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Before Dillon’s arrival, Ulta was known for its abundance of discounts and coupons.

Dillon has edged away from that blunt-force strategy, instead giving customers incentives to join the loyalty program, which allows her to tailor benefits to the shopper. The theory: Thoughtful freebies (some members recently received Urban Decay eyeshadow kits; others got a custom colormatched Clinique foundation) do more to deepen the customer’s emotional connection to the store than a generic 15 percent off mailer.

The strategy appears to be working. The program’s 21.7 million active members now generate more than 90 percent of Ulta’s overall sales. Salons: Recognizing that salon guests spend almost three times as much as other customers, CEO Mary Dillon moved the Benefit Brow Bar, a station for eyebrow shaping, to the front of some stores so that shoppers see services when they enter. Salon sales were up 15 percent in the first nine months of 2016. Samples: In a bid to lure shoppers into stores, Ulta offers samples for a wide range of products, inviting people to try on not just prestige makeup lines but also drugstore brands. Tools: online shopping experience. One of her early triumphs was investing in a pair of distribution centers that dramatically improved Ulta’s e-commerce processing times.

“People want to buy online, and they want to come into the store and try things,” she says. But she also can guide them toward new experiences. Last year, Ulta debuted Glam Lab, a virtual try-on experience that allows users to upload a selfie and test products against their skin tones.