Speaker 1: 0:00

So you want to launch a subscription box and don't know where to start? Girl, you are in the right place. 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. So grab a coffee, some pen and paper and let's have some fun. Hey everybody, and welcome back to Subscription Box Basics, the podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:27

This is Julie Ball, and this is an episode for existing business owners that want to add a subscription element to their business. It's such a smart move and it's low-hanging fruit, and so that's what we're going to be talking about today. If this is you, then you're in a good spot because you already have an existing business. You likely already have an email list, you already have followers and a website All these things that you did early on to start your business. They're already done, so it puts you in a really good spot. Now, that's not to discourage people from starting a subscription box from scratch. I'm just talking to a little bit different audience today and letting you know that this is going to be much easier for you, as an existing business, to add this as a new stream of revenue, so I'm trying to make this super simple for you so that you can take action right away, and so I've narrowed it down to five things that I want you to consider when you are thinking about adding a subscription to your existing business. So those five things are going to be purpose, product assortment, pricing, packaging and your pre-launch runway. Don't you love it? They all start with P, let's dive in.

Speaker 1: 1:41

So first thing, what is the purpose of you adding a subscription element to your existing business? So obviously part of it is the recurring revenue side. You gotta love recurring revenue. Like that is the big thing as a business owner with subscriptions. So you're going to move more product, you're going to have easier ways to project that revenue because it is recurring and it's going to renew on a regular basis. But what is the purpose for your customer? Like, what pain point are you solving for them by adding a subscription? Maybe you are a product that will need replenishment and so you're creating convenience, you're encouraging them to use the product to run out of product and they're going to get that new replenishment on a regular basis. You're kind of creating this convenience factor for your customers. Maybe the purpose of you adding a subscription is more of building on something month over month. So say that you're helping them create a kit of sorts and each month you're giving them a little bit more of the kit. That's another reason, another purpose behind adding a subscription. Maybe you are helping them experience growth, so they're going to go through this transformation as they get your products month after month. So think about that and maybe grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down purpose and then brainstorm what is the driving factor beyond the revenue side of it? But what's the purpose for the customer?

Speaker 1: 3:12

Number two product assortment. You need to think about what products are you going to put in there. Are they existing products that you have? Are they going to be new products? For example, I have a subscription to Oats Overnight. It is an easy-to-use single-serve oats food product. When I first purchased, I got to pick out all my flavors and then I got a blender bottle, so that's how you make it. So it's a really great experience. You get all the flavors. You can change them out month after month. But the cool thing here is they give me every single subscription a product in development, so it's a new flavor that they're testing it out. They might not have perfected the flavor and they give this to us as subscribers so that we can give them feedback and help them make decisions, help them make it better, and I think it's such a cool concept. So for your product assortment, are you going to offer existing products, new products, let them try products in development? It's just this way to create almost a VIP experience. You could give your new subscribers products they can't get anywhere else, or maybe they get first access to those new products.

Speaker 1: 4:27

So think about what products you're going to put in there, how many you're going to put in there. Oftentimes we see somewhere between like four to six or four to seven products in surprise style boxes. But if you are a replenishment style box, that's going to be based off of how often they need the product. So, for example, oats overnight I get 16 servings in my subscription, so I eat it about every other day for breakfast and by the end of one month I'm ready for my next box to show up. So you got to think about how many items that you need or want to put in there and what categories you're going to put in there. So again, pen and paper, write down ideas of what products you're going to put in there, what type of categories and think back to that purpose. What products do you need to put in there, based off of the purpose for your customer?

Speaker 1: 5:21

The next thing I want you to think about is pricing. So what price point do you want to put this at? Now I'll make sure that I put the link in the show notes. We have a handy calculator that can help you determine a range for your price point. You're going to put in some basic things of what you're going to spend on your products, what it costs for packaging which we're going to talk about in a minute here what it costs for postage, things like that and what you want your profit margin to be. Typically, we recommend shooting for that 30% to 50% profit margin and as an already established business owner that's adding this to the mix, adding this as a new offer that profit margin might be easier for you to get because you already have established relationships with vendors. You already have some of this stuff lined up, so now you might just be ordering more to fulfill those subscription orders. So I'll make sure that I put that link to the calculator that will help you figure out your pricing in there. But as we're talking about pricing and product assortment.

Speaker 1: 6:19

This is a great time to survey your audience, too. You can share with your email list or even just your VIP customers maybe those people who spend the most money. Ask them, maybe, jump on a phone call with them or send them a quick survey that lets them in on this secret that you're thinking about starting a subscription for your business and you would like their feedback. What would they like to see in it, what would their expectations and what are their ideas about it? You could give them some price point ideas and let them provide feedback. It is such a great opportunity to lean into your existing audience to help guide this, and they're going to already be primed to be your founding members of the subscription. All right, we've talked about purpose, products and pricing.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Now let's move on to packaging. This is the moment where you can get super creative, or you can just use what you already have. There's no wrong answer here. I think that there's an opportunity to make your packaging stand out from other packaging. Maybe that is a new box, maybe that is a new mailer, depending on what you're sending. Can you send it in a poly mailer or a bubble mailer, or maybe you just use your existing packaging but you add a special sticker or some special branded tape. Now, we love Sticker Mule for that type of thing. I can make sure that we put our referral link in the show notes. The referral link gives you a special offer. It's a $10 credit if you are a new Sticker Mule client, so it's super cool. But you could easily put like a VIP sticker or like some sort of differentiator, not only so that your customer sees it and is excited about it, but also from a fulfillment perspective. So your workers or you, if you're packing and shipping these subscriptions, so that you can differentiate and you don't mess up the fulfillment of it, so packaging, write that down on your paper. Are you going to use something new, something existing, or are you just going to give the existing thing a little flair? You know, a new little sticker or something?

Speaker 1: 8:23

And the last thing I want you to consider if you're adding a subscription to your existing business is the pre-launch runway. You already have an existing email list. Most likely I want you to continue to grow it. But let that email list, let your social media followers also in on the secret that this something big is coming. You can start hinting at it. You can start sharing a spoiler alert here or there. You can ask them even to opt in to be notified when this launches.

Speaker 1: 8:56

There's so many things that you can do, but I don't recommend that you come up with your subscription idea and launch it the next day without nurturing that audience and getting them excited, primed to be those first founding members of the subscription. So I want you to think about that and at least do two weeks Now. In best case scenario, you would do it a little longer. You would have that pre-launch runway maybe 30, 45, 60 days to really give yourself the opportunity to grow the list, nurture the list and to get all your ducks in a row in the back end. You're going to have to add this to your website and if you're on Shopify, you can use a Shopify app to add the recurring cart feature. We love the app called Appstool. It's great value for what they give you for the money, so I highly recommend that one. Or you can add Subly to your existing website. There's all kinds of different ways that you can do this.

Speaker 1: 9:59

So that's another episode. We've talked about software in the past, so you can refer to one of those episodes if you are scratching your head thinking about okay, how do I add this to my website? But today's episode is more focused around the big picture vision and the offer that you are going to have, like, what's going to be in the box? How much is it going to cost All those things? Okay, that was a lightning fast round, I know, but let's recap.

Speaker 1: 10:25

So we talked about purpose. What is the purpose for your customer? Are you creating convenience? Are you helping them experience growth in a transformation? Are you building upon it month over month? Number two product assortment. Are you using existing products or new products? How many are you going to include and what categories are you going to include? Number three pricing. What price point are you going to launch your new subscription offer at? Number four packaging. Are you using existing packaging, new packaging or just kind of upgrading your existing packaging with some flair? And number five pre-launch runway making sure that your customers are excited and primed to buy when you launch.

Speaker 1: 11:12

Okay, that was a quick episode. Hopefully it was helpful. Again, this one was for the people who have an existing product-based business and they just want to add a subscription element to it. It's low-hanging fruit. Not only is it a great way to grow your revenue on a automatic basis that recurring side of it. But it's also another really great way to serve your audience and meet them where they are and create convenience and transformation. So if you're an existing business and you want to learn more about adding a subscription offer, then drop us a message in the DMs. You can reach us on Instagram at SubscriptionBoxBasics, or you can reach us via email at support at SubscriptionBoxBasicscom. We would love to help guide you on that journey of adding a subscription to your business. Thanks for listening today and we'll see you in the next episode. Bye.