Review collection rate increased by 3,600%! The collection of candid feedback from customers helps to motivate employees.
Case Study Interview
Kinari Co., Ltd. is a company that develops natural cosmetics and anti-aging skincare brands for sensitive skin. Facing challenges such as a low number of reviews and long delays before customers submitted them, the company implemented U-KOMI—resulting in a 3,600% increase in review collection rates. They are now able to analyze review content and utilize it for product development and improvement. In this interview
, we spoke with 落合様, who oversees U-KOMI operations at the company, about what prompted the implementation of U-KOMI and the results achieved.
Developing natural cosmetics and anti-aging brands for sensitive skin
First, could you tell us about your business?
Our company primarily operates an online cosmetics retail business. We offer the natural cosmetics brand “Sokaboka”
and the anti-aging brand for sensitive skin, “Asmy.” The natural cosmetics brand “Sokaboka” has been in business for 23 years (since 2001) and offers products formulated with beneficial ingredients derived from specific plants to address concerns such as pores, acne, skin brightening, and anti-aging.In July 2024, we relaunched our long-selling oil cleanser as a “makeup remover oil that cares for pores,” and it is currently a huge hit. “Asmy,” our anti-aging brand for sensitive skin
, is a new brand launched by Kinari in January 2023. It offers cosmetics that provide high-performance anti-aging care even when the skin is in a sensitive, unstable state. We recommend it for those who want even more advanced care than what “Sokabokuka” provides.
"Asmy Base Care Concentrate," formulated with "iPS cell culture supernatant"—a beauty ingredient derived from iPS cells that are garnering attention in regenerative medicine—is a product that fuses cutting-edge beauty with care for sensitive skin. It is KINARI’s finest creation, bringing together the company’s expertise in using naturally derived ingredients.
Facing the challenge of struggling to gather reviews, we implemented U-KOMI
What challenges did you face before implementing the review tool?
Before implementing the tool, we weren’t able to obtain reviews immediately; it had become the norm for customers to post reviews only after a long period following a product’s launch. As a result, while our long-selling products accumulated many reviews, we struggled to gather reviews for new brands and products, which hindered user purchases.
To address this situation, we sent coupon offers (500 yen per review) via our company email to encourage reviews, but even then, we were only able to obtain a few reviews per month. Since new brands
and products also serve the mission of acquiring new customers, the lack of reviews for them was a major challenge.
Could you also tell us what prompted you to consider implementing U-KOMI as a review tool?
We had originally implemented a tool from another company, but it only displayed Instagram promotional posts on our website.
In contrast, U-KOMI not only offered social media integration but also had more robust features than the tool we were using at the time, and I found its review promotion features particularly appealing. I felt that the review promotion features were the ideal solution to the challenge of accumulating reviews for new products.
What other factors influenced your decision to adopt U-KOMI?
We compared it with other tools, but the fact that the monthly cost was relatively lower than those of other providers was a major deciding factor. While the price was comparable to the tool we were using at the time, U-KOMI’s feature set—particularly its review promotion features—was superior, so we felt it offered better value for money.
I also appreciated how smoothly it integrated with our shopping cart (via API). In our case, even API integration typically involves some development costs, but since we were able to connect via email scraping, there were absolutely no development costs involved. Taking all of this into account, the fact that we felt the risks and costs associated with implementation were minimal was the deciding factor.
Review collection rate increased by 3,600%. We also began receiving specific and constructive feedback from customers
What results have you seen since implementing U-KOMI?
A major benefit was that our review collection rate increased by 3,600%.Before implementation, we could only obtain a few reviews per month by offering a 500-yen coupon, but after implementation, we started receiving about 300 reviews per month without such offers. Previously, the process required logging into the My Page to submit a review, but I believe the main reason for this change is that U-KOMI allows users to post reviews directly from an email. That said, I was surprised that simply changing the user flow could make such a significant difference.
A significant portion of our sales comes from existing customers repurchasing items they’ve bought before, so the main path for them is from their purchase history on their My Page to the cart. However, we discovered that even among existing customers, about 60% of them browse reviews on the site before making a purchase. I had assumed that since many of them are already familiar with the products, they wouldn’t read reviews much, so I was surprised to find that so many people actually do read reviews before buying. It was also unexpected to receive reviews from long-time repeat customers who shared their perspectives as regulars.Occasionally, we even see repeat customers exchanging opinions about products through the reviews. I believe this shows just how closely everyone is reading the reviews.
Another benefit is that reviews without incentives are free from corporate bias, providing us with genuine, authentic feedback. By posting both positive and negative comments as-is, we build trust in our brand and give customers peace of mind. Since reviews are updated daily, the site feels more dynamic, and the information remains fresh. We’ve even received compliments from other companies saying, “You really make good use of customer feedback.”
While positive reviews are certainly welcome, negative reviews also provide valuable insights—often offering perspectives that differ from our own—and help us understand our customers’ candid opinions. We frequently receive constructive, specific feedback and suggestions for improvement from repeat customers. For example, based on their actual daily use, we’ve heard comments like, “The pump is hard to press; it would be better if this were improved,” which has been extremely helpful.
Since we receive many reviews from customers every day, both positive and negative feedback help boost employee motivation. Beyond our Marketing Department—which serves as the main point of contact for U-KOMI—various other departments, such as the call center and product development, are also gaining ideas for operational improvements from these reviews. We’ve never had a tool that could be utilized across the entire company to this extent before.
Finally, could you share any expectations you have for U-KOMI in the future, or any potential use cases you’re considering?
Since we have a wide range of products, we would appreciate a feature that allows users to search or filter by product name on the review summary page on the website*.
*This is currently possible via custom settings.
Moving forward, we plan to revamp products based on reviews to improve user experience and formulations. For example, the makeup remover oil we relaunched in July received around 50 reviews immediately after its release. We received enthusiastic reviews from long-time loyal customers comparing it to the previous version, and we intend to incorporate this feedback into future development.
Additionally, although we aren’t fully utilizing it yet, we plan to use the review reply feature to communicate with users. Specifically, we’d like to introduce recommended care methods and products tailored to the concerns customers mention in their reviews. To further develop the brand, we’d also like to expand into in-person events, such as hosting roundtable discussions with customers we’ve interacted with.
