Providing Greater Customer Experience With Subscription Boxes
November 19, 2015
The idea of subscription boxes – recurring shipments of themed retail products that are often personalized for each consumer for anywhere between $10 and $250 a month – is about 5 years old now. Yet the trend is only becoming more popular.
You can now purchase subscription boxes for healthy foods, dog treats, comic book toys, designers clothes, socks, shaving kits and more. If you can name it, there is probably a subscription box for it (and if there isn’t, hey, free business idea!) Consumers love them because they get a curated collection of surprise products without the hassle, and service providers love it because they have recurring revenue and stable overhead costs. Even brick-and-mortar retailers, like Sephora, are getting into the subscription-based business.
The key to a successful subscription service is always about providing continual value and appreciation. Consumers may not love every product they receive in each shipment, but if they love the experience, they’ll continue to buy. And what’s the best way to provide experiential value to your products?. Wait for it … it’s bees! Just kidding! It’s PACKAGING!
It’s not just end consumers subscribing to recurring shipments. SnackNation, an Ernest client, delivers healthy snacks to offices around the country on a subscription basis—with great success.
So how do you provide greater customer experience, and therefore customer loyalty, with the packaging? Here are a few ideas:
Make Boxes Reusable
Your packaging is more likely to be kept and reused as storage if it is designed to be neatly opened instead of torn apart.
Make Boxes Memorable & Shareable
To Ernestitize a quote from ‘Field of Dreams,’ “If you wow them, they will share.”
Social sharing of packaging is a fantastic way to spread the word about your business, especially when people are seeing your box right on their phone or computer where they can go check you out in just a few seconds. But if it isn’t memorable it isn’t shareable. Invest in packaging and expand your reach. Check out our “Unboxing Better Customer Experiences” white paper for greater insight into the sharing phenomenon.
Surprise Your Customers!
We took a few photos of subscription boxes some Ernest employees receive. The ones that stood out the most are the ones that use the whole box (not just the outside) as a canvas and the ones that provide some kind of personal touch.
Subscription boxes, eCommerce and traditional retail packaging are all vying to create positive and lasting customer experiences. Find ways to make a connection and tell your brand’s stories and values with your packaging. Need help understanding all of your options? Contact Ernest Packaging Solutions today to find out how we can use the latest styles, trends, materials and overall amazingness to your boxes.
