Sales increased by 20% after introducing U-KOMI! We have been able to utilize reviews in our newsletter and get even more reviews!
Case Study Interview
Master Kimi is a company that develops and sells shampoos and cosmetics. Facing the challenge of a lack of reviews on their e-commerce site, they implemented U-KOMI and were able to acquire a large number of reviews in a short period of time, resulting in a 20% increase in sales. By featuring these reviews in their email newsletters, they were also able to attract even more reviews. In this interview
, we spoke with 高杉様, who is in charge of U-KOMI operations at the company, about what prompted them to adopt U-KOMI and the results they’ve seen.
Starting with promotional sales of massage creams, the company now sells shampoo and cosmetics online
First, could you tell us about your business?
Our company primarily engages in the planning and sales of shampoos, creams, and cosmetics. The catalyst for our current business was a collaboration about 20 years ago with 君嶋秀幸様, who previously ran an osteopathic clinic in Miyagi Prefecture and served as a national trainer for the Olympics. Through this partnership, we began manufacturing and selling a massage cream designed to relieve muscle tension.
Previously, our main sales channel was “event-based sales”—selling the cream at sports clubs and similar venues. However, about five years ago, sales at these locations became difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we launched online sales. At that time, we also began using the essence from the massage cream to create products like shampoo.
What challenges did you face before implementing the review tool?
Initially, we used the shopping cart system included with our e-commerce platform, but we were dissatisfied with the UI and UX. Although we were working to improve it, the lack of reviews made it feel like we weren’t attracting many customers to the site, and we lacked the sense of providing personal service. We wanted to recreate the immersive sales experience of in-person events in the online space.
We implemented U-KOMI with the goal of fostering repeat customers. The ease of review management and the comprehensive support were the deciding factors for adoption.
Could you also tell us what prompted you to consider implementing a review tool and the background behind that decision?
As a small-to-medium-sized enterprise like ours, it’s difficult to spend large amounts on advertising and promotion. Therefore, rather than running large-scale ad campaigns, we prioritize turning customers who have made a single purchase into repeat customers. We believed a review tool would be effective in achieving this goal, which is why we considered implementing one.
What were the deciding factors in selecting U-KOMI from among the many review tools available?
The main deciding factor was the ability to manage and operate reviews easily and systematically. Additionally, the support during implementation was excellent; we appreciated how thoroughly they assisted us from the trial phase onward. I believe we were able to receive this level of support precisely because we contracted directly with Subspire, the developer of U-KOMI.
Its reasonable price and the fact that it’s app-based, making it easy to implement and manage, were also key factors.
We published reviews in our newsletter and garnered even more reviews. We saw significant results with minimal effort.
What results have you seen since implementing U-KOMI?
A major benefit of the implementation is that we can now review all customer feedback, including both positive and critical comments. We used to conduct surveys via postcards, but implementing U-KOMI has enabled faster responses and eliminated the hassle and costs associated with mailing. We currently have approximately 1,400 reviews, which I believe has also boosted our credibility.
In terms of numbers, our sales revenue has increased by 20% year-over-year since implementation. Our review acquisition rate stands at 12%, which is a fairly high figure for an e-commerce site selling cosmetics.
Is 高杉様 handling all review replies by yourself?
I handle them all by myself. We’ve established a division of labor where we use the AI reply feature to handle the standard parts of the responses, while I write the more detailed parts tailored to the content of each review, which allows us to reply quite efficiently.
How do you utilize the reviews you collect?
We use the reviews collected through U-KOMI in our email newsletters. We send out newsletters and LINE messages daily, and once a week, we include the reviews we received the previous week.
This creates a virtuous cycle, as customers who read the reviews in the newsletter are inspired to write their own reviews. Since some customers use this to confirm whether the product they purchased was good, I believe we’re also meeting that need.
E-commerce businesses often create and distribute brochures featuring testimonials from loyal customers, but with newsletters, we can achieve the same effect at almost no cost, making it very efficient. The actual work involves copying and pasting reviews from the e-commerce platform, making minor adjustments to fit the newsletter format, adding star ratings, and pasting product links—it’s convenient and doesn’t take much effort.
The open rate for our newsletters is around 30%, and we’re reaching about 1,000 people via LINE as well, so we’re seeing significant results. Apparently, surprisingly few e-commerce businesses utilize reviews in their newsletters, but I believe we’re making good use of them.
Finally, please let us know if you have any requests or expectations for U-KOMI.
We’re very satisfied with the basic features, but I think it would save even more time if there were a system where the AI could learn our product information and use that as a basis for writing reviews.
*Regarding the above feature, U-KOMI is currently developing a system that analyzes accumulated review data to generate automated responses.
