Subscriber Survey: What Types of Content Would You Like to See on MSA?

I would first like to say thank you to MSA for my new obsession. I started with an IPSY sub, then I got tired of all the sample sizes and went to Boxy, now I have both of those (love the ipsy bags), fitfabfun and I’m going to start getting a couple planner (stationary) boxes next month. I’m a pen freak, but anyway. I would like to some “similar to” options such as if you like ipsy you may like Sephora play. (Similar products & price). I am totally loving subscription boxes. I really want the “Bad Ass Mom” box but I can’t afford 2 expensive boxes at once so ill start it when I get tired of fitfabfun.

I completely disagree with the series of comments about censoring and no-negative posts about boxes, etc. If there were only positive posts about a certain box, the rest of us would have no idea about someone’s bad experience with it (if they had one), or a customer service issue, and so on. This should be a free forum where everyone can speak their mind. Anyone is free to skip posts that they don’t want to read. How will I know that a box ships highlighter by the dozens? I *do* want to know everyone’s bad experiences.

If I see that there are only positive posts consistently, I will know that this site is a paid site, and no longer worth my time. Sephora reviews, anyone?

I think we all also have to understand that MSA appeals to a wide range of ages. So, a young crowd that is used to following YouTuber’s, maybe values makeup over skin care…all the way to women 60+ who might not be interested in the same media or items. We have to cut MSA some slack on how they present reviews, and as commenters, understand that “too many serums” or, “too many pallets” could be seen as a total positive for someone else.

I seem to notice more reviews including, at the end, a summary section that includes, “Can I still get this box?” “Coupons” etc. I love this! It’s like an FAQ for each review and saves me a lot of clicking around or waiting for an answer to one of those FAQs – wish this was at the end of every review. Of course I love spoilers & reviews! I’m not a personal fan of videos (I have no patience for them and just want to quickly scroll to pics), but I see their value for those that like them…but maybe they could be posted in a separate post? I like pics with swatches, actually items tried on (makeup, clothing, etc). Love coupons!

Having read through this post, I’ll just add I’m not a huge fan of gifs but I know how to scroll past them. I also wouldn’t want to see posts censored…I’m actually new to subs as of this past summer, so it’s actually helpful to me to read what might be common knowledge to more experienced subbers…for example, “Ugh, this is the same dried out mascara we’ve seen before”. It might not be “nice”, but I find it helpful if I’m not in the know about a common issue. I admit though, I’m not a fan of mean opinion posts, like, “Who could wear that ugly color” since it’s not helpful & can be insulting. But like I said before, I know how to scroll past. Maybe this is more a reminder to posters here that if you really want to be helpful, something more constructive will go further, like “I did not like this color on me and wonder how many people can actually wear it”. Still, if people choose to say the “mean” stuff about PRODUCTS, I wouldn’t want to see them be censored.

Happy I found MSA (but my husband is not! :))

I have tried lots of boxes and always looking for something reasonably priced that I might try. I would like to see something like a featured box with in depth overall review. Or a box that is not very popular but is a good deal and why. Things that are very important: stability and reliability of the company, decent customer service, and (very important) ease of cancelling.

Something I always kind of wished there was, was a way to submit a photo as a commenter of an item/items from subscriptions that differ in the items sent out. For example, EarFleek. Everyone gets a different pair! Seeing multiple different examples of what subscribers receive could help people make a better decision as to whether they want that particular box or not.

Just something I think about often while perusing this lovely site! I do love so much about MSA already though, there’s really not much that could even be improved upon here!

MSA is great year round, but coming soon are the Black Friday and holiday deals and updates. Truly a wonderful time for us all with all the cool stuff Liz comes up with to make the experience even more fun and exciting.

As my family is in England, I’d love an early Christmas gift roundup as presents must be shipped abroad by early December.

-I know this was mentioned above, but I would really love to see unboxing videos here instead of just on Facebook.
-I love when you’re able to try on our use the products. It helps to give me an idea of what to do with them or how to wear them.
-I’d love to see a full face of make-up with some of the products from the make-up products. Ideas and make-up tutorials using the boxes are always so helpful.

-Total IT thing, but I get notifications for certain boxes (new spoiler, etc.), but I can’t seem to unsubscribe from them. I haven’t been interested in Birchbox in a long time and whenever I hit unsubscribe in my email, I’m brought to the site to unsuscribe, I go through the actions, but I’m still getting the emails. It would be great to get this feature fixed.

Thanks for all you do. I love your site!

I always enjoy when you do the VS. posts. like Ipsy vs Sephora vs Birchbox. I wouldn’t mind seeing more posts with different boxes stacked up against each other, like maybe some of the clothing subs or more of the higher prices beauty subs. 🙂

No more video reviews please! I think videos are for YouTube and if you must have a video, please also include the review in pictures and comments like usual. I’m too busy to sit down to watch young girls’ unboxings (there’s usually too much unrelated commentary)
Also, can you fix the WordPress follow issue? We still don’t get notified when someone replies to our comment.

I would love to see more of the Comparison reviews for similar boxes. Particularly for other types of boxes in addition to make up boxes (such as geeky ones or lifestyle boxes or book boxes). I love the side by side comparisons to help me decide which boxes I want to get :-).

Thanks for the survery!

1. Love reviews and spoilers.
2. Don’t care about spoiler hints.
3. Love how you wear or makeup tutorial, but better if they are inside the review, or linked from the review.
4. Don’t care about spoiler #1, spoiler #2, spoiler #3… just combine the threads and make them xxx subscription month yyy spoiler, and update the timestamp so it pops up in the front page.
5. Enlist volunteers for reviews for boxes MSA doesn’t sub or isn’t sent for review purpose. Example includes 5ave style and others, many readers would love to read the reviews.

I would like to see some posts about beauty gift with purchases. like the bags they do at nordstrom,sephora(sometimes) and space nk.

Just a thought… If we don’t have comments/friendly banter, I feel like the creativity of the reviewers will be heavily curbed. Same goes for photos/gifs. Let’s not ruin the reviewers’ fun job just because some of us can’t look past the chit chat or gifs!
Also, if you are requesting to take the ‘fun’ aspect out of these reviews and comments, MSA might as well just publish excel sheets with price comparison and other ‘relevant’ data. Honest reviewer opinions are ALWAYS needed!

Tried to post this above but it isn’t showing up (have had this problem before).

So, here was my comment:

Stealing this from Desiree but adding in a few of my own comments and deleting a couple of things:

I like:
• reviews
• comparisons
• round-ups (new boxes, boxes on a theme, in case you missed it, etc.)
• value tallies at the bottom of a post
• spoilers for seasonal boxes
• surveys/contests
• posts with multiple deals/coupons (Black Friday, etc.)
• updates on box news (like Birchbox Select Beta ending)

I care less about:
• option spoilers for boxes that have them (usually they’re for boxes I don’t get)
• theme spoilers (ugh)
• intro deals/coupons for boxes that continually run promos
• ‘last day to order’ reminders

I’d like to see:
• sometimes I will want to add a box to my wish list and I can’t find it in the directory (I think because it’s not been added yet)
• another MSA box subscription!
• more unexpected appearances from Buckles
• a way to up-vote or “like” comments (I do not want the comments section to turn into a popularity contest, but sometimes I really want to virtually high-five certain comments)
• more polls (for example, honestly, what is everyone’s favorite pet box? I appreciate hearing from MSA staff, but I’d also like to know what the common man’s perspective is)

I totally second the NO BOOKLET pictures. They aren’t readable anyway and a waste of time. The quickest way to get me to back out of a review here or online is when they start reading to me.

I would love if you could put in the comments when box $ gets pulled from your account as in do they always bill the first of the month or when you subscribe.

Please post less photo’s it’s silly to see more photo’s then there are products. No photo’s of ever page from a booklet. I just want to see what items are in the box.

I love the box comparison posts. Also, love the posts on your favorite items. I Can’t wait to see what comes up for Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. I would like more food box reviews.

I would hate to see MSA stop reviewing boxes based on number of comments. That doesn’t seem like a good way to gauge interest considering most comments tend to be how much people hate a box 🙂

Like many others, I LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing items like the poncho styled and worn by different people. I also really enjoy seeing the various clothing boxes shown on multiple size ranges and styles.

I would love to see bracelets worn on smaller and larger wrist comparisons.
I would also love to see all clutches photographed in a hand.

I actually really like that the reviewers on the site aren’t as childish in stating their opinions as some of the comments here. I prefer someone to say “This seems over priced” instead of “OMG wut r they thinking with this garbage! so overpriced. so meh. meh. meh. meh. so meh.So trash. I just threw it all away because totes obvs that is the only way to show how horribly grody this box is. meh”

I really liked the better than black Friday thing you did last year and I hope you do it again this year. I was so fun and I signed up for boxes I had wanted and found a couple of new ones. I’m hoping the box companies work with you again to provide great deals again this year.

I would like to see tutorials for products especially when it’s a new or unusually product.

I would also like to see you doing a single box review of some of the smaller or new boxes. This would get them on the radar. Maybe there could be a section and a way to sign up for single box reviews. Having been subbing for a good while now I’m looking for new boxes to get excited about.

A lot of people are saying they would rather see just spoilers, or just reviews. I wonder if they know there are tabs above post that allows for reading only reviews, spoilers, specials, etc.

I love love MSA. I particularly appreciate the makeup posts where the reviewer shows what the makeup looks like on. I also love the other posts about products like the advent calendars, grab bags, and other boxes that might not be subs, but might not be around forever. I appreciate the honesty and the positivity. Some people can be very negative, what excites what person might not be a big deal to another.

A few things for my wishlist:
• More reviews. Ironically I am addicted to MSA. I check in several times a day
• More how to’s (especially on makeup). I am a makeup newbie and appreciate any tips. Also, advice on what order to use skincare products. Maybe that is too pedestrian for some folks, but this would be great for me.
• Wouldn’t it be super cool if you could put items from boxes you are subscribed to into an inventory? I know this wouldn’t work for all boxes, as they may vary. I haven’t gotten into the swap thing, but it seems like this could help those users a lot too.
• An app. I see I am not the first person to ask for this.
• Multiple reviews for the same box (to add perspective)
• An order to the subscription box lists (there seems to be no order to me)

• Huge wish!!! Some indication of boxes that are no longer available across the top of the review/posting. I see the value o keeping that info available for posterity, but it sucks to read a review, get excited about a box, and then click on it to order and find it’s no longer available. Also, it would be great if they were listed separately. I am going through a huge sub frenzy and it’s nice to know what I can’t have!

I love you guys if you don’t do any of these changes, but these would make you guys even more awesome in my book.

I would love to see a series on Subscriber experiences with different boxes. Subscribers could comment on their experience with the sub box, say one post about Ipsy or Breo box or whichever. I really like the ratings, but I’d like to read some personal experiences as well. This stems from a few boxes look really amazing, but get mediocre ratings and it leaves me unsure about subscribing, especially if the ease of cancelling rating is low. Maybe this for some of the lesser known boxes would get more people interested as well, I don’t know.
Also, I love the positive tone and vibe of the reviews, as well as the different styles. Liz seems like someone I’d like to have as a friend. When she says she loves a product, I go search for it if I dont sub to that box and a lot of times end of loving it as well. Saying this isn’t my taste or I don’t see the personal value here isn’t sugar coating at all. This site caters to so many different people so saying things like this sweater is ugly is downright insulting! This isn’t my taste is really just being polite, we can all decide for ourselves if something is our taste or not.

And lastly, Liz please please do a post of all the different advent calendars out! I can’t decide 😉

Oh! I already made a comment but I really love the how to wear it posts! Maybe you could expand that to like decor items too.. like the table runner from Popsugar different fun ways to use those kinds of things

I’d love to see like quarterly (maybe) posts about like your top ten favorite beauty boxes, lifestyle boxes, snack boxes, etc. that’s about how often I feel the need to mix it up and buy a new box so that would be great, maybe you could work out special coupons with the boxes for being on your top ten list too!