Hi everyone,
Wow, is it September already? :o Looks like we’re overdue for an update!
Well, we got some updates:
- Delays from wildfires and supplier issues are over…?
- Super Micros: our custom vitamin mix is back!
- Sodium Citrate: included to reduce saltiness.
- Milk Fuel: in two bags to reduce damage.
And some experiments:
- Strawberry survey: add natural flavors?
- Gift cards: now available virtually here!
- Subscription discounts for renewals only.
- Actualize: free samples still available!
As you may have noticed, we’ve had some shipping delays the last couple months. :p Our apologies for the inconvenience. We’re just about caught up, now that we’ve got all the ingredients we were waiting on and the wildfires in California are no longer so ominously on our doorstep. So, we’re getting back to normal.
Thankfully, one of the ingredients that we have back in stock is our own custom vitamin mix, available again as Super Micros, and back in the rest of our products – no more placeholder vitamins! :D We’ve also just started using an even more finely powdered form of Cellulose, for insoluble fiber, which should reduce grittiness further, especially immediately after mixed. More noticeably, we’ve updated our formulas with Sodium Citrate to reduce the excess saltiness of the previous version, and also slightly reduce bitterness at the same time.
For Milk Fuel, we’re going back to two smaller bags for every 40 meals, rather than one big bag. Sadly, despite the reduced packaging waste of the bigger bags, they would very frequently split open during shipping and end up being much more wasteful, as well as a very disappointing customer experience! :( We’re keeping the website and everything the same – just a heads up in case you’re wondering why you’re getting two smaller bags when you’re used to getting one.
So, after trying the 20% increase in the strawberry flavor, I’m still dissatisfied with the subtlety of the flavor, especially given the high cost. :/ I’m starting to wonder if we should try adding “natural strawberry flavor” to make the flavor more intense, on par with our other flavors… If this works, we may even be able to reduce the amount of expensive freeze-dried strawberry powder and bring the overall price down to the same level as the other flavors. That might be kind of cool. What do you think? Here’s a quick survey so you can tell us! :D
One new experiment we’re trying, in response to a customer request, is a Super Body Fuel gift card! It’s a virtual gift card where you can choose an amount of money and give the gift of optimal nutrition to someone you (hopefully) like, via email! :) Neat.
Another experiment is making subscription discounts only apply for renewals – in other words, the first order is full-price. This shouldn’t affect existing customers (if you are in the habit of canceling and creating new subscriptions, we encourage you to email us to make any subscription changes for you instead) but hopefully it will reduce the number of people who subscribe and then immediately cancel and never come back again! :p I’d thought about this before, but never bothered until now, when a customer encouraged me to do it – thank you for the suggestion! :)
We want our low prices to reward the people who actually like our stuff and want to stick around. That is, people like you – so if you end up with a subscription sign-up fee for some reason and you’re already an existing customer, just let us know and we’ll refund you the difference. ;) But yeah, you shouldn’t need to cancel a subscription – just email us and we’ll change it for you, or pause it, or adjust the next renewal date, or whatever you want.
Lastly…
We still haven’t launched Actualize! Oops. :p Good news is, we still have free samples available in exchange for honest reviews! :D
What’s Actualize? It’s a dairy-based ketogenic meal that comes in convenient just-add-water packets, which we’re helping reboot with a new look and improved formula, using our custom vitamin mix. :)
If you’re interested in a free sample of Actualize with your next Super Body Fuel order, just send us an email with the flavor you want (vanilla or chocolate, or both) and which subreddit you plan to post your review (like r/soylent)! :D And if there’s another social media platform where you want to post your review instead, just let us know. ;)
Oh, and don’t forget to fill out the strawberry survey:
Thanks as always! :) Stay well.
Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)
