Sally Beauty's Licensed Colorist on Demand (LCOD) revolutionized how customers approach at-home hair coloring by providing free, live professional consultations through video calls and chat. I designed the end-to-end digital experience that connected Sally's online customers with licensed colorists for personalized advice and product recommendations.
After a major rebrand in 2020, Sally Beauty focused their marketing efforts around “do-it-yourself” hair color. They are the only retailer that sells professional grade hair color used by cosmetologists to the public, which is very different from the typical hair color in a box most people are familiar with. As a result, it could be a struggle to convert potential customers with less experience who often felt too intimidated to try their products. They needed a way to bridge the knowledge gap between professional expertise and at-home application.
The first iteration of LCOD was soft launched in 50 stores as an exclusively in-person experience facilitated by employees who would connect interested customers to a colorist using a tablet. When this initiative proved successful, leadership became interested in making the experience available to online customers as well.
Sally had never attempted anything this ambitious. The concept was somewhat experimental; there was nothing else in the beauty retail space quite like it. Unlike competitors who offered in-store consultations for a fee with limited availability, Sally would be offering a personalized, high-quality service accessible to anyone, anywhere for free. This was an excellent opportunity to differentiate themselves in the world of hair color and provide a unique value proposition to their customers.
The primary challenge would be scaling this promising test concept into a robust digital platform. There was little to no existing digital infrastructure for some of the more ambitious features; I knew going in that I'd be working around shifting technical requirements and potentially budget constraints.
At the beginning of the project, Sally had a dedicated UX research team who had already conducted research on the initial in-store LCOD concept. Building off their foundation I gathered insights from:
Using this information, we were able to strategize a high-level overview of how a digital experience would operate:
Taking visual design direction from branding provided by the marketing team, I designed a comprehensive booking system where customers could:
In addition to the above, a chat popup would intelligently target specific customer groups browsing pages relevant to hair color. The chatbot would handle the intake questions and then either connect the user to an on-demand video consultation or forward them to the scheduling system. It would not appear if the service was unavailable.
Once the consultation was complete, the user is forwarded to a post-consultation page with follow-up information. Retention emails are sent immediately after, 4 days after, and 30 days after.
Mid-development, I learned quickly that this project required me to be very flexible. While executives had ambitious goals, several dependencies had not yet been finalized when the UX team was handed the initiative. This forced me to regroup and re-strategize on more than one occasion:
That last one was, unfortunately, a huge blow to the quality of the UX. Not being able to pre-schedule a color consultation meant that we would have to move forward with a "first come, first serve" queue system as the minimum viable product. This of course came with its own unique challenges: How would we handle wait times? During high traffic hours there would inevitably have to be a cutoff point for the queue, so how do we communicate unavailability and avoid frustrating users as much as possible?
While this was not an optimal experience, I would do my best to work around these limitations while keeping the core value proposition intact.
The goal now was to quickly get a working product live. After the launch we would focus on gathering real-world user feedback and iterative improvement.
I streamlined the new on-demand only experience so that it took place entirely within the UI of the chat window. The user could complete their intake form in the chat then get connected to their video call without having to leave. Like the previous version, it could be accessed from the designated LCOD landing page or when a user is targeted as part of a specific customer group. Customer wait time was limited to no more than 5 minutes. If the queue passed this threshold, the session would end and the user would be told to try again later.
The post-consultation follow-up journey remained the same as the initial design.
Due to complaints about technical issues with video calls and colorists reporting that many customers would end their consultation once they realized they'd have to be on video, a text-only consultation option was introduced.
While the ability to communicate through text in the chat window experience had always been available, that was only as a backup for when audio clarity was an issue. Users were still required to be on video. This was considered the optimal experience for the colorist because, in order to provide the best service possible, it was helpful to be able to see the customer's hair. However, it was becoming apparent that there was a need for more flexibility.
Interviews with the colorists and user feedback surveys revealed the following critical insights:
In order to mitigate the bottleneck issue caused by the popularity of text chat, we started by revising our communication strategy to encourage more users to try video instead. Messaging was added to explain why video is the preferred option. We emphasized the authenticity of speaking with a professional face to face, reassured users that this was a no-judgement zone where they don't have to worry about their appearance, and pointed out that it only takes 15 minutes of their time. Stakeholders would explore technical solutions for improving video quality and connection problems.
Many of these changes were made in conjunction with the marketing team as they updated the overall branding of the LCOD program. View the full redesign in Figma here.
Additionally, it was vital to increase the speed of chat-only interactions. Options to help the licensed colorists communicate faster included text-to-speech integration and pre-written "canned" messages to copy and paste as needed. The most significant improvement was adding the ability to upload image files to the text chat. Users who declined to be on video were now required to show the colorist their hair via photo, which increased the value of the consultation and helped it progress faster.
Successfully launching LCOD required navigating complex interdependencies while maintaining design quality under shifting requirements. I learned to work more effectively with engineering teams to understand not just what was technically possible, but what was feasible within our timeline and budget constraints. Collaborating with business stakeholders meant balancing ambitious goals with realistic expectations, often having to advocate for user needs when they conflicted with business convenience. This project taught me that great UX design happens at the intersection of user needs, business goals, and technical reality. Collaboration is essential for finding solutions that satisfy all three.
If I were to continue developing LCOD, I would focus on:
This project demonstrated how thoughtful UX design can transform business challenges into competitive advantages. By staying user-focused while remaining adaptable to constraints, we created a service that not only met business goals but genuinely empowered customers to achieve their hair color aspirations.