Clarifying Priorities: Three Strategic Pillars at Claudie Pierlot
Founded in 1984 by its eponymous designer, Claudie Pierlot was born from a clear ambition: to embody the image of a free, elegant, and empowered Parisian woman. Accessible yet refined fashion, both feminine and urban. Since then, the brand has evolved without betraying its original spirit, integrating modern values like digitalization, responsibility, and personalization. Now part of the SMCP group, the brand has gained international traction with a strong, immediately recognizable identity.
But beyond the collections lies a fully thought-out strategic vision. Claudie Pierlot is undergoing a profound transformation, built around three major challenges. Far from tactical tweaks, these priorities express a strong ambition to permanently redefine the brand’s value proposition — stylistically, economically, and socially.
1. Enhancing Desirability
Claudie Pierlot is focused on reaffirming its silhouette — making it more current and modern while remaining true to its DNA. This involves injecting new energy into the design studio, reinforcing the role of accessories in the collections, and revisiting iconic pieces that have shaped the brand’s legacy. The goal is to keep captivating its loyal customer base while expanding to a wider generation by establishing a more powerful, embodied, and instantly recognizable aesthetic.
2. Adjusting the Business Model
The second priority concerns the brand’s economic structure. Claudie Pierlot is committed to building a structurally profitable, healthier, and more sustainable business over time. This means reducing both the frequency and intensity of promotional campaigns, while still capitalizing on major commercial events in the fashion industry calendar. In other words, the aim is to move away from discount dependency, rebuild perceived brand value, and still seize relevant seasonal opportunities.
"Our ambition is to move toward less aggressive, less frequent promotional mechanics, and instead capitalize on brand desirability and customer preference rather than deep price discounts." – Jenna Mollet, Digital & CRM Director.
3. Accelerating the CSR Trajectory
The third pillar of Claudie Pierlot’s strategy is a significant acceleration of its environmental and social transformation — now structured and recognized. In 2024, the brand earned the B-Corp certification, a major milestone and both a recognition of the work done and a guiding framework for future progress.
In this context, Claudie Pierlot is rolling out several concrete initiatives:
- Reducing carbon footprint across the entire value chain
- Adopting more responsible sourcing, with close attention to raw materials and production methods
- Committing to biodiversity, notably through regenerative agriculture projects
Beyond environmental concerns, the brand also carries a strong social ambition. In 2025, a major cause was selected through a vote by headquarters and retail staff: “bringing joy to women affected by illness,” a cause deeply connected to the brand’s history and the legacy of Claudie Pierlot herself.
A Brand Guided by Action and Rooted in Reality
There is no rigid or frozen strategy at Claudie Pierlot. Instead, the focus is on thinking, testing, and executing — a true culture of experimentation. The brand’s CRM team has evolved its practices based on strong foundations: collaboration, boldness, and a test-and-learn mindset.
Claudie Pierlot explores a wide range of CRM use cases with Reelevant. Some have proven highly effective; others, while less performant, provided invaluable insights.
1. Personalized Product Push in Newsletters
One of the first levers involved enhancing newsletters with a personalized product push section at the bottom, reinforcing the brand’s client-centric approach. The idea: highlight products that are truly relevant for each customer based on recent interactions with the site. The logic follows several layers:
- If a customer viewed products, those are automatically surfaced.
- If she added items to her cart or wishlist, those are prioritized.
- If there’s no recent activity, best-sellers are shown.
The block also includes personalized price logic: during promotional periods or sales, the discount is recalculated in real time to show a net personalized price, giving customers a clear perception of the value offered — without relying on generic strikethrough pricing.
2. Personalized Product Push in Trigger Emails
To maximize the performance of automated emails, Claudie Pierlot embedded personalized product blocks into trigger emails — including the post-purchase welcome and the prospect welcome (sent to new subscribers who haven’t yet purchased). Each message now includes a dynamic module pulling in:
- Recently viewed products
- Items added to the cart or wishlist
- Best-sellers if no behavioral data is available
The goal is to stimulate engagement just after signup or first purchase by tailoring content to each customer's context.
3. Boosting Repeat Purchase Rates
One key challenge identified by Claudie Pierlot: purchase frequency is relatively low, with more than a year on average between two orders. To address this, the CRM team implemented a Reelevant-powered personalization zone in emails targeting second purchases or purchase anniversaries, based on:
- Customer lifecycle stage
- Time since last purchase
- Type of product previously bought (and its likelihood to trigger a complementary need)
4. Lifecycle-Aware Messaging Without Overload
Instead of treating all customers the same, Claudie Pierlot chose to adapt communications to lifecycle stages. The objective: deliver the right message at the right time, depending on each client’s journey with the brand. CRM teams designed dynamic lifecycle banners appearing in the newsletter header, integrating key touchpoints and associated offers:
- Post-signup welcome message
- First purchase follow-up
- Purchase anniversary
- Customer surprises throughout the year
- Birthday message
Depending on a client’s stage, a different banner will be shown. If a client qualifies for two messages, business rules prioritize one over the other.
5. Live Polling: Listening to the Customer in Real Time
In a context where capturing soft signals is crucial, Claudie Pierlot introduced live polling to refine customer knowledge and personalize experiences on the fly. This use case was tested in mono-product emails, displaying the same product four times in different contexts to learn from customer feedback. Responses were immediately used to update declared CRM preferences — helping the brand understand each customer’s taste, even beyond transactional behavior.
Although the performance of this initiative didn’t meet expectations, the team plans to revisit it with a new approach.
6. The 100% Personalized Email
Claudie Pierlot pushed personalization further by creating a fully Reelevant-powered email, where every element of the message is personalized — not just a single section. This email was tested under three approaches:
- A category-focused version, e.g. jackets
- A color-themed version, e.g. white products only
- A price-based version, showing only discounted items with real-time price recalculation inside the email
7. And Many More Ideas to Come
Only a few cases were presented, but many others are already in production or in development. A few notable ones:
- A “selling fast” product push, highlighting items with low stock based on customer preferences or past activity, creating contextual urgency without falling into traditional promotion mechanics
- Personalized store information for each customer, such as changes in hours, renovations, or temporary closures
- Smart integration of customer reviews in post-purchase surveys — using existing reviews to encourage others to leave theirs
These initiatives continue to build on a well-established trajectory: useful, elegant, and finely tuned personalization.
Personalization That Serves the Customer
The results speak for themselves. From a business standpoint, Claudie Pierlot has closely monitored the impact of Reelevant on newsletter-generated revenue across semesters. Having launched the collaboration in early 2024 in 3 of its 7 markets, Claudie Pierlot saw the share of revenue from Reelevant increase as follows:
- First half of 2024: Reelevant accounted for 5.68% of total newsletter revenue
- First half of 2025: Reelevant accounted for 12.36% of total newsletter revenue
Beyond performance, the brand has also seen significant internal productivity gains, thanks to automation. A great example for any company aiming to combine relational excellence, strategic impact, and internal efficiency.
