Subscription Box Basics
Have a subscription box idea, but not sure where to start? You are in the right place! Subscription Box Basics is a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs. Hosts Julie Ball and Renae Gonzalez have been in the sub box game since 2016, shipping over 65,000 Sparkle Hustle Grow boxes equating to nearly $2.5 million in sales before selling the business for multiple six figures. Over the years, we've helped hundreds get their box idea off the ground and it's our passion to empower other women to build a business they love. ♡ https://www.subscriptionboxbasics.com
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Subscription Box Basics
These subscription boxes nailed it
In this episode, Renae & Julie unpack the customer expeerience in our latest chit-chat, where we rave about the magic of subscription boxes like Universal Yums. You'll hear us gush over the immersive experiences Universal Yums create, not just through the savory bites but also through the cultural nuggets hidden within—think trivia, book suggestions, and the stories behind each snack. We're opening up about how these little boxes of joy connect us to far-off places, stirring up memories of almost-visits to Paris and ancestral ties to countries like Poland and Ukraine.
Now, let's switch gears and talk savings and exclusive perks—but not the boring kind. We dissect the clever lure of Cinemark Movie Club's membership benefits and how accumulating credits can feel like finding hidden treasure. We'll also give you the scoop on the ingenious marketing strategies that companies like Cinemark employ, such as a savings calculator that makes potential benefits feel tailor-made for you. So, tune in, get inspired to level up your own customer experience!
https://www.universalyums.com
https://www.cinemark.com/movieclub
So you want to launch a subscription box and don't know where to start? Girl, you are in the right place.
Speaker 2:I'm Julie Ball and I'm Renee Gonzalez, your host here at Subscription Box Basics a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs wanting to avoid overwhelm.
Speaker 2:So grab a coffee, some pen and paper and let's have some fun. Welcome to Subscription Box Basics the podcast. I am Renee Gonzalez, your marketing coach, and I am here with Julie Ball, our head coach, and today we're doing a super casual conversation. Julie and I were talking about this offline and we thought it'd be just a fun podcast topic. So today we are chatting about some subscriptions that we are currently using and loving and why we think that is beneficial to tell you. So, julie, I'll pass the mic on to you because today we're going to talk about some of the subscriptions you're using.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think it's important too, because the two that we're going to talk about have such a great customer experience, and I know you're tired of us talking about that.
Speaker 1:You have to be more than just a box, but it's so true, and so these two subscriptions got me excited enough that I was talking about it with Renee, and that's that's such great word of mouth.
Speaker 1:So the first one that we're going to talk about is called Universal Yums, and, in a nutshell, they send snacks from around the world in a box. But it goes so much further than that, because you think, ok, I'm going to get this box and it's going to have all these snacks, but it doesn't stop there, and so I'm going to tell you first what they do, and then I'll talk about some of the things that they have in the box. And I know Renee can speak to this one too, because I sent her a box because, remember, last year she kept talking about wanting to go to Paris and it was on her vision board and she was so close. She got to London but didn't quite get to Paris, and then I kid you not, last month's box for Universal Yums was from Paris, and so I was like I don't have to send this to Renee.
Speaker 2:And it was such the perfect little surprise on my doorstep and great little taste literally of Paris without having made it there, and made me want to go even more. So we'll jump more into it, but I'll let you get back into to talking a little more about the experience.
Speaker 1:Sure, ok.
Speaker 1:So I'm not going to go deep into like. This is one thing you get and this is how much it costs. So you guys can go to the website UniversalYumscom, you can go check that stuff out yourself, but I want to tell you digitally how they ramped up this experience of getting all these snacks. So, first of all, when you subscribe, you get to choose what box you want to start with. I subscribed for the first time in Q4 of last year, so Christmas, like holidays around the world, was the box that we chose. Now, I don't know if they I'm assuming they switch that up from season to season or whatever they have in stock, but we started with that. And then the next one we got was Poland, which is so great because that's where part of my roots are and then France, and then this next month did I even tell you this it's Ukraine, and I was like, oh my gosh, it's like they know my roots. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:So when I subscribed, I immediately got into like an email workflow and I don't know, renee, as a gift recipient, if you received any emails from them, did you? I haven't received any emails yet. No, ok, interesting, they should be sending you emails too, but maybe they didn't ask for their email address. In any case, as a subscriber, I get emails every single week from them, but they are so value packed. For example, one email might be announcing next month's country. Like what am I, where am I going to get snacks from next month? Which is super cool. That's an exciting thing to announce. Another email I got was books books from France, for example. We're just going to stay with with France as our example here. So if we wanted children's books or if we wanted adult books like for you know, not like adult books, but, like you know, not kid, not kids books so they sent me those. They sent me movie recommendations kid friendly and adult friendly movie recommendations from France. So think about all these things there. They're kind of warming me up with other things to get excited about tasting snacks from France. So I get those. What else did they send? They send I think they sent recipes as well.
Speaker 1:Now, renee, you probably experienced this about what's in the box other than the actual snacks, which are so good. By the way, they always have sweet, they always have like a savory or a salty, a whole bunch of different types of snacks. But we got a little booklet. Did you get this in the gift box too? Yes, yeah, yeah, okay, so I'm. If you're watching the video you can see it, but if you're listening, I'll just kind of walk you through it.
Speaker 1:The first page it gives you some information about how to make the most of the box, and they do a customer spotlight, which is super cool. They actually have a picture of a customer in there and then they go on to say bonjour from France. What is what's on the cover? So they talk about the picture on the cover, they talk about the French Alps and then they do a two-sided page here of trivia so cool. So think about with your box, if you're listening, like is trivia maybe something that you could do? It are movie recommendations or book recommendations. Are those things that you can add into your subscriber email workflow to bring more value.
Speaker 1:And and then the next few pages were sort of like a packing list. They explained what the product was and they gave a little story about, about the actual snack itself Maybe, like how it was first made or where are its origins and how they like to eat it. Next they give nutrition facts and then, oh, here's where they give a recipe. So I thought that was really cool. And Did you guys look through that, renee, whenever you did, or did you just dive right into the snacks?
Speaker 2:We do it with the snacks first, but then we did eventually look at it so it was awesome. But, yeah, we ripped open one of the snacks, I think the little bomb bomb things right away and then and then we slowly made our way through the rest of the box over the Duration of a couple weeks. So, yeah, it was really, really good and I think it's just echoing what you've said. Such a good takeaway, adding the digital components and and all the things just little touches and little things that Enhance the experience of your box but aren't necessarily gonna cost you more, like to curate things around your theme and send that in an email list. You don't have to send the actual books. You can send an example of books that go with your theme. So I think they have a lot of really good ideas that people can pull from that don't cost any extra money but enhance the experience and I was over here laughing because that's so you to just dive right into the snacks.
Speaker 1:Here I am, where my family knows I have the rule You're not allowed to try the snack until you've read or heard me read out loud, the origin. I'm trying to sort of organically make this a part of home school because we're traveling the world via snacks. So okay, so more fun stuff. That was in. There is a pack of Stickers, so this could be something fun that is super low cost and just really fun to add to your subscription box business. So there was one other insert, renee, why don't you tell them about this one?
Speaker 2:This is so cool, yeah so the last insert I actually have two more in my box because it was a gift, so I will tell you about the one we both got. And then one other thing that I got to. So we both got a yum score Board, which is super awesome because it has a picture. If you're watching the video, you can see a picture of each item that was included in the box and then it has three different emoji Rankings that you can draw in a little rectangle area so you can do a happy face if it was delicious, you can do a face if it was okay and you can do a sad face if you don't like it.
Speaker 2:And then it also gave examples Of if you liked certain things that were in the boxes. It gives other things that are available in their yum shop that you'll love. So that was really cool, that if you want more of something they redirect you to their site to go purchase more. That is an awesome thing. And then it also talks about a couple little sayings. This one again was France, so their French ways to say things like cheers and tasty. So a really cool little scavenger scavenger hunt guide on here to just a lot of little extra bonuses that help again enhance the experience.
Speaker 1:Yes, they've gamified it, and if you're new around here, if you go back to the episode from last summer when we recorded live at some summit, we talked about gamification and so this is such an easy way the scorecard to make it fun, and there's even a little area that says team rating, like what was your favorite young, the worst young and the weirdest young from the box, and so they're really encouraging you to do this as a team, like with your family or Maybe with friends. You could even so, if I got the box and rena got the box, we could open things and try them on face time together. So they're really creating this experience With things that aren't costing more money, like it doesn't cost more to tell you how to do, how to say things in French, like tasty, and I don't like this. It doesn't cost more than the printing of this insert to give you a scorecard. So I love that. I think they are knocking it out of the park.
Speaker 2:And because I got a gift, I got one more little insert as well, and it on one side it says someone thinks you deserve a treat and it is really cute. It's postcard style to, so it is super cute in the design alone. But then it has Julie's gift message to me and then on the other side like where, who it was sent from it says this best gift ever is brought to you by universal young. And then it has Information to their website and their support email. So again, a really good productive and getting ahead of the game with their customer service giving you the support email so you don't have to hunt it down if something's not right. So really, really cute on theme with the postcard and a nice little message from you, julie, thank you.
Speaker 1:You're welcome and I didn't mention this, but I must have been tagged as a gift giver because I get another set of emails. This is so us like we buy something and then we hack it backwards. We're like, yeah, let's see how they do this. So I've been getting emails probably every other week since I sent that box and it first of all, was just telling me what a great friend I was because I sent a gift and so that was cool, that it makes it erased any like buyers remorse or, you know, made me feel validated. So that was the first one, like giving me a pat on the back saying good job. And then it let me know. It told me tracking to it, let me know when it was delivered. And then since then they've sent me a couple other emails about hey, this box is available, would you like to gift it? But I'm clearly in two different Email campaign, like workflows. One is a subscriber but also as a gift giver.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's really there they're doing all covering all bases, good job.
Speaker 1:So good to. You guys need to go to the website to and check it out because they have such a great onboarding flow. It made it really really easy to buy and they actually gave me a lot of options. Usually I'm against options. I say, you know, don't give me more than three options or I'm not going to take action, and that's very typical of a lot of people. They get decision fatigue. But the onboarding flow was so easy and natural. It was such a good experience. So highly recommend you go check out their website. Go see what they have, what their offers are, sign up for their email list so you can start seeing how these professionals really really do such a good job.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, yes, and it's universalyummscom for anyone that's looking for the website. And then we have one more a little different experience but still an experience, julie that you wanted to talk about. That is also a subscription.
Speaker 1:Yes. So I'm going to pull up my notes on this one, because this one has so many perks I don't want to forget any. But this is more of a digital membership, but it's so experience-based and I'm having such a good time as a member that I wanted to share about it. So the membership I want to tell you about next is the Cinemark Movie Club. Do you have cinemarks near where you live, Renee?
Speaker 2:Not close. I know they're in California, but none in our area.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, let me paint the picture. The Cinemark is like the posh theater around here. It's the one that you can get food delivered to the movie theater, it's the one that has the reclining chairs, it's the one that has the movie club Like it's a really, really nice movie theater. And so what you get? You pay a monthly fee and it's based off of how many people are in your family or in your group and you get one movie credit per month and the cool thing is they accumulate. So we've been members for years. So even during the pandemic when the theater was closed, we let it keep going and we racked up all these points, and now it feels like we're going to the movies for free, even though we paid for them. But it's also nice because those accumulated points can be used for guests. So our daughter McKenna, you know, maybe wants to bring a friend, and so she can use our accumulated points. So you get one ticket a month. You get waived online fees you know, like those pesky transaction fees. You get those waived. You get member pricing on additional tickets, which I love. This can easily be used in a product form too, like, if you are a member, you get 20% off in our shop or something like that. Like, that is such a great little perk and helps you move excess inventory. So the Cinemark Movie Club also allows you to earn points hello, gamification once again. And then the unused credits are good for six months. That are kind of on this rolling basis. It's really really great. You also get a discount on food and beverage and I don't remember what it is, but I swear it can really add up when you're buying the big popcorn and candy and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, so those are the main benefits of the Cinemark Movie Club, and I want you to go check out their website. What's really cool is that at the very top of the club page, when you land on it, it says save over $100 on average in one year. Like that's their big transformation. If you're already going to their website, you're probably a moviegoer and they're telling you you're going to save on average $100 in a year. So I love that.
Speaker 1:I always say, like lead with the transformation and that one just lays it out there and quantifies it. But get this. I don't know, renee, if you've seen this yet, but you got to go check it out. They have a calculator on their homepage that allows you to calculate how much you would actually save as a family of four. Now I have a family of three, and so we could go on there. Choose how many people are in my group or in my family, how often we go to the movies, and then it's going to calculate, it's going to spit out custom results of how much that I would save by joining their club.
Speaker 2:Oh that's amazing and that's such a fun tool that other people can incorporate. And it doesn't necessarily, obviously, movie tickets are movies, but you could do time saved shopping for whatever your niche is, or time saved prepping for holidays If you have a holiday box. That's so cool. Thank you, I thought it was brilliant. I'm also currently. I'm looking how close the nearest one is to me, which is about 30 minutes not too bad. Then I'm also. We go to AMC. That's the one in our area. I already belong to the Rewards Club, but I'm looking at their Movie 1, 2 when they also have it. I don't know pricing or anything, but they also have a movie, a premier 1, 2, where you get credits for a movie. I'm going to have to check it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. I think it's such an interesting concept how you can take subscriptions or memberships and apply it to so many types of businesses. I mean, what Panera had, a coffee club. Didn't Burger King try a subscription model too? I'm not sure if they still do that, but I know that we have just random ones.
Speaker 2:The car carwash I have a car wash. You can do unlimited for the month. Really, it's a subscription and I do. I try to. I mean they probably still get me, but I do try to go at least once a month. It can't be accountable to get my car wash monthly at least. Then it's also one thing I don't have to worry about because it's a subscription base and they make good money too because they have me as a reoccurring customer. Yeah, it's definitely. I mean, obviously most of our audience is subscription box owners. But even if you have a business that is a retail business or a service, there's so many ways to incorporate some sort of subscription element or add to it if you're a box.
Speaker 1:The whole replenishment thing too, like if you are a replenishment style subscription that, using that calculator, try to think about, like how much time you might save someone because you send that the razor is right to their house. Or there was this air filter subscription that we used to have that basically sent us home like air conditioner filters when we needed to change them, and guess what? We always change them on time. And now that we're not a member anymore, guess what? They never get changed on time. Yeah, yeah, but that would be such an easy one to put right on your homepage, like how much time we've saved you or how changing your air filter regularly can make your house healthier to live in. Or I'm sure there's lots of bad things that happen when we don't change our air filter. So don't be afraid to call out on your homepage whether it's savings or how you transform their life. Like put that front and center.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. And also, if you're listening to this, let us know if you liked this episode, because it's things Julie and I talk about behind the scenes and all the time Boxers yeah, we're always dissecting subscriptions or ideas, so if this is stuff you like to listen to too, we would love to continue to do this and kind of break down subscriptions that we're using or things that we see, if that's helpful at all for you listening too, so let us know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely, and the moral of today's stories is all about customer experience. You know, appeal to them as far as what you're putting on your website, letting them know how you're going to transform their lives, and then take it beyond the product and give them those membership perks and that experience. So, whether it's 20% off in your shop or maybe that's some sort of reward system or gamifying it, there's so many things that you can do. And Universal, yums and Cinemark just have made it very, very easy and fun to be members, and I didn't mention the Cinemark.
Speaker 1:One has an app and so as a member, I have like a QR code when I go there, that I don't even have to stand in line for my tickets. I just go right to the seats and they clock me in with the QR code. I show that QR code to get my discount and I can actually book my seats right on, like I choose my seats right in the app. So I know again that that's a digital component. That's a little bit different, but my point is they've made it easy and fun to be their customer and made you feel like a VIP because that's a special little perk.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:That's right. Well, hopefully you found some value in this. Yeah, if you did like this type of little just banter episode, let us know, because we would love to share more about some of the subscriptions we're using. We want to hear about the ones that you're using too, so our DMs are always open. Our preferred platform of choices Instagram. Thanks for listening today and we'll see you in the next episode. Bye, bye.
