analyzing different aspects of the websites and rating them out of 10.
Product Descriptions and Collections 8/10
Besides the fundamental shaving items the DSC sells, they offer shower, body, and hair care products. Using the following metrics, we’ll analyze how these products are organized and if their descriptions are persuasive and relevant for search engines.
- Clarity and Descriptiveness
The descriptions of the DSC products are benefit-focused. See the description of a shaving handle below.
They explain to customers that the handle was designed to provide control. Some people accidentally cut themselves because of poorly designed handles that slip. Seeing that as a problem, the DSC provided a non-slip solution and highlighted it in the product description.
The highlights of the description are the bullet points that list the benefits. It makes it easy for readers to skim through and get the conviction they need to make the purchase. Then, they have two collapsible sections to provide usage tips and recommend other products.
For some items like the Post Shave Recovery Gel (see the image below), rather than the “Compatible Products” collapsed section, they have “Ingredients.”
This section informs customers of the safety of the product. It’s not added as an extra collapsible item but as a replacement to keep the page’s look clean. We also like how they infuse humor and relatability into the product descriptions.
For example, the last benefit of the shaving gel in the image above says, “Won’t help you recover from leg day, will help you recover from a shave.” This line can get a chuckle out of readers, and of course, people buy driven by emotions.
- SEO vs. Readability
Reading the descriptions of the DSC products is fun. It’s comprehensible and informative, especially about the benefits. Don’t forget relatable, too. But are the descriptions optimized for SEO? Let’s see.
We did a Google search for “shaving handle,” a high-competition keyword, and here’s the result.
The DSC appears as number 3 on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). They also appear in product results. This shows that they take SEO seriously. But they can go harder with keywords to top SERPs.
- Creativity and Branding
In rating the creativity of the DSC in naming their products or collections, we’d give them a 5. However, the brand was created for men. Going by that logic, it makes sense that they keep the product names simple to connect with their key target audience.
For example, shaving cream is just “Shave Cream.” See the image below.
The names are simple and efficient. On that ground, we can give them a 10. It fits their brand. Then there’s the color blend.
It uses neutral colors like navy blue and contrasts it with the vibrant orange color to create a sense of stability that’s appealing to the target audience.
It’s important to state here that the brand also caters to women.
- Organization of Collections
The DSC products are categorized into two menu items. Within these categories, there are sub-categories, as shown in the image below.
This promotes ease of finding a product. Additionally, the menu items are not confusing or overwhelming, improving the customer experience.
- Visuals
The DSC product images are clear graphics that show the product’s shape and colors. While navy blue is a dominant color for the brand, they make their products in other colors, too.
They add the available color palette to the product page and have corresponding images for each color. Check out the cool blue color of this shaving handle.
We also like the tags on some images that help users identify the club members’ favorite items or new additions.
The “Member Fave” tag can stir up curiosity in new buyers to see why it’s a favorite. It’ll also give them the assurance they need to make a purchase.
User Experience 9/10
The DSC website’s user experience is smooth. Navigating through pages, both on mobile and PC, is easy. The products are efficiently organized into different collections to make shopping easier. Also, the product page isn’t congested with too much information.
Essentially, visitors breeze in, seamlessly find what they need, and easily checkout. The search function facilitates shopping even more. See the image below.
Customer Service and FAQ Page 7/10
Customers can access the help center page of the DSC website from the footer and header.
The help center opens up to the FAQ page, where the questions are divided into different categories.
As you can see in the image above, the page also has a search function to aid in finding answers. From the FAQ page, customers can navigate to the contact page, where they list three contact methods.
Customers can talk to a live agent from the website and Facebook or send an email. While the current customer service options are helpful, the introduction of faster response times, such as live chat availability outside business hours, could elevate the customer experience. The DSC could look into improving that.
Return and Shipping Policies 9/10
DSC has refund and shipping policies that are accessible from the website’s footer.
The refund policy is straightforward. They offer a 30-day full refund policy.
As for the shipping policy, it was concisely explained in five sentences, making it easy to digest the information.
The only problem is the accessibility. The product pages should have hyperlinks to both the shipping and return policies because it’s easier for customers to find them there.
Promotions and Discounts 8/10
The DSC website has an orange banner advertising free deliveries on orders above a certain price. This promotion is hard to mix because of where it appears and the captivating orange color of the banner against the cool navy blue of the rest of the footer.
Another discounted option they give customers is shopping in bundles. Customers get multiple items cheaper. For example, buying each product in the Clear Skin Kit will cost you $26. But you save $4 when you buy it as a bundle.
There’s something else they offer called “The $5 Starter Set.” You will find it on the homepage when you visit the site. The package contains products that originally cost $24.50 but go for $5 to new members.
Plus, the shipping is free. This promo encourages new members to try the brand at little to no cost to themselves.
The Starter Set concludes the available promotions at DSC. So, they don’t offer many areas for discounts and promotions. But new members get a memorable treat.
Special Features and Innovations 9/10
One of the special innovations of DSC is the “Build Your Routine” option.
This feature encourages customers to take a quiz for personalized DSC product recommendations. For example, the quiz prompts you for answers to questions like where you shave, how often you do it, and the problems you encounter after shaving.
With your answer, you get product recommendations that solve the problem. This personalization improves the customer experience because they get the products that address their needs.
Another feature to note is the Club Chronicles. It’s a creative name that refers to helpful articles or blog posts for customers. We like how they include a related Club Chronicle at the end of every product page. See the club chronicle on the product page for shaving cream below.
This helps customers learn more about how to care for themselves. If you look closely at the shot above, you’ll see where they indicate how many points customers earn for buying the shaving cream. That’s right, they offer a rewards program. Rewards programs encourage loyalty and repeat business.
Strengths Showcase
The strength of the DSC brand lies in its personalized recommendations, humorous tone, sense of community, and affordability of the products. Let’s discuss each of them.
- Sense of Community
The idea of the DSC is like a gentlemen and ladies’ club you join to get shaving and body care products with exclusive perks.
This promotes a sense of community that encourages customer loyalty and engagement. Additionally, DSC’s reward and referral programs play a vital role in strengthening this community feel, making customers feel part of something special.
- Personalization
The brand pushes a customer-centric narrative through its personalized recommendations. You answer a few questions to communicate your previous issues with shaving.
Then, they recommend products that solve that problem.
Offering effective personalized solutions to customers will make them repeat customers.
- Affordability & Branding
DSC products are not only high-quality but also affordable. This makes premium shaving and body care accessible to a wider audience. DSC is also known for its humorous and friendly tone.
Their communication style helps make the brand memorable.
Growth Opportunities for Dollar Shave Club
- Community Forum
The DSC brand can benefit from having an online community forum where members can share tips, discuss grooming routines, and provide product feedback. They can even get user-generated content from the forum.
They can choose platforms like Discourse to host the forum and incentivize customers to join the discussion with loyalty points. In other words, they should make a virtual club where everyone can talk.
- Customer Service
Another area for improvement is their customer service. On weekends, customers can’t get replies to their queries from live chat. They only have canned responses, which may not be helpful in some situations.
Even on weekdays, replies only come within working hours. Plus, it takes minutes to get a response. They need to improve their customer service by finding quick and effective solutions to customer inquiries. It’ll help build trust and loyalty.
Final Rating
Rating Breakdown
- Product Descriptions and Collection: 8/10
- User Experience: 9/10
- Customer Service and FAQ Page: 7/10
- Return and Shipping Policies: 9/10
- Promotions and Discounts: 8/10
- Special Features and Innovations: 9/10
Overall Rating—8/10
The Dollar Shave Club is a customer-centric e-commerce shop that provides affordable and quality shaving kits. The brand is currently doing great in the market but has the potential to become a global movement by creating a community forum.
They can also improve their customer service by integrating efficient AI-powered chatbots for 24/7 assistance. Fortunately, we can help with that.
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