The 3 Secrets to Building a Successful Subscription Box

I can do this. 

It took me a lot longer to say those words than I care to admit. But a simple feeling that started with a merchant’s booth at a holiday-themed trade show soon blossomed into a subscription box empire all my own. Across the monthly box industry, I am often called “The Subscription Box Queen,” and aspiring box-preneurs routinely seek my advice when launching a new line or product. These small business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, and passionate career converts are searching for their slice of the subscription pie.

And there’s good reason for that: Multiple studies of consumer behavior reveal that subscriptions consistently create new customers and generate more purchases overall. What’s more, subscriptions can grow your existing customer base by over 30%, and the subscription industry as a whole is growing at a rate of over 14% per year.

So how did I get here? In just six short years, I’ve gone from launching my very first box to managing a seven-figure business dedicated to surprising and delighting its community of customers every month. What simple secrets shaped my path to success within the subscription market? It all starts with how you define your audience, and it ends with bringing your ideal customer to life.

1. Define your target from every angle. 

If you told a kid to pick the toppings for their very first pizza, without any guidance as to what might be off- limits, there’s no telling what you might get. Cereal. Candy. Grilled fish. Golden raisins. The boldness behind this creativity is inspiring, but the final product isn’t typically something you want to eat.

The trouble here is that sometimes in order to find out what you do want, you need to also understand what you don’t want. In order to decide who exactly is part of your target audience, you need to also decide who is not part of your target audience.

Customers flock to a well-defined community and well-defined subscription box. That said, you and your products aren’t for everyone, and that’s okay. In fact, that’s better than okay; it’s great! You wouldn’t put grilled fish on a pizza, so it stands to reason that not every pairing is a perfect match. But your customers are out there, and they do demand personalization. In fact, over 86% of customers say personalization plays some role in most of their purchases, and the standards for what defines “personalization” are getting more demanding all the time.

So, when you start to define the audience you want to build, remember that deciding who it isn’t can be just as important as deciding who it is.

2. Always start with your audience. 

The Egyptian pyramids of Giza are awe-inspiring to both children and adults. When I first heard about them in grade school, it seemed unbelievable the way they towered up from the shifting sand. But what if I told you that wasn’t the entire truth? Underneath the sand, these pyramids actually sit on a firm foundation of limestone, which was cleared away and marked off prior to construction. Are things getting a bit more believable now?

A solid foundation is critical for anything that hopes to stand the test of time, and the foundation of your subscription box is your audience. As such, it is important for every aspiring “box-preneur” to build their audience first and their business second. Of course, some businesses might be working with built-in communities anxious for a subscription, and those can make for exciting, fast-tracked opportunities. But that is the exception — not the rule.

Building an audience from scratch takes consistency and dedication. Long-standing research tells us that most members of your community need to hear a message seven times before remembering it, and that number might actually be higher. Consequently, finding ways to engage and connect with your community is crucial, and that starts with sharing yourself and your business with them in a more intimate manner.

Such a process might seem overwhelming, but you should never forget that you don’t need a huge audience — you just need the right one.

3. Bring your ideal customer to life. 

Natalie Portman trained as a professional dancer for several hours a day in preparation for Black Swan. During breaks while shooting Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro would work his own make-believe shifts as his alter ego, picking up actual passengers throughout New York City. Meryl Streep fully embraced her “big boss” persona in The Devil Wears Prada, and the results of these efforts in over-the-top empathy are all iconic.

You might not need method acting to bring your ideal customer to life, but you do need to take a deep dive into understanding them as a consumer. Why? Because creating messaging and curating products that speak to your audience becomes really simple when you know exactly who that person is and what that person wants.

Objectively, this isn’t all that surprising. Customer-focused companies are generally 60% more profitable than their competitors. Meanwhile, 77% of consumers want brands to actively listen to what their community is saying. Lucky for you, the audience-building stage of launching your subscription box is perfect for constructing highly detailed profiles about your potential customer. From there, you can respond to incoming feedback about that target persona whenever necessary.

It’s 2024. It’s simply not enough anymore to just have a rough idea of who your customers are. You need to understand them like Meryl Streep understands a constantly crotchety and perpetually posh editor-in-chief. Once you’ve established this solid foundation, you’re ready to create a subscription experience the community will love.

Written by Sarah Williams.

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