TL;DR
FKA Brands (home to household names like HoMedics and Revamp Haircare) faced a common retail hurdle: launching new products (NPD) into major retailers like Currys with zero social proof. By utilising Feefo’s Reviews Booster, they transformed empty product pages into conversion engines.
The outcome:
- A significant uplift in sell-out rates.
- Strengthened retailer relationships.
- Immediate, high-quality user feedback used to refine products before mass production.
“The process from start to finish is seamless. Feedback requests are sent in a timely manner. We get reviews back when we need them.”
Intro
FKA Brands is a global leader in consumer goods, managing a portfolio of well-known brands across health, wellness, and electronics. For FKA, Q4 (the "Golden Quarter") is critical. To ensure a successful season, they need to do all they can to help their New Product Developments (NPD) stand out on the digital shelves of their retail partners. Oliver Devalle, EMEA Trade Marketing Manager spoke to us about how Feefo helps them with this success.
The Challenge: Overcoming the customer reviews gap
While FKA Brands excels at optimising Product Detail Pages (PDPs) with high-quality images and copy, they faced a persistent "pain point": the product review gap.
Launching a new product typically means starting from scratch with zero stars. In a competitive retail environment and needing to plug a customer reviews gap with Currys - this lack of social proof can stall sales. FKA needed immediate impact to build trust, drive sell-out and capture any final product tweaks, from day one.
"We want to make sure that all of our products listed have ample support. Reviews have always been a bit of a pain point for us: we’ve never been able to plug that gap before."
The Solution: targeted pre-launch sampling for early social proof
Feefo helped FKA tackle the challenge and to provide the foundation for their key product launches.
Instead of waiting for organic sales, FKA engaged Feefo to run targeted sampling campaigns during the critical pre-launch phase and Q4.
- Demographic matching: Feefo’s selection forms allowed FKA to tap into a wide network of testers and make sure their products went to the right audience for the product (e.g., ensuring specific grooming products were tested by the correct gender demographic).
- Targeted sampling: FKA sent 10–20 units of new products to Feefo’s trusted tester panel.
- Structured feedback: Unlike standard open-ended reviews, Feefo’s testers provided structured feedback, clearly breaking down “Pros” and “Cons” – helping future customers quickly understand if it matches their needs, and their product team to easily identify changes.
"The thing I like about the reviews we get from Feefo is how clearly formatted they are. It is a nice, standardised format that’s clear, concise, and supports the everyday consumer."
The Results
The Review Booster campaigns didn't just fill the star rating gap; they created a measurable ripple effect across FKA’s business strategy.
1. Significant uplift in sell-out
Boosted reviews directly drove higher sales performance. Products launching with 10–20 seeded reviews significantly outperformed those without.
"If we compare a product that doesn't have reviews versus a product that does, the trend in sell-out is much higher. It’s clear to see that there is a benefit there."
2. Strengthening retailer relationships
Using Reviews Booster acted as "proof of concept" for retailers such as Currys. It demonstrated that FKA was "all in" on the partnership, investing heavily to support the sell-through of their inventory and reinforcing their own positive claims of their products.
"For them [Currys] to see that we're investing in the account bodes well for that relationship, and it has been well received by their buying team."
3. Accelerating product innovation
The feedback was so fast and high-quality that FKA’s product teams used it to make manufacturing changes between the first and second production runs.
"Our product teams leverage a lot of this content to impact decision making. If customers are identifying a frequent issue, they can address that for the second production run."
4. The organic flywheel
The initial boosted reviews created a "self-fulfilling prophecy." The social proof drove initial sales, which in turn accelerated the collection of organic reviews, creating a cycle of growth.
"We know the value it delivers. It’s less of a question of 'if'. It’s more of a question of 'when'. We’ll always invest in Reviews Booster."
The reviews are also used to feedback to the Board, CEO and Brand Leads on how new product launches are performing and what value they’re bringing.
Summary
This is the 4th consecutive year FKA have used Review Booster to gain quick, valuable and immediate social proof. They’ve made the most of this rich content – using it as proof of concept when talking to retailers, and listening to the feedback to make amends to products ahead of further manufacturing.
If you’d like to hit the ground running with customised, targeted pre-launch reviews, or need to give an existing product a boost, let's chat and we'll see how we can help.
