Skin & Tonics : Skincare Guides & Product Reviews

Since beginning this blog almost a year ago, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a lot of you, and I have to say – everyone I’ve met (either online or in person) has been nothing but friendly and knowledgeable. However, when I first decided to do a reader survey, I was actually pretty nervous about it. Even though all of my interactions with you guys have been unbelievably positive and fun and warm, there was still a small part of me that was convinced that there is some unidentified group of naysayers out there who were waiting to finally get the chance to tell me how boring or smelly my blog is. Much to my relief, that turned out not to be the case.

Instead, what I got was exactly the kind of helpful feedback I’d hoped to obtain – honest answers about what content is useful to you, what you’d like to see more of, and what changes would make Skin & Tonics a better experience for you. Since so many of you were kind enough to take the time to fill out my survey, I thought I’d repay the favor by taking the time to share the outcome.

Here’s what I learned:

The last part of the survey was an open ended question. It was an optional question, but even so, about half you took the time to give me your honest feedback (that’s a lot!). The question was, “If you could change anything you wanted about Skin & Tonics, what would you change?” This was the question I was most nervous about, but the answers were very insightful. Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights:

• Many people want more information and product reviews specific to their skin type (as opposed to just my own)
• Many people want more frequent posts
• A few people want more Asian product reviews
• An equal number of people want fewer Asian product reviews
• A couple of people would like to see some Skin & Tonics YouTube videos
• A couple of people would like to see more sunscreen reviews
• A couple of people found the commenting system to be a pain to deal with
• A couple of people felt it was difficult to find things on the site
• A few people feel the font is not as easy to read as it could be
• A LOT of you thought everything was perfect and wouldn’t change anything (Thanks, guys!)

I’m currently working on a new design for S&T that will certainly make things easier to read and easier to find. I’m also working on my content plans for 2014, and I am taking everyone’s feedback to heart as I do so. This blog is a personal project for me, so of course I tend to write about things I enjoy – but I also see this blog as a vehicle to meet other people who are just as passionate about skincare science and beauty as I am, and to that end, I like to make sure what I’m blogging about is valuable to my fellow, skin-care-obsessed, internet dwellers.

If you missed the survey, don’t worry.  I’ll be continuing to collect survey answers for the next few days! The survey is 10 questions (9 of them are multiple choice), super quick, and 100% anonymous. If you’d like to submit your answers, you can fill out the 2013 Skin & Tonics Reader Survey here.

What do you think of the results? Did any of them surprise you?