Revlon Professional’s “always on” learning platform redefines training standards for hairdressers worldwide

Revlon Professional is the home for professional hair colouring, cutting and products supplying hairdressers and salons. Revlon Professional understands that education is a cornerstone for professional brands in the hairdressing industry. The ability to provide education on products and techniques sets them apart, ensuring that hairdressers stay updated with the latest trends and products throughout their careers.

Revlon is an American multinational company in the cosmetics, perfumery and personal care products sector, created more than 90 years ago in New York City. Currently, Revlon sells its products in 150 countries and has a large number of offices distributed in major cities around the world.

The Challenge: Adapting to a changing landscape

Traditionally, Revlon Professional delivered this education through local academies and in-person salon visits. This made sense in an industry where physical presence and hands-on training are crucial and hairdressers, by nature, weren’t accustomed to digital training.

However, the onset of COVID-19 posed a unique challenge, forcing the closure of the academies and putting a stop to in-person salon visits. At this point Revlon Professional recognised a significant gap in their online education capabilities.

Adding to the challenge, different regions had distinct requirements concerning hair trends and languages. These variations made it challenging to provide engaging content globally, especially when the content was generated at the company’s headquarters in English.

Seeing a great opportunity for growth in this area, Revlon Professional decided to pivot and revamp its approach to online learning. To get started, they began benchmarking their competitors and studying different online learning platforms.

The Solution: “Always On” with Totara

Revlon Professional’s response to the challenge was to adopt a Learning Management System (LMS) that could provide consistent online training, customised to cater to the specific needs of different regions and countries. They decided to work with Platinum Totara Partner Actua and chose Totara as the ideal learning platform due to its flexibility and features. The result was the creation of an “Always On” platform, designed to empower hairdressers with education whenever and wherever they needed it.

This multilingual platform allowed each market to manage its training independently, following guidelines established by the Global Education team. Ensuring accessibility from mobile devices was vital, given that many users accessed the platform on their phones or tablets. To assess the effectiveness of the training, the platform integrates with Google Analytics to track platform usage and user behaviour, focusing on metrics like course completion rates, session duration, and user navigation.

“Totara helps us expand the range of our education, as there are limited resources and time. Totara gives us the chance to reach more people, more often with more information. Furthermore, the platform’s reporting functionality has proven invaluable for tracking performance, user activity, and other key metrics. It’s a tool that simplifies the decision-making process.”

Juan Romaguera,
Global Digital Marketing, Revlon Professional

The Result: Transforming hairdressing training

The “Always On” platform provides ongoing support and education to hairdressers and professionals across 17 regions in 10 languages. Revlon Professional uses the platform not only for new product launches but also for corporate training. They reach out to users through social media, emails, and in-person visits to maximise engagement.

With more than 9,000 users, including 1,000 active ones monthly, Revlon Professional’s journey into the world of online education continues to show promise. They value Totara’s reporting capabilities, including tracking top users and completion percentages. The platform not only works as intended but also recognises and rewards top users.

Key Results:
– A behavioural shift has occurred. Salons now utilise self-paced learning to upskill themselves on the latest products available on the market.
– Improved conversion from platform to Revlon Professional’s e-commerce site.
– Engaged platform users tend to purchase more Revlon products.

In conclusion, by working with Actua and adopting Totara, Revlon Professional has been empowered to extend the reach of their education initiatives. Actua’s invaluable support in the implementation and content creation process has saved time and effort while generating fresh ideas for performance improvement.

Looking ahead, Revlon Professional plans to further its internal staff training on the platform and integrate it with loyalty programs. Their journey into online education has been a resounding success, allowing them to expand education offerings and reach more clients with valuable information.

They’ve embraced change and innovation, ensuring that hairdressers and professionals stay at the forefront of their field through convenient, accessible, and engaging digital learning.

“Actua helps us a lot with the management of the Totara platform. They’ve a lot of good ideas on how we can adapt and implement new content or new features. They help us improve the performance and save us a lot of time and effort for sure.” – Juan Romaguera, Global Digital Marketing