You started The Clear Cut as an educational blog, creating videos to help people understand the 4Cs and other aspects of designing a custom diamond engagement ring. How did you build the trust it would take for people to make such an important purchase online?
Ninety-five percent of our clients are completely remote, and I do think them being able to put a face to the brand really helps with the trust, that they feel like they know the person that they are dealing with quite well. Our whole business and our whole brand is built on transparency and education. So they know that we’re here to give them as much information and advice for free [as possible] so they can make the most empowered decision on their own. We’re not trying to hide any information from them or do anything that isn’t going to help inform their decision and empower their purchase. So they feel like they can trust us because they know that’s what we stand for.
You took a strong stance against selling lab-grown diamonds. What do you tell consumers who might be interested in this category? We had to really examine who we were as a company and as a brand. As The Clear Cut, we stand by transparency, longevity and inherent value, which is definitely something that you find in a natural, untreated and certified diamond. Lab-grown diamonds are very new. Year after year, the prices are just going down so much, and the technology is getting better. And we’re really not seeing a lot of inherent value in the lab-grown diamond space. We’re working with clients directly to give them our opinions, our advice, and create, hopefully, heirloom pieces that they could pass down for generations. I just don’t feel comfortable recommending a lab-grown diamond. I don’t know how they’re going to hold their value or what they’re going to be like long-term, if they’re passing it down to their grandchildren one day. But I can feel comfortable about recommending a natural diamond.
What is the most important thing for your customers?
People want to be really hands-on in the creation [of their engagement ring] and have a lot of knowledge going into that purchase because it is so big. Now they’re on Instagram, they have social media, they have all the knowledge and the information at their fingertips. So they really are an empowered customer and are not going to purchase something that is overpriced or something that’s just out of the box. They want to really put their special touch on it. And they know value when they see it.
When you launched The Clear Cut, your target customers were millennials. Is that still the case?
Yes, I would say our biggest demographic is definitely the millennials. They’re at the age of getting engaged and purchasing these larger pieces of jewelry and feeling more comfortable doing that online. But we do see a lot of younger clients, Gen Z-ers, purchasing our [non-custom] collection pieces, things maybe a little less expensive. And we actually have been getting a lot of our clients’ parents coming to us and referred to us for upgrades and anniversary purchases. So we are dealing with baby boomers as well, who are a little more hesitant to shop remotely. I think they usually come from referrals, so they feel more comfortable. A lot of them require a little bit more attention and more phone calls.
What do your parents, who owned an antique jewelry business, think of The Clear Cut? They think it’s really cool. It’s very different from what they did or what they thought the industry could evolve to. So I think they’re really proud of how it’s changed. When I started going into the industry and attending the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), they told me that the industry was dying; they didn’t know what [I would] do as a profession in the industry, because business has changed so much. And I think as you change and adapt with the clients, the industry is just evolving. It’s not dead by any means.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2021. To subscribe click here.