How Sarah Revived a Dwindling Subscription | Episode 25

Subscribe:  SarahsPodcast.com | Apple Podcast | Spotify | IHeartRadio | Stitcher

One of the hardest lessons that we as business owners have had to learn from 2020, it’s that business can change drastically in no time at all. A product that may have seen steady sales before can suddenly turn into dwindling subscriptions.

That’s the situation that Sarah, founder of the Redheaded Camel, found herself in with one of her subscriptions, and it left her thinking that maybe it was the end of that part of her business. But that doesn’t need to be the end of the story!

We’re going to talk about some ways to bring back those former customers and have a successful (re)launch of your shrinking line.

* This post contains affiliate/referral links. I could make a commission at no charge to you if you purchase my recommended products.  Please read my disclosure and privacy policy HERE.

(Re)Generate Interest

The sad fact is that cancellations can happen for a number of reasons, ranging from the customer no longer finds value in your product to the possibility that they see their subscription as something they can cut when money is tight.

In that case, there is still an opportunity to win back their business, but it’s going to take some work on your end to get them excited for your product again. It’s time to go all-in again and put your energy into generating interest to get those big results.

Cancellations are warm leads. They’ve already seen the value of your product, so to get them back you need to remind them of why they subscribed in the first place. A great way to start is with a concentrated email campaign to your list. That’s what Sarah did when she saw her sales decline, and pushed those customers to her waitlist:

“If people cancel their membership, they might still be on our email list so they might still see something. We had been growing the email list for about two years and then about four weeks before we opened the clubs to the public, we decided to really start to push that waitlist again…I can tell you that our conversion rate for the waitlist was significantly higher than usual. I think part of that was because of the excitement that we were generating.”

Always remember to leave off with a call to action. My favorite is the early bird special to keep your product at top of mind and create that urgency to get on the waitlist early to get a good deal. Be creative!

6 Tips to Navigate Cancellations in a Subscription Box Business

Affiliate (where you can!)

Work your network if you can! If you know of another influencer who has an audience that likes similar products to yours, you can reach out and see if you can send over some products and possibly affiliate with them. Sarah was able to pick up a significant amount of new subscribers this way:

 “I contacted a couple of people who I knew their followers and their people on their social media, loved graphic tees, they were already in that market. So, I contacted them and said, can I send you a free shirt? And maybe you share it, I'll give you a code where you get a certain percentage of every single sale for the life of that subscription. I figured I'll ask and the worst they could do is say no. And they said yes!”

Don’t be afraid to try something new, but don’t try to do all the things at once. Email, early-bird specials, affiliates, all of these are things you can keep trying to generate interest and keep those sales going!

You can find Sarah and her T-shirt club and Door hangers at https://www.theredheadedcamel.com/ and on social media on Facebook and Instagram

 ️

Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star rating and a review!