Unwrap a More Successful Holiday Box: 4 Ways You Can Plan Now to Boost Q4 Profits

Seasonal spending and a well-planned subscription box go together like peanut butter and jelly. For starters, both industries are booming — with holiday retail sales in the United States on track to reach $1 trillion this year and the subscription economy projected to hit $1.5 trillion by 2025. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, both industries are built around the joys of anticipation and the idea of creating a unique and magical moment.

On top of that, customers are making the connection themselves. In a recent survey of holiday shoppers, 70% of people were interested in receiving a subscription as a seasonal gift, while 63% of shoppers were already considering a subscription as a gift for another. In fact, chances are you’ve already given or received a subscription-based gift yourself.

Still, the organic connection and robust growth of both industries doesn’t mean you can just throw together a holiday box for your business and rake in the profits. The holiday season is fiercely competitive, and it seems to start a bit earlier every single year. So, while the season can provide an enormous boost to your Q4 profits, it demands serious preparation.

After nearly a decade in the industry and five years of sold-out holiday boxes, these are the four ways I think you can plan now for holiday box success this year!

1. Set the same expectation every single year. 

Habit and routine can be powerful motivators. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, reminds us that 45% of what we do every day is rooted in our routines, and Starbucks built a multi-billion dollar empire off training new habits into the public.

As a subscription box owner, it’s important for you to consistently train your customers on when and what to expect from you and your business. When does this particular box usually launch? How long does it take for it to sell out? How can I get early access? These are all questions that your recurring customers should be able to answer with ease and confidence.

Of course, there is no better example of this than your holiday gift box, which is why you need to set the same expectation every single year. Thanks to a consistent yearly routine, my customers know I always pre-sell my holiday gift boxes in October. They know they need to act fast if they want one, and they know that getting on a waitlist is their best bet for guaranteed access.

Tips for “setting the expectation” about your holiday box:

• Decide on a yearly pre-sell date and STICK TO IT, teasing and reminding your customers whenever possible.
• If you plan on changing the number of holiday boxes available each year, let your customers know as soon as possible.
• If your holiday box routinely sells out, make that clear to your community and communicate potential steps for guaranteed access.

2. Get started early — yesterday, if possible. 

The phrase “the early bird catches the worm” has endured — basically unchanged — for more than 400 years. Why? Because it’s a simple and observable truth in nature. If you live near some trees, you can open your window in the morning and hear it happening. If you work in retail, you can witness it with your own eyes months ahead of some of the biggest holiday shopping seasons.

The planning and execution of your holiday gift box should be no different. It all needs to start early — yesterday, if possible. What works for me is setting up waitlists in September through a webpage or texting app, then promoting the gift box through recurring social media posts and live videos. The goal is to send a clear message about what your holiday gift box offers, then drive up excitement around its launch and direct your early buyers to a waitlist.

Marketing experts agree that most holiday retail campaigns of any size require extensive planning and early execution to be successful.

Tips for getting started extra early:

• Be mindful of your typical customer’s schedule when making your own timeline. Do they align?
• Release your marketing content in bite-sized chunks. This will help build anticipation and ease the burden of content creation.
• After the first year, what is the typical customer feedback on your schedule? It might be time for a change.

3. Start with waitlists, then open the door to everyone. 

If you build it, he will come. Many of you have seen 1989’s Field of Dreams — or at least heard about it. A simple farmer named Ray Kinsella is suddenly inspired to build a baseball field on his remote piece of land. After a gigantic and exhausting leap of faith, the field is built, the players arrive, and crowds of paying fans suddenly start to arrive seemingly out of nowhere.

But what if the farm already had a baseball field? It wouldn’t really make sense for Ray to tear down one diamond in exchange for another. Instead, maybe he should just turn on the lights.

Don’t start from scratch on launch day — just turn on the lights by opening the door to your waitlist. If you got the ball rolling early and took the time to build up a robust list of eager buyers, make sure you take full advantage of that groundwork. One day before launch, I send a single email and text to my waitlist offering them first dibs on my holiday gift box. In no time, we sell over half the boxes we have available.

We still built a baseball diamond. We just did a lot of the work ahead of time.

Unique ways to make waitlists more exciting:

• If possible, offer an exclusive discount or limited edition item to those who sign up early.
• Send exclusive behind-the-scenes footage to your waitlist members designed to get them excited about what’s coming.
• Offer 24-hours of exclusive access to your waitlist members before opening up the offer to the public.

4. Build on your holiday box campaign every year — because it gets easier. 

The first time you play a board game can be really hit-or-miss, especially if everyone is new to the game. First, you have to learn the rules, which can feel a bit like homework. Next, you have to re-learn the rules because no one remembers everything the first few times it’s all put into practice. Then, you have to deal with the fact that after all that reading and re-reading you still might miss the mark.

But what if you end up loving the game? The second time, everything gets a bit easier. By the third time, you and your group are enjoying the game with complete ease.

Likewise, planning and launching a holiday gift box can seem like a lot of work, and it is — the first time. But if you take the time to plan and build a foundation now, such as designing graphic assets and crafting email sequences, you’ll have much less groundwork to accomplish with each passing year. Meanwhile, the rewards for your effort will only grow.

Examples of foundational work or reusable content:

• Detailed email sequences for different segments of your audience and parts of the conversion journey.
• Graphic assets centered around seasonal themes and the overall branding of the gift box.
• Timeless testimonials that convey the excitement and satisfaction you associate with your holiday gift box.

Written by Sarah Williams.

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