We spoke with NuNotions founder, Marjai Roberts, about building an inclusive app that helps people find the personal care and beauty products that best suit their physical features. Marjai has worked in marketing, ad sales, and business development roles and came up with the concept for NuNotions while she was trying to find natural products for her hair. She described Bubble as “the most accessible, comprehensive no-code platform of them all.”
What problem does your company solve?
When it comes to beauty and personal care products, many review platforms do not take into account physical traits such as hair texture, acne, and aging, a pain point that I myself experienced (a woman with curly, textured hair--like me!--can’t fully value the shampoo review of a person with straight hair). People of color, especially African Americans, have been historically underserved in the beauty and personal care industry. To address this problem, NoNotions keeps consumers informed on new inclusive beauty brands like Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and Mented. Our app helps users make informed decisions, eliminate information gaps, and avoid wasting money on half-used products.
How does your app work?
NuNotions is like Yelp but for personal care (that is, any product that lives in your bathroom). After signing up, users select their “NuNo8” traits, which allows them to filter reviews based on their skin tone, skin type, hair texture, hair type, hair porosity, hair color, eye color, and skin/hair conditions. Users can connect with friends or peers, write reviews, and keep track of their favorite products.
Tell us a little about your background and how you discovered no-code tools like Bubble.
For the past 10 years, I have worked in marketing, ad sales, and business development roles at a number of tech companies and startups, including ZigZag, Google, YouTube, and musical.ly (now TikTok). Five years ago, while driving from San Francisco to Mountain View with my two college friends, I came up with the idea for NuNotions while I was seeking out products for my own natural hair journey. I discovered Bubble by serendipitously running into a video ad for Tara Reed’s “Apps Without Code” training program in summer 2018. In her webinar, she discussed many no-code platforms, but I chose Bubble because it was the most accessible, comprehensive no-code platform of them all!
Why did you build your app on Bubble?
Early on, I realized that I needed to create a MVP (minimum viable product) in order to test my concept for product market fit, but I had no means to make one. When I initially came up with the concept for NuNotions, I did what most non-technical founders do: spent nearly a year looking for a technical co-founder. After designing a prototype on my own, I discovered Bubble, which could build much more than I could’ve hoped for. Bubble’s robust yet flexible capabilities were a perfect match for my app’s needs. Thank you, Bubble!
What has been your traction or success so far?
We are currently in open beta; NuNotions has a very low bounce rate and is gradually driving new sign-ups. We have captured insightful feedback from our first 100 users, as well as conducted a successful market research survey of over 160 people. 96.3% of respondents said that reading a review by someone who shares their same beauty concerns influences their purchase; 47.5% reported using more than 5 personal care products in their daily regime; and over 37% listed Amazon, YouTube, or another social media channel as one of their go-to resources for reading personal care and beauty product reviews.
What are your future plans for your app?
We plan to become the largest destination for inclusive beauty reviews out there. At the moment, we are hyper-focused on user acquisition and building the community in open beta (we’re accepting new users at nunotions.com). We will be implementing additional community features, including commenting on reviews, notifications, and user search. To generate additional interest in NuNotions, we want to onboard mid-tier beauty influencers, small businesses, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands; we hope they use NuNotions to help drive their sales.
Learn more about NuNotions: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn
About Bubble
Bubble is a leader in the no-code movement. Bubble offers a powerful point-and-click web editor and cloud hosting platform that allows users to build fully customizable web applications and workflows, ranging from simple prototypes to complex marketplaces, SaaS products, and more. Over 400,000 users are building and launching businesses on Bubble - many have gone on to participate in top accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, and even raise $365M in venture funding. Bubble is more than just a product. We are a strong community of builders and entrepreneurs that are united by the belief that everyone should be able to create technology.
Join the no-code movement today.
Do you want your app featured by Bubble? Reach out to us and tell us about your app. In addition to this series, we sometimes select our best apps to showcase on our website.
