3 Mistakes to Avoid When Shopping for a DNA Test

Your Free Guide to the Best Valued DNA Tests

Dear Reader,

Where are you from?

For many of us, that question can be hard to answer.

We get a different answer from mom and dad, and far more when you begin tracing grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-greats. Pretty soon you’ve got 16, 32, 64 stories to keep track of…and no way of knowing how accurate each one is.

Ancestry records can certainly help part of the way. They’re great for recent history—spotting the moment your grandfather came over on Ellis Island, or looking up the marriage records of your great-grandparents from the Old Country. But these records mostly just confirm what you already knew…

So where are you really from?

One solution is DNA testing. Its popularity has exploded in recent years, with the number of consumers signing up for testing kits more than doubling in 2019. This DNA boom has made genetic testing one of the hottest conversation starters at dinner tables and water coolers across the world.

It’s no surprise that DNA tests are in high demand. The things you learn from them are irresistible:

Ancestry – Everything we’ve ever known about our heritage has come from our parents and grandparents. A DNA test can tell you so much more about who you are and where you’re from. Most companies offer this basic service, but some are far better than others.

Family History – This kind of goes hand-in-hand with Ancestry. If you’re trying to sort out family mysteries, a DNA test can help you solve them. If your parents also have their DNA tested, you can sometimes sort out which genes you received from each side of the family.

Community – Finding out your genetic heritage gets you a deeper connection to the places that you’re “from.” On top of this, some of the best DNA test companies will connect you with people who share pieces of DNA with you. Many people use this feature to discover long-lost relatives.

Health Risks – Some DNA tests can reveal unique traits embedded in your genetic code that may put you at risk for certain health conditions. This can help you alter your lifestyle to try and prevent them.

Family Planning – A DNA test can help you find out what genes you may pass onto your children, for better or worse.

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With so many people clamoring to get their hands on the benefits listed above, more and more DNA test companies have been rising to meet them. Unfortunately, they’re not all created equal.

Now it’s harder than ever to find a good DNA test…

Luckily, you’re in the right place. Our team of scientists, researchers, and writers at Genetics Digest know the field better than most. We’ve examined nearly every DNA test in the booming market. We’ll help you sort out the great ones from the “cheap knockoffs.”

With that said, let’s get started on Common Mistakes People Make When Shopping for a DNA Test…

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Mistake #1: Don’t buy a brand by how “popular” it appears to be.

Some brands have a great marketing team with a massive advertising budget. You might see/hear their ads everywhere. That’s because they’re spending millions to make sure you’ve heard of them.

Despite the great marketing, some of those companies have subpar services at best. They’re more worried about making a sale than they are with actually delivering a quality product.

To be clear, a popular company with great marketing does NOT necessarily mean that they have a bad service. A couple of them have really great services! But you shouldn’t assume that they have a great service just because they appear to be popular, and you also shouldn’t write off lesser-known companies—some of these are new up-and-coming services who will eventually rise to the top of the market. They give you a unique opportunity to be along for the ride.

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Mistake #2: Don’t Miss Out on Deeper Detail.

One of the most common complaints we see from ancestry customers is that their results “fall flat”—you get a basic pie chart breakdown of where your ancestors are from, but a disappointing amount of information about how or why you got those results. And we all know that ancestry is more than just a bunch of boring percentages.

The best DNA tests feature an Ancestry Timeline that tells you not only where your ancestors are from, but exactly how and when they got there, enabling you to form a clearer, fuller picture of your family history. These top-quality tests give you the best of both worlds of broad genetic results and deeper ancestry detail.

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Mistake #3: Don’t confuse “Accuracy” with “Precision.”

Almost every DNA test company on the market claims to be the “most accurate.” They’re not lying. DNA tests are typically 99.9% accurate. However, they’re often not precise.

What’s the difference between Accuracy and Precision?

For something to be “accurate,” it just needs to be true. If you have European heritage and your Ancestry DNA test comes back with results that simply say “European,” then it’s an accurate test. It’s giving you results that are true, even if they’re not detailed.

For something to be “precise,” it has to be an exact expression of details. The most precise DNA tests currently on the market have at least 20 unique regions they use in their Ancestry reports. The best companies will have multiple regions on each continent in their reports (rather than having most of their tested regions all on the same continent).

However, you have to be wary of companies overselling how precise their tests are. Some companies claim to have hundreds of regions in their reports. In our experience, this is bending the truth a bit. Most of them really test for 20-30 regions, but then list the names of countries that are contained within those regions without actually testing DNA for them.

For example, if a DNA test determines that someone has Iberian Ancestry, one of these companies might list Spain and Portugal underneath and count those as 2 “regions” for marketing purposes even though they don’t give a percentage breakdown for how much Iberian Ancestry is Spanish or Portugese.

In other words, some companies can be a little misleading with their marketing.

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Our Top 3 Recommended DNA Tests

Now that we’ve shown you what to look out for, we want to share with you some of the best Ancestry DNA tests we’ve seen for discovering your heritage. .

We ranked the services by these 10 factors:
   1) Company Reputation
   2) Services Offered
   3) Testing Method
   4) Software Grade
   5) Research & Scientific Evidence
   6) CLIA Compliance
   7) Customer Reviews
   8) Price
   9) Customer Service
  10) Return Policy

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*Results may be experienced differently by different individuals. This report is developed from clinical studies, research, and customer reviews analyzed by the editors. Further supporting research and documentation can be found in the "Research" section as well as the "Disclosure" section of GeneticsDigest.

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