Charlie Fusco, CEO of Synergixx, understands beauty trends due to her vantage point as leader of an inbound sales and customer service contact center with agents who interact with consumers around the clock.

In an INSIDER Q&A, Fusco discussed consumer concerns about and desires from their anti-aging products.

Question: Based on feedback your inbound call-center agents receive, what are consumers most interested in when it comes to new ingredients in skin care?

Charlie Fusco: By far the biggest question call-center agents must deal with is filling in the blanks when it comes to ingredients and delivery systems. Typically, a customer calls in with half the story or a partial understanding of the product. Call-center agents are asked in-depth questions about the science, side effects and how products work together.

Question: What are the most common complaints your customer service call-center agents receive from skin care companies?

 CF: Packaging! Customers call in all the time complaining about the quality of the packaging. It's damaged. Smaller than it appeared in the commercial. Looks cheap for the price they paid. Or it’s too difficult to use it—especially pump lotions. If the products weren’t shipped carefully, they looked banged up and haphazard, which can make even great packaging look less desirable.

Question: What is the biggest tip you have for skin care manufacturers as they look to formulate their new skin care products?

CF: My biggest tip for skin care product manufacturers would be to focus on how to keep your customer coming back to you specifically and not your competitor. Skin care customers are product junkies and will try new products all the time unless they are constantly reminded to be loyal.

Question: What skin care ingredient trends did you see in 2016? Do you expect those to change in 2017? If so, how?

CF: The call-center agents at Synergixx would tell you that 2016 was about building the better mouse trap for existing skin care formulas.

Read Fusco’s full answers in INSIDER’s Anti-Aging Digital Magazine.

Lindsey Carnett ([email protected]) is CEO and president of Marketing Maven, an Entrepreneur 360 company and integrated marketing firm ranked No. 15 in the United States in the beauty category by third-party ranking company O’Dwyer’s PR. She is a FOLIO Magazine 2015 Top Women in Media Honoree, and is noted for helping consumer brands with unique, clinically tested and substantiated formulation launches in the U.S. market.