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The customer journey: from the kit in the cart to the subscription
With personalized products, your customer first buys a saliva collection kit – the actual product is only made after the analysis. The journey has eight stops: purchase, registration and consent, saliva sample, return shipping, lab analysis (4 days at Novogenia), report, a personal product shipped directly, and the reorder. Only the kit and non-personalized products fit on a shelf; personalized supplements and cosmetics are made for one person and shipped directly. Consent comes before the sample. In Switzerland, home tests are not allowed for lifestyle analyses.
The kit is the ticket – the show starts in the lab
A saliva collection kit in the cart or on the shelf looks like a finished product. In fact, it is a ticket. Whoever buys it does not yet hold anything they use every day – but they hold access to something that exists only once: a report on their own genes and, if they want, a supplement or skincare product made just for them.
That is why Novogenia describes the genetic analysis in an online shop as the natural route to follow-up products: from the test through the personal recommendation to the recurring subscription. For your shop, this means you are not selling a single item – you are guiding a journey with several stages. The better your customer knows each stage, the more likely they are to reach the destination – and to reorder.
The journey in eight stops
- Purchase: Your customer buys the saliva collection kit in your online shop or in your store.
- Registration and consent: They sign up, are informed and give consent – before taking the sample.
- Saliva sample: They take the sample following the instructions in the kit.
- Return shipping: The sample travels to the lab with the return shipping material from the kit.
- Analysis: The lab reads the relevant genes, in 4 days at Novogenia.
- Report: The result arrives digitally via a secure portal.
- Personal product: Based on the result, their supplement or skincare is made and shipped directly to them.
- Reorder: One delivery lasts for 90 days, then the next one follows – with a recalculated formula.
Stops 3 to 5 follow the sample logistics described in detail in Sample logistics: from kit to lab. Here, we look at your customer’s side: what do they experience at each stop, and where do they need you?
Stop 1: buying online or off the shelf
Online, the kit ships straight to your customer’s home; in a store, they take it off the shelf. What can physically sit on a shelf is clearly limited:
| Product | In the online shop | In the store |
|---|---|---|
| Saliva collection kit (lifestyle) | shipped to the customer’s home | on the shelf |
| Personalized supplements | shipped directly to the customer | not on the shelf – direct shipping after the analysis |
| BeautyMe (day serum, night serum, body lotion) | shipped directly to the customer | not on the shelf – direct shipping after the analysis |
| Non-personalized products of your own brand | from your warehouse or via fulfillment | on the shelf |
The reason is simple: every box of personalized supplements is produced for one specific person, and BeautyMe is blended for a single individual. A warehouse in between adds nothing. How the kit works in a store is covered in Drugstores and supermarkets: test kits on the shelf.
From the moment of purchase, two rules apply: the kit is meant for lifestyle analyses, and the customer confirms that they are of legal age. For minors, Novogenia offers non-medical analyses only – and only with the written consent of the persons with parental responsibility.
Stop 2: registration and consent – before the sample, not after
Before your customer puts saliva into the tube, they should know what they are signing up for. Before the sample, your customer registers and gives consent; how this works technically is something you set up with Novogenia. In terms of content, three things belong in it:
- What the analysis shows: selected genes related to nutrition, exercise or skin – not a diagnosis and no substitute for a medical examination.
- Who processes which data: Under the GDPR, genetic data are a special category. Processing them is prohibited in principle; one of the exceptions is explicit consent for specified purposes (Art. 9(1) and 9(2)(a) GDPR). A pre-ticked box is not consent (Recital 32).
- Who sees the report: only your customer – or you as well? That is your decision, and it belongs in the consent.
How to keep shop data and genetic data cleanly apart and which roles you need to clarify is explained in Shop data protection: health and genetic data.
Stops 3 and 4: saliva sample and return shipping
Now it gets real – and very simple. The kit contains instructions, a tube, return shipping material and a unique label that links the sample to exactly one person. The instructions in the specific kit always take precedence; typical notes concern the time before sampling, such as not eating, drinking or smoking.
To keep the kit from ending up forgotten in a drawer, a friendly reminder after the purchase helps. And if a sample cannot be analyzed, Novogenia’s terms entitle the customer to a new kit free of charge. Decide in advance who informs your customer in that case.
Stop 5: making good use of the waiting time
In the lab, DNA is extracted from the saliva, and then the relevant genes are read. At Novogenia, this takes 4 days. For your customer, however, the whole route counts: 4 days of analysis plus the time for sampling and shipping. Communicate exactly these building blocks – then nobody waits impatiently for a date that was never promised.
The waiting time is a good moment for the next step. For personalized supplements, the formula takes into account not only the genes but also a questionnaire on diet and lifestyle and, if available, blood values. A customer who fills in the questionnaire now avoids a bottleneck later.
Stop 6: the report – a result, not a diagnosis
The report arrives digitally via a secure portal, printed on request, in up to 18 languages. For your customer, this is the moment they have been waiting for. Put it in honest context: the results are not a diagnosis or medical advice and do not replace a medical examination. The genetic traits themselves are well documented; the recommendations derived from them are logical conclusions – not scientifically proven.
That is exactly what makes the report valuable: it explains why a recommendation fits this particular person. Genes are not destiny – knowing them lets you act on purpose.
Stop 7: from the report to a personal product
Now information turns into something your customer uses every day:
- Supplements: The formula takes into account about 50 genes, the questionnaire and, if available, blood values – blood values take precedence. It comes as Microtransporter pellets in daily sachets; one delivery lasts for 90 days. How the formula is created is explained in How a personalized nutrient recipe is calculated.
- Cosmetics: BeautyMe comprises a day serum, a night serum and a body lotion; the genetic result determines the selection and dosage of the active ingredients.
Novogenia produces supplements from a single unit, and on request we ship directly to your customer – under your brand with white label. Who ships what and what applies to returns is covered in Fulfillment, shipping and returns.
Stop 8: a purchase becomes a relationship
A genetic test is bought once; a personalized supplement is consumed and reordered. At Novogenia, this runs as a 90-day subscription with automatic reordering. With every new production run, the formula is recalculated – with the current age and, where applicable, an updated questionnaire or new blood or genetic analyses. Tell your customer from the start that the composition may change as a result. How to set up the subscription fairly is shown in Subscription model and retention.
Switzerland: the same journey, a different route
In Switzerland, the journey does not start on the shelf. Genetic analyses on nutrition, sport and general well-being count there as tests of particularly sensitive characteristics (Art. 31(1) GUMG, Art. 37(1) GUMV). This has three consequences:
- No home test: Tests for self-use may only be supplied for the remaining tests, such as hair color or sense of taste (Art. 13 GUMG, Art. 37(3) GUMV).
- A professional orders: Only certain health professionals may order the analysis, including pharmacists and druggists HF (Art. 34 GUMG, Art. 40 GUMV). The sample is taken in their presence (Art. 34(3) GUMG).
- The lab is named: The written information names the lab performing the test (Art. 32 GUMG), and the person must consent freely and explicitly after being adequately informed (Art. 5 GUMG).
For your shop, this means: a kit sent by mail to a customer in Switzerland is not an option for these analyses. More in Selling genetic tests online: DE, AT, CH.
Where your customer needs you
| Stop | Typical question | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase | What exactly am I getting? | a clear product page: kit, analysis, report and the optional personal product |
| Consent | Who sees my data? | understandable information, nothing pre-ticked |
| Saliva sample | Am I doing this right? | instructions, a short reminder after the purchase |
| Analysis | When will I get my result? | 4 days of analysis plus shipping – communicated honestly |
| Report | What does this mean for me? | context without a diagnosis, a route to the personal product |
| Reorder | Why does my box look different? | a note that the formula is recalculated with every production run |
Checklist: is your customer journey ready?
- Your product page explains every stop – from the kit to the reorder.
- Only the kit and non-personalized products sit on the shelf; the personal product arrives by direct shipping.
- Registration and consent are set up with Novogenia and come before the sample.
- Who sees the reports is settled and stated in the consent.
- Legal age is confirmed; minors have a separate route.
- A reminder after the purchase gets the sample on its way.
- The process for samples that cannot be analyzed is in place.
- The time to the report is communicated as “4 days of analysis plus shipping.”
- Customers in Switzerland are not supplied with home tests.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take from buying the kit to the report?
Can I put personalized supplements on the shelf?
Who sees my customer's report?
What happens if a sample cannot be analyzed?
Can teenagers use a kit?
Related: Subscription model and retention · Sample logistics: from kit to lab · Saliva collection kits for DNA testing
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Request a project →Offer for e-commerceNote: 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.