Buzz
Few things are as fulfilling as sharing your own story and having it mirrored back to you with acknowledgment and approval. This is part of the appeal of horoscopes and Hogwarts house quizzes. Often, when you buy into a company’s offer of 'personalized' health or beauty products, that’s all it really is.
Or perhaps there’s another aspect: when you take these company quizzes, divulging your personal details, dreams, and aspirations, they can also harvest that data, link it to your email address, and then sell it or use it to push more products at you. But as for the so-called customized product? It's typically not worth the hype.
How many choices do we really have?
The simplest way to determine if a personalized product is truly unique is by looking at how many distinct product types actually exist. Take a custom wedding dress, for instance: you'd choose fabrics, design features, and provide detailed measurements. All of this data would be incorporated into the final creation, ensuring the dress fits you perfectly and is unlike any other.
However, with many so-called customized products, once you complete the company’s questionnaire, you’re often placed into just one of a handful of customer categories. For example, with shampoos, as Shannon Palus pointed out in her review of a custom shampoo company, there are essentially only four categories: deep-cleansing, moisturizing, baby, and anti-dandruff.
For a more extreme example, consider protein powder. While there are numerous varieties, only a few stand out as both popular and practical. Whey protein (derived from milk) is affordable, effective, and an easy choice. If you're lactose intolerant, you'd seek a brand that takes care to remove the lactose from the protein. And if you're vegan, you'd opt for a plant-based powder, ideally one with a similar amino acid profile to whey. So, that's two or three main choices.
You're essentially paying for a fun quiz and a personalized monogram
I tried Gainful’s protein powder quiz, eager to see what it would recommend. I currently use an unflavored whey protein. After swiping through several screens detailing my workout routine, ideal body type, and more—well, they next asked for my email. But after that, I finally received my suggestion: a whey protein powder. With some casein added, which isn’t exactly an upgrade over whey.
There’s probably nothing wrong with the protein powder they tried to sell me, except that it costs $50 for 30 servings (and, naturally, they offered it on a subscription plan). My usual brand costs half that. Essentially, I’d be paying $25 for the protein and another $25 for the luxury of having my name on the package. This extra cost for a monogram is exactly what it is. If the grocery store suggested adding my name to my protein powder for an extra $25, I’d decline.
I’m not saying personalized products are never worth it: maybe you love the scent of your custom shampoo, or you enjoy the convenience of taking a quiz and not having to think about what’s in your protein powder. But sometimes, by simply googling your options instead of taking a quiz, you can save a lot of money and find exactly what you need at the store.
