The hair care industry in the US in 2024 was estimated at $106,910,000,000. That is not a typo. USD 106.91 billion. With a B. Billion!
Now, as someone with hair unlike anyone else in their family, I'm always trying to find the products that let my hair do its crazy thing. (Because my hair calls the shots and I'm just living in its world.) So when I was fed ads for Prose, a truly custom, subscription, haircare company, I was skeptical. But I decided to try it out.
And they delighted me right out of the gate. There was a quiz to take, which really made me feel like the end product would be perfect. And then they kept in touch while the product was being made and packaged. I received all the updates I could want as it was shipped to my door. And then it arrived in a beautiful box and the bottles had my name on them!
I was won over and I hadn't even tried the shampoo or curl cream yet!
As it happened, the products themselves were amazing.
But three month laters, I had not used up all of them and had to go in to delay the restock. And THAT'S where I found the snag.
I could delay my subscription by 1 week. Or 2 weeks. Up to 4 weeks. But then it would charge again.
And I had used only a third of the bottle.
Now, I know that I have short hair and thus only need less product. AND I don't wash my hair daily because even Prose said 2-3 times a week was enough. But now I've found myself in a vicious cycle where I have notifications on my calendar to push my restock back another 4 weeks.
I'm sure you've run into this sort of subscription challenge before.
And when it happens, don't you sometimes feel like the brand WANTS you to cancel because they've made it so hard to customize things to fit your needs?
If you have your own membership or subscription business, now would be a great time to take a peek and see if you're also sending the signal that you WANT people to cancel their membership.
And if you'd like my eyes on it, let me know. I now offer subscription experience audits.