Samantha Kent, chief growth officer of family-run LaDove, was inspired to start a pure beauty line, The Cleanest Lab, after her younger sister Ashley was diagnosed with Leukemia.
The Cleanest Lab is a haircare and skincare line that goes beyond clean beauty to use better ingredients for people who have extra sensitivities or might be dealing with health concerns or diseases.
One way The Cleanest Lab evaluates its ingredients is by considering what it does for the end product. “A lot of preservatives get a bad rep. However, it's more dangerous to somebody with a disease to have a potential exposure to a bacteria than an exposure to that preservative,” Samantha says.
In the world of beauty and personal care, few people match the pedigree of Samantha Kent. She grew up around beauty, playing with formulations and filling them with fragrances and sparkles as a child.
Now, Samantha, along with running The Cleanest Lab, is part of the third generation to help run the family business, a beauty product manufacturing company based in Florida. LaDove has manufactured products for some of the biggest beauty brands, including Tigi Bedhead and the John Frieda haircare line.
Samantha brings all the experience she’s learned growing LaDove to The Cleanest Lab. She believes focusing on the product is the most important part of growing a brand because it’ll make the company stand out to customers.
Why focusing on product is the most important
Samantha’s experience on both the manufacturing and branding side of the beauty industry is unique. She’s helped launch dozens of products for other brands, in addition to her own and she’s noticed the successful ones have one thing in common—a commitment to quality products. Here’s why.
1. It’ll help you communicate with your manufacturer
Reputable manufacturers don’t want to create a mediocre product. They’ll want to work with brands to develop a real partnership. Samantha puts it this way: “It takes just as much effort to create something that you'll produce once as it does to create something that will be around for years to come.” LaDove ensures that when it starts to work with a new brand, the budding business has a long-term plan and vision for its products, including a distribution strategy.
You don’t have to know everything right off the bat, though. Samantha says the most important thing to remember when communicating what you want the product to do is to provide as much context as possible about why people need it. That’ll make it easier for the manufacturer to find ingredients and processes that meet you and your customers’ needs.
2. It helps steers your product pipeline
A focus on product will also help you stay on track as you expand into other products or categories. Even though Samantha sees inspiration for new products daily, she remains true to The Cleanest Lab’s mission. “The special part about the Cleanest Lab is the fact that it is specially formulated for people with extra sensitivity and you're selecting ingredients and formulations in a thoughtful way,” Samantha says.
And she believes it’s important to spend the extra time getting it right. She says customers will notice right away when you cut corners. However, the best feedback is from your own use. "If you're not obsessed with your product and it's not the only thing you use, you probably need to spend more time on its development," she says.
It’ll grow your repeat customer business
Thoughtful and intentional product development will also pay dividends if you’re able to convince people to start a habit around it. “You can get somebody to buy a product once, but the most important thing is they use it and they love it. Then you have a customer for life,” Samantha says.
And, you might be surprised at how willing people are to try new beauty products, even in a crowded market. "There is always space,” Samantha says. “Just when you think everything is there, somebody comes up with something that pushes the boundaries and gets everybody excited again." That’s one of the reasons she’s proud to be carrying on the family tradition and putting her own sparkle in it.
To hear more about Samantha’s manufacturing tips and her journey to build The Cleanest Lab, listen to the full interview on Shopify Masters.
