Sample Boxes and Profiles

[nelliebelle1197]

I just want to throw something out about profiles. This is coming out of recent posts in the GB thread on certain nail and lip products and the endless BB complaining about products not matching profiles:

I think we have far too many expectations on customization and profiles.  There is no way GB can know that a brownish lip stick won't work with your hair or skin. Many redheads, for example, do a lot of brown (I have a LOT of red hair in my family; mine is even brownish-red and my cousins have copper hair; we can all wear browns beautifully even though my skin has pink undertones and theirs yellow). There is no way GB can know if you want a green nail polish or a brown.  It's just too subjective.

I think we all need to accept that the profiles for both GB and BB are used in generic ways and for market research for their suppliers. It seems Birchbox, based on the boxes and groupings people seem to get, uses key points in profiles to send groups of boxes to certain demographics. For example, if you like organic/natural products and those are featured in a box, then you are likely -not guaranteed - to get those. The profiles are not going to guarantee if you have sensitive skin, everything is going to be geared in that direction if that is not the demo they are going for that month. I just wanted to throw this out for discussion because it is such a big thing for us!

 

[Playedinloops]

Yup, I agree. I've said before that the profiles are more for companies supplying the samples to match with the feedback they get from a customer for their own marketing than for any company to decide what samples you should be getting. 

 

[Meggpi]

I think part of the expectation comes from when the company themselves.  If you are going to use the 'we custom tailor the boxes!' statement as part of your marketing, you are setting yourself up a bit more for complaints. 

As far as colors go, I don't think they could possibly get it right every time.  For example, my mother and I are both blonde haired, blue eyed, very fair, and cool skinned.  We look so much alike that towards the end my grandmother thought I WAS her.  However, she is more pink and I am more blue, she looks great in pastel colors, I do well with vibrant blue and purple.  I play with bronzers in the summer and she doesn't.  There aren't clear cut rules that 'fair people look good in x and bad in y', and so on for infinite variations in human coloring.

I guess for things like foundation and concealer I do expect them to look at profiles and at least send something in the range, even though it might not work.  Other than that I keep my expectations as far as personalization goes pretty low.

 

[nelliebelle1197]

I think you are exactly right that the expectation comes from the marketing. BB is the worst with building expectations.

 

[MissLindaJean]

I think nelliebelle summed it up well with her first post. The customized to your needs part is a bit misleading, as well. But given that, a company of BB's magnitude is dealing with thousands...THOUSANDS of customers and personal tastes. That alone is going to set limitations, then add that sample providers are only going to part with X amounts of products. Yet Sample Society doesn't do variations and people aren't always pleased with them, either. The beauty of it all is that it is popular and there are options, so we can shop around to see what companies better meet our expectations. I've always felt that any sub I partake in is a crapshoot. I'm going to win some and lose some. So far, I'm comfortable and satisfied with all my subs and don't feel like I threw my money away. If I did(GB lol) they got the axe!

 

[nelliebelle1197]

I have to say the last GlossyBox made up for a lot of the past!

Originally Posted by MissLindaJean /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I think nelliebelle summed it up well with her first post. The customized to your needs part is a bit misleading, as well. But given that, a company of BB's magnitude is dealing with thousands...THOUSANDS of customers and personal tastes. That alone is going to set limitations, then add that sample providers are only going to part with X amounts of products. Yet Sample Society doesn't do variations and people aren't always pleased with them, either. The beauty of it all is that it is popular and there are options, so we can shop around to see what companies better meet our expectations. I've always felt that any sub I partake in is a crapshoot. I'm going to win some and lose some. So far, I'm comfortable and satisfied with all my subs and don't feel like I threw my money away. If I did(GB lol) they got the axe!