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Recurring revenue from follow-up products: from a one-time test to a lasting customer relationship

Reviewed by Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer, molecular biologist and founder of Novogenia · Updated: 13 October 2026 · Reading time: 8 min

A blood value is a photo, not a film

How much a lab value depends on the season is shown by a large British study. Researchers measured the vitamin D levels of 7,437 people, all aged 45. Among those measured in winter and spring, 46.6% had a level below 40 nmol/L. Among those measured in summer and fall, it was 15.4% (Hyppönen & Power, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2007).

The logical conclusion: a blood value is a photo, not a film. It shows where a person stands on a particular day – not where they will stand a few months later. If you want to accompany your customers, you need more than one photo. You need a good reason for the next one, and a product that adapts to every new picture.

That is exactly what a follow-up product does. It turns a one-time result into a relationship that lasts over time – and a one-time sale into a recurring one.

Sold once, or needed again and again

A genetic test or a blood analysis is bought once. A personalized supplement is taken every day and runs out at a predictable point. The difference runs through the entire business:

For a lab or a testing company, this means: the analysis is no longer the end but the beginning of an ongoing customer relationship. The order matters – first the benefit for your customers, then the subscription. A subscription only lasts if the product earns its place every day.

The 90-day rhythm

At Novogenia, one delivery lasts 90 days. For follow-up products, there is a 90-day subscription with automatic reorder: the next box is produced and shipped in time, without anyone having to remember. Boxes of 30 daily servings are also available. Each daily serving comes in a stick pack with two personal lines of text, such as your customer’s name.

The rhythm has an advantage that is easy to overlook: it gives you predictable touchpoints. Before every repeat delivery, you can ask whether anything has changed – diet, training, body weight or new lab values. An updated questionnaire goes into the next formula.

There are two ways to handle billing. Novogenia takes care of reorders, billing and shipping – or you bill through your own system, and we produce and ship directly to your customers as your fulfillment partner. Which subscription variants exist, how to prevent cancellations and which consumer-law rules apply is explained in Subscription models: recurring revenue in our contract manufacturing guide.

New values, new formula

With an ordinary food supplement, the second pack is a copy of the first. Not with a personalized formula: before every new production run, we recalculate it. There are several reasons for that:

• Age: it is recalculated from the date of birth for every production run.
• An updated questionnaire: new eating habits, more training, less sun.
• New blood values: they take precedence over genetics for the nutrient concerned, because they describe the current state.
• New genetic results: for example, when further analyses are added.
• New scientific findings: knowledge about nutrients keeps evolving, too.

For you as a lab, this is the strongest point of the whole model. A retest delivers new blood values, and the formula adjusts. That is a natural reason to stay on the subscription – and a natural reason to come back to your lab. Your core business and the follow-up product strengthen each other.

Genes, by contrast, do not change over a lifetime. The genetic profile remains the fixed foundation on which everything else moves. How blood values steer the formula in detail is shown in From blood values to a formula.

Two things belong to honest communication. First: tell your customers from the start that the composition can change – otherwise a changed box will raise questions. Second: the supplement is not a treatment. It optimizes intake within the healthy range; abnormal blood values or a genuine deficiency belong in a physician’s hands.

What if you only have genetic data?

DNA testing companies and genetic labs start from a different picture: their result does not go out of date, because genes do not change. As a rule, there is no retest here. The business still becomes recurring – for three reasons:

• Daily use: the supplement gets used up. After 90 days the box is empty, and the next one follows on the subscription.
• Recalculation: age and questionnaire change the formula even without new lab values. Current blood values measured by a physician further improve the data basis.
• The second product: one genetic profile can drive supplements and skincare at the same time. That makes the second product a natural topic for your next conversation.

For genetic labs, the value of their database is therefore not used up with the first report. Every profile with suitable consent can become the basis of a product that is needed again and again. Which data you hand over for this is shown in Data integration: raw data, interfaces, formats.

From result to relationship: six touchpoints

A relationship over time does not happen by itself. It grows at touchpoints you can plan:

1. The result: your customer receives genetic or blood results. That is the moment the question arises: what do I do with this now?
2. The offer: you present the follow-up product as the logical next step after the result – factually and without pressure.
3. The first delivery: you explain how the daily serving is taken and what is in it.
4. Before the repeat delivery: you ask about changes and have the questionnaire updated.
5. The retest: new blood values lead to an adjusted formula.
6. The next product: the same genetic profile can also produce personalized skincare. Reorders of day serum, night serum and body lotion need no new sample.

Loyalty through value, not pressure

A subscription that feels like a trap costs more than it brings in: complaints, chargebacks and lost trust in your lab. Recurring revenue is the result of a good customer relationship, not a substitute for one. Three principles help:

• Transparency: subscription and one-time purchase are clearly separated, price and rhythm are visible at a glance, and canceling is as easy as ordering.
• Honest claims: sell personalization as what it is – a transparently calculated, individually dosed formula – and not as a promise of cure. Which health-related claims are allowed is shown in Health claims.
• Real support: useful content between deliveries and a clear contact person for questions about the formula keep the relationship alive.

Planning growth: from pilot to capacity

Recurring deliveries make your business predictable – for you and for us. If you know how many boxes will be due in the coming months, you can plan raw materials, packaging and production ahead. At Novogenia, you typically start with a pilot of 200 to 500 customers. Once the pilot is running, we plan capacity together, up to thousands of customers per month.

For a lab, it pays to answer three questions cleanly from the start of the pilot:

• Conversion: how many customers choose the follow-up product after their result?
• Retention: how many stay on after the first and the second delivery?
• Retest: how many come back to the lab for new blood values – and how often does that change the formula?

How to set up the pilot and measure its success is shown in Launch and pilot: introducing follow-up products and Starting small: minimum order quantities and pilots.

Frequently asked questions

Related: Subscription models: recurring revenue · From blood values to a formula · Launch and pilot: introducing follow-up products

Note: This guide is general information for businesses and professionals and does not replace medical or legal advice. The genetic traits determined in a genetic analysis are well documented (each gene included is backed by at least three independent studies); recommendations derived from them are logical conclusions, not scientifically proven. Regulations can change; errors and changes excepted.