Note: This Survey was conducted in 2009 and Customer Feedback Results were originally posted in November of that year.
I wanted to repost this and make some comments and observations and then hopefully very soon conduct another survey. The 2022 comments will be posted in gold.
My feeling is that scent preferences have changed some as well as preferences in other areas and I will insert comments where relevant. If you have comments or see changes in trends please add your comments below.
Our Scent Preference Survey ended last week and as promised here are the Customer Feedback Results. I want to thank everyone for participating and also let you know that I found the results extremely interesting and informative. So here we go . . .
Scent Preference
Question 1: Favorite Body Care Product Scent
- Lavender 23%
- Citrus 13%
- Floral 12%
- Vanilla 11%
The least picked of my options listed was Spicy. Popular write-ins mentioned were Patchouli and Fruity. Just a note here: we don’t offer scents like pear, apple, peach, or melon because there are no essential oils for these scents. Generally, if you find these scents available they are a synthetic blend, not natural scents.
2022 comment: I find it interesting that mint wasn’t offered as an option, nor was it written. Today we sell a lot of different mint soaps. Lavender is still popular but we find more and more people who don’t like it. Either it has simply been overused or even more likely is with its popularity that people have run into bad synthetic lavender scents and decided they don’t like it.
Product Type Preferences
Question 2: Do you prefer smooth or textured soaps?
- 58% preferred smooth
- 42% preferred textured
Comments mentioned people liking both or only slightly textured.
Question 3: Do you prefer bar or liquid soaps for bathing?
- 66.3% preferred bars
- 33.7% preferred liquid
Now we do offer both!
2022 comment: We are still making our liquid soap or Shower Gel & Body Wash but we sell waaay more bar soap! I think this will continue especially with the focus on less packaging.
Question 4: What is your favorite type of body scrub?
- 79.3% preferred a blended sugar scrub
- 60.0% preferred a blended salt scrub
- 40.0% preferred an unblended salt scrub
- 20,7% preferred an unblended sugar scrub
Looks like maybe we need to research offering a blended sugar scrub!
2022 comment: I had researched this, but was not able yet to create a product I am happy with.
Purchase Preferences
Question 5: Do you give bath and body care products as gifts?
- 89.8% said YES
- 10.2% said NO
There were many comments on this particular question. Those who do give body care as gifts have reasons that vary widely. Many cited that this is a product people will actually use or that they love this type of thing themselves so know the recipient will also. Some mentioned that their friends and family have used our products before and enjoy getting them. The few who said they don’t give body care as gifts; the reason was usually given was because they don’t know which scent is preferred.
2022 comment: I think our customers continue to gift our products but we have not had much success with Gift Sets as such. Maybe we just haven’t come up with the right packaging combination? Suggestions anyone???
Question 6: What are the most important factors when purchasing bath and body care products?
- Most Important
- Scent 53.1%
- Important
- Price 58.2%
- Product to meet a need 47.9%
- Natural or Organic 43.2%
- Available Online 42.7%
- Somewhat Important
- Available in stores 37.5%
- Brand 34.8%
- Not Important
- Coordinated Sets 51.6%
- Brand 34.8%
2022 comment: I am really curious to see what changes might occur with this question. I am hearing that natural and sustainable are more important than they were in 2009. I also think with the prevalence of online shopping that “is available” in stores may be less important. But I am guessing!
I hope you enjoyed seeing these customer feedback results. Don’t be surprised if you see some of this feedback reflected in our product offerings in the future.
Some blog posts you may enjoy:
This may be an old survey but feel like it holds true today February 2023. Very interesting and informative. I have never really used scrubs but will have to try some of Susans.
Lavender beats out Vanilla and by a large margin. After 9/11 when everyone wanted to cocoon and feel comfortable, safe and warm, vanilla was definitely the go-to scent. Lavender is such a versatile fragrance; you can blend it with anything to keep it fresh, new and different. =)
Thanks for your insight on this Anne-Marie. I hadn’t realized that about Vanilla after 9/11 but you have a broader scope on scents than I do.