Kiehl's Academy: How A Skincare Brand Elevated Learning
Kiehl's Since 1851
Kiehl's first opened in 1851 in New York's East Village. For over 170 years, Kiehl's has provided customers with highly personalized skincare expertise, with over 4500 Skin Pros worldwide. Passed down through generations, the mission of Kiehl's has always been guided by founding family member Aaron Morse's vision for making "better citizens, better firms and better communities."
Mia Kernaghan is a Global Digital Education Specialist at Kiehl's and is quoted throughout this case study.
The Challenge
Accessible, Engaging Global Learning: A Vision Brought To Life
Since 1851, education has been at the heart of Kiehl's. Aaron Morse was a founding family member of Kiehl's and had a vision for Kiehl's Academy: a way for employees to elevate their knowledge of Kiehl's formulas and the science of skincare.
In order to deliver an exceptional customer experience in stores and online, Kiehl's Since 1851 invests in expert-level education and training. Kiehl's Skin Pros are renowned worldwide for their ability to provide highly personalized skincare consultations and product recommendations, all while having in-depth knowledge of formulas, ingredients, skin physiology, and sustainability.
As Kiehl's expanded worldwide, they sought to bring the Kiehl's Academy vision to life, but in a modern, uniquely branded way. This meant creating a highly personalized, accessible, and educational platform where both new and existing users could advance their education from anywhere in the world, in any language. With the help of Docebo, Kiehl's has been able to amplify and modernize over 170 years of education—in a single global platform.
With the partnership of Docebo, we are able to bring our expert-level education and superior brand standards to our teams around the world, making the experience more engaging and accessible than ever before.
– Mia Kernaghan, Global Digital Education Specialist, Kiehl's Since 1851
The Solution
Kiehl's Academy, Powered By Docebo
Because Kiehl's didn't have an existing platform for global eLearning, they were seeking a partner to help them develop a customized LMS and create an engaging, accessible learning experience.
Personalization has always been a core part of Kiehl's identity. Kiehl's and Docebo collaborated to customize the platform, creating a balance between engaging formats and rich content. Docebo's AI-based course recommendation tool provides learners with experiences tailored to their learning plans—just like customers experience tailored skincare recommendations from their Kiehl's Skin Pros.
Upholding their long-standing dedication to quality, Kiehl's needed a best-in-class learning experience that would reflect their brand standards. This meant thinking strategically about the holistic learning experience—including how users log onto the platform, interact with courses, and how the learning is activated and reinforced with real customers. Kiehl's also created Advanced Certifications, which offer an engaging learning experience that helps Skin Pros advance their career and furthers Kiehl's business strategy.
Community is also an important component of Kiehl's long-standing heritage, and was vital to include in their LMS. Docebo helped Kiehl's infuse their Academy with rich social functionality, including Kiehl's Global Community, where Skin Pros are empowered as brand ambassadors to share what matters to them, demonstrate their skincare expertise, and receive peer and mentor recognition for their achievements.
Kiehl's Academy also features an "Ask the Expert" page, where users can directly interact with home office employees, strengthening their connections and helping the brand stay informed about the questions Skin Pros (and customers) are asking every day. These social pages create a feeling of community, trust, and transparency for users.
Finally, Kiehl's was built on a tradition of giving, including their generous sampling program, 100% money-back guarantee, and extensive philanthropic efforts. To help embody this generosity and ensure that the user learning journey felt just as rewarding as being a customer, Docebo weaved gamification into Kiehl's Academy.
Users earn badges, points, and coins for completing training. These rewards are featured on a leaderboard and can be exchanged for items in a sustainable Rewards Store, which reinforces Kiehl's commitment to sustainability and helps Skin Pros make eco-conscious choices both in and out of the store.
We are proud to partner with Docebo to bring to life our long-standing vision of creating a digital and modern Kiehl's Academy.
Kiehl's Academy is a place to advance users' education and strengthen their connection to the brand in a truly meaningful, impactful and original way.
– Mia Kernaghan, Global Digital Education Specialist, Kiehl's Since 1851
The Results
Glowing User Reviews, Incredible Learning And Engagement, And A More Efficient, Globally Scaled Education Experience
Kiehl's partnership with Docebo has been a vital tool in helping the brand ensure all training is accessible and complete while saving time and cost, increasing learning retention, and providing trackable and measurable results that help users improve performance.
Kiehl's Academy has also made digital education accessible to over 45 countries, with over 20 of the countries onboarded during the 2021 pandemic. With Train-the-Trainer modules, Kiehl's Educators are able to expedite their onboarding process as well, ensuring that the platform is fully optimized in their market to create the best learning experience for users.
With over 4500 users on the platform, Kiehl's sees 100% adoption rate for measures such as training completion and Educator adoption, demonstrating how invested learners can be in their education if they feel that the platform is invested in them, too.
Kiehl's Academy has elevated the Educator experience as well, giving them more ways to track and measure the effectiveness of their learning programs by pulling reports on user test scores, completion rates, etc. Educators also leverage a blended-learning approach, using Kiehl's Academy as a way to uphold traditional in-person training when possible, while enhancing the learning experience with digital education.
Kiehl's is proud to partner with Docebo to uphold founding family member Aaron Morse's vision of creating a Kiehl's Academy—amplifying and modernizing over 170 years of education on one accessible, engaging LMS.
