Influencer Marketing: A Guide for Subscription Box Business
In the midst of a pandemic-induced lockdown forcing consumers to stay home and widely avoid retail stores, the subscription box business model is having a major moment, and brands offering this booming model are reaping the benefits.
Making a purchase no longer requires physical presence, and after the first subscription order, hardly any time or thought. Today, customers have subscription access to products spanning beauty, food, wine, plants, books–and the list goes on.
In order for a brand to distinguish itself in a saturated market, it must raise awareness and build consumer confidence. With proven results of acquiring both customers and content, tapping into influencer marketing is a promising pathway to success.
Potential customers are making informed decisions more than ever, often finding ideas, inspiration, and answers on social media. Through this post, you’ll understand how influencers can boost both sales and visibility for your brand and product while gaining basic knowledge of the subscription box business.
What’s the Deal With Subscription Boxes?
A subscription box business runs repeated delivery of products, sent to a customer on a monthly, weekly, or sometimes daily basis.
This type of shopping was created to eliminate the manual process of repurchasing. A subscription box routinely involves an agreement to automated online payments for a given duration.
Make Your Pick
There are different types of subscription boxes. In e-commerce, subscriptions are usually classified based on the type of service purchased. There are generally three types of such subscriptions: Replenishment, Curation, and Access subscriptions.
A ‘Replenishment’ subscription automates the purchase of items due for replacement, so the customer always has the items they need or use regularly. This often applies to household and personal care products such as razors or diapers.
‘Curation’ subscriptions offer a highly personalized experience, where the contents of the box are generally a surprise to the customer and chosen by the brand. For example, Happily provides customers with a ‘date night’ box for couples to enjoy once a month, going as far as including a custom playlist and conversation starters.
Not all subscription services are product-focused. In the case of an ‘Access’ subscription, the consumer gains a VIP pass to exclusive membership offers in exchange for creating an account with a retailer and sometimes, for a recurring fee. These perks can include discount cards as well as complimentary gifts and upgrades.
Once you have the basics down, the next step is understanding why subscription businesses need influencer marketing to grow.
The Key to Subscription Box Success: Influencer Marketing
Whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, most social media platforms are home to a surplus of influencers with loyal followings of varying demographics. This creates an opportunity for brands to work with the right influencers who align with their product, messaging, and ethos. MuteSix has an internal database of over 37M+ accounts across verticals, ensuring meaningful influencer partnerships and high exposure.
This type of marketing offers many viable options for showcasing your brand and product offering. A few notable examples include giveaways, social media takeovers, and ambassador programs, but unboxing videos are most effective in highlighting the subscription box customer experience.
Walt Life, a subscription box for Disney fanatics, sends out a monthly selection of new and exciting items that keeps their customers coming back for more. After running a successful influencer unboxing campaign with Walt Life, MuteSix was able to acquire more than 30 videos from influencers.
Highline Wellness is an accessible CBD brand which offers a monthly subscription of their products. Over a period of time, they seeded boxes to a number of influencers, resulting in usable brand content, hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales, and increased revenue.
Conclusion
There are many advantages to using influencer marketing as a tactic to grow your subscription business. Though it may seem daunting to get started, MuteSix can guide you through the process by sourcing the right influencers and advising on what content deliverables will move the needle for your brand’s unique offering.
If you’re interested in learning more about tapping into influencer marketing to promote your subscription service business, reach out to the paid media, creative, and data experts at MuteSix today.
About the AuthorPhillip Akhzar is the Founder and CEO of Arka with over a decade’s experience in packaging. Phil is a San Francisco native and attended Cal Poly SLO as an Industrial Engineer before graduating from both Y Combinator and 500 Startups.