Serums and moisturizers are where most skincare stores have the deepest range and the most confused shoppers. They're also where a loose setup shows the fastest. Here's how I'd map them.
Key terms
- Concern: a visible skin topic the scan reads, such as wrinkles, pores, acne, pigmentation, dark circles, eye bags, redness or dryness. Face Age reads 13 of them.
- Severity level: low, medium or high, assigned per concern.
- Condition (AND): the concerns and levels a product is linked to. Every rule in this box must match.
- Extra Condition (OR): include or exclude rules based on quiz answers. Excludes always win.
- Automate AI: an option that links products to concerns from their names and descriptions, as a starting point you then review.
The scan is a cosmetic analysis for shopping guidance. Not a medical diagnosis; does not replace a dermatologist.
Why serums are the hardest category to map
Serums are targeted by design. A vitamin C serum, a niacinamide serum and a peptide serum each speak to different concerns, and their product copy often claims several at once. If you map each one to every concern its description mentions, every shopper sees every serum. That's the most common setup mistake I see.
Moisturizers have the opposite problem. Almost everyone needs one, so stores either forget to map them or map one to everything and never show the richer formulas.
Skin scan serum recommendations: a sample mapping
Here's how a store with five serums and three moisturizers might set things up. The product types are generic examples, not recommendations for any brand.
| Product | Concerns linked | Levels | Quiz exclude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightening serum (vitamin C type) | Pigmentation | Medium, High | Exclude if "very sensitive" |
| Niacinamide serum | Pores, Redness | Medium, High | None |
| Hydrating serum (hyaluronic type) | Dryness | Low, Medium, High | None |
| Retinoid-style night serum | Wrinkles | Medium, High | Exclude if "pregnant or nursing" (only if you ask) or "very sensitive" |
| Calming serum | Redness | Low, Medium | None |
| Light gel moisturizer | All concerns | Low | Exclude if quiz answer is "dry" |
| Everyday moisturizer | All concerns | Low, Medium, High | None |
| Rich barrier cream | Dryness | Medium, High | Exclude if quiz answer is "oily" |
A few choices in that table are worth explaining.
The brightening serum skips "low". A shopper with low visible pigmentation doesn't need a targeted serum pushed at them. Keeping it to medium and high makes the recommendation feel earned.
The calming serum skips "high". That's a judgment call. Some stores prefer to show their gentlest option to everyone with redness. Others prefer to keep high-redness results light and suggest checking with a professional. Either way, decide on purpose.
Excludes do the safety work. A photo can't tell you someone reacts to strong actives. The quiz can. If you ask a sensitivity question, wire its answer to an exclude on your stronger serums. Excludes beat includes, so nothing slips through.
Our longer post on severity, conditions and exclusions covers the logic in more detail.
Use Automate AI, then edit
Automate AI reads product names and descriptions and suggests concern links. It's a fast first pass, especially with a big catalog. But product copy is written to sell, so it tends to over-claim. A moisturizer described as "brightening, smoothing, plumping and soothing" will get linked to four concerns.
After the auto pass, I'd sort by category and go serum by serum. Ask: if a shopper had only this concern at this level, is this the product I'd hand them? If not, remove the link.
Keep mapping current as the range changes
Catalogs move. A new serum launches, an old one is discontinued, a moisturizer gets reformulated without fragrance. Each change can quietly break your results. A discontinued serum that stays mapped can leave a gap or point shoppers to an out-of-stock page. A new one that never gets mapped will never show after a scan, however good it is.
The simplest habit is to make mapping part of the product launch checklist, next to photos and copy. Once a month, open the Face Age analytics page and look at which products show after an analysis and which get added to cart. If a serum shows often but is rarely added, its mapping or its page may need a look.
How many products should one result show?
There's no setting that's right for every store, but the shopper's experience tells you. If someone with medium pigmentation and low dryness sees two serums and one moisturizer, that reads like advice. If they see seven serums, they're back on a category page with extra steps.
Test with real scans. Take five photos with different skin (staff who volunteer are fine) and count what shows. If the list is long, tighten levels before you touch anything else.
Where routines come in (Plus and above)
On Plus at $129, Face Age's routine generator builds AM and PM routines from the scan and your mapped products. That's where serum mapping pays off twice. A well-mapped vitamin C type serum lands in the morning step; a retinoid-style serum in the evening. If your serums are mapped loosely, the routine gets crowded too.
You can read how the routines are put together on the routines feature page, and see shopper-facing recommendation details on recommendations.
Product Insight on serum pages
Shoppers often land straight on a serum page from search or an ad. The optional Product Insight block explains on that page how the product matches a shopper's analysis. It only helps if the serum's mapping is accurate. A vague link turns into a vague explanation. More on that block in Product Insight on Shopify.
A quick audit checklist
- Every serum is linked to no more than two or three concerns.
- Targeted serums skip "low" unless you have a good reason.
- At least one moisturizer covers every concern at every level, so no result comes back without one.
- Strong actives have a quiz-based exclude.
- You've run five real scans and read the product list out loud.
- New products get mapped the day they're added, not "later".
Plans and pricing
Product recommendations and the Quiz Builder are on every plan: Start $59, Plus $129, Growth $249, Scale $499 a month on Shopify, with a 7-day trial. Routines, history and PDF reports start on Plus. See pricing.
FAQ
Can an AI skin scan recommend a serum? Yes, from the serums you've mapped to the concerns it reads.
How many serums should show after a scan? One or two per result usually reads like advice. Narrow with levels and excludes.
Should every shopper see a moisturizer? Many stores map one basic moisturizer to all concerns and levels, then target richer ones.
Which Face Age plan includes product recommendations? Every plan, from Start at $59. Routines start on Plus at $129.
