How to Grow Your Subscription Box Business Between Launches

Good morning. Happy Monday, everybody. I hope you had a relaxing weekend. And let's get started this Monday morning because we only have a few days left in July. And it's important that we continue to make progress and we don't wait. Like, we could always wait until August 1st. We could always wait until next week. We could always wait. But we need to make progress now. And today I want to talk about how do we grow between launches. Like the launch is just getting us started. It's just getting us out there. And sometimes when we're launching and then also relaunching, we kind of let things fizzle out and then we're like, okay, I got to launch again. I need more subscribers. So how do we continue the momentum from the launch? How do we continue to grow in between launches so that we're not just filling this leaky bucket all the time? That's what we're going to talk about today. Let me know where you're watching from this morning. I would love to say hi. In the chat. I'm— I wish I had more coffee this morning. That's where I'm at. I got a lot going on today, as always, but I'm here for it, ready to go on this Monday morning. Let me grab another drink and I will jump in the comments. All right. So good morning, Amy. I see Amy's here over on YouTube. Good morning, Andrea. Good morning, Rebecca. Good morning, Stephanie. Good morning, Maya, Mia. Good morning, Myra. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Darla. Good morning, Sandy. Good morning, Andre. Happy Monday to you. Good morning, Carolyn. Good morning, everybody. Okay, here's what we're going to talk about today. We get the thing launched, or if we're a seasoned subscription box owner, we have launched our things. We plan the launch, we do the launch. I just did a launch at the end of April. And here it is, July, and I've got to fill spots again. How do I take the momentum that I created at the end of April and keep it going so that I'm not constantly having to relaunch all the time to fill these spots? Because here's what happens, y'all. We get cancellations. It's the nature of our business. We have to expect it. If we don't expect it, we're not prepared for it. So we have to expect that we're gonna have cancellations, and some months are worse than others. Let's face that. Like, let's talk about that. What's the worst month in your business for cancellations? Talk to me in the chat. Mine typically is, is December and January. That's, that's pretty much the worst case scenario for me. They're cutting their budgets, they're buying gifts for other people, they're making these New Year's resolutions, so they are, they are cutting, you know, their unneeded expenses in December and January. But this is what we've gotta do. We've gotta put a plan in place that we're constantly growing because we need to do a few things in between our launches. We need to continue to grow our audience. We shouldn't just do this right before we launch. We should be doing this all year. We need to generate excitement and buzz around our subscription. Again, not just during launches. We need to do that all year. We need to share, we need to help them consume the contents, and we need to create content from our box consistently. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. I have a brand new module that's being released inside Launch Your Box this week. I believe it's on Wednesday, and I'm really excited for you guys to get in there and dig into the new module. It's a two-part module. So we have the first 4 lessons that are going to be released on Wednesday. And it's all about post-launch. What should I be doing post-launch? We talk a lot about what I should be doing pre-launch. We talk a lot about what I should be doing in the launch. Now that I've launched, what should I be doing in this period between launches? And so that's what this module is about. The first 4 lessons, we're gonna cover a live, unboxing. Okay, let me know in the chat, have you ever done a live unboxing? Just say sometimes, say always, or say never in the chat, because this is one thing we've got to get really, really consistent about is doing a live unboxing. Okay, and so I'm gonna walk you through all the steps that I do during my live unboxings, what I do and why I do it. So I'm gonna take you through that in this brand new module. If you are sometimes doing it, this is your wake-up call to be always doing it, okay? If you're never doing it, this is your homework to get going on this because a live unboxing is so important for your business. It's one that once you do it, you're going to see immediate benefits from. Once you do a live unboxing and the way that I outline it for you, like here's how you start, this is what you need to do, this is how you engage your subscribers, this is how you engage your non-subscribers. Once you do it, you're going to realize it's a rinse and release, rinse and repeat formula that you just keep doing over and over and over again. Okay? And so we're going to talk about that in this brand new post-launch module. I'm giving you the template, I'm giving you the outline, I'm giving you the formula that I use. And And if you watch me do it on my retail page, you're going to see when you look at the module behind the scenes of what I'm doing, you're going to be able to like, oh, this is what she's doing right here. Oh, I see this is what she's doing right here. Because a lot of times when we show up and do a live, we're doing things intentionally behind the scenes, but people on the front side, they don't really realize what exactly we're doing and what the purpose is of that. So lesson 1 is gonna be doing a live unboxing and I'm gonna walk you through that formula that I use so that you can start to get comfortable with it because some of you said, nope, not doing, not doing the unboxings. Never, Carolyn, never. If this is an opportunity for you, this is an opportunity for you because it can make such a big difference in the growth of your subscription box. Ronell says, always, I'm always doing it. And I love that because you're going to be able to take this module and tweak what you're doing. You're going to be able to see the behind the scenes formula of it and you're going to be able to tweak what you're doing. And I love that. I love any time that we can uplevel what we're currently doing. Now, lesson 2 in this brand new module is creating content from your unboxing. Do you see how they're gonna work on, on each other? And, and this module is really about a few things because let's step back for a minute and talk about what we need to do between launches. We have 3 buckets that I talk about a lot, and I talk about them in Scale Your Box mostly because it's our kind of advanced students. We've got the traffic, bucket. We've got to constantly be driving traffic to our website, constantly, not just during launches. We've got the conversion bucket. When we get people to our website, are we converting them? Okay. And then we have our retention. If we are only focused on traffic and conversions and we don't focus on retention, we're going to need so many more new people because we're losing them just as fast as we're getting them. So all 3 of these come into play when we talk about what happens in the launch. We've got to have between the launches, between the launches, we've got to have traffic, we've got to have conversions, and we've got to have a solid retention. And we focus on these things year round, not just when we're launching, not just when we're out there selling the thing. We've got to have traffic, conversions, and retention between launches. And all these new lessons in this post launch module inside Launch Your Box, focus on these 3 categories that are the most important to our business. A live unboxing focuses on traffic and conversions. Okay, so if I can get more traffic to watch me live, I know that if you'll watch me live, I'm more likely to convert you than an email, than an ad, than a post. If you can come hang out with me Remember, we talked about this with Launch Your Box. If you could come— Subscription Box Week— if you could come hang out with me a week, I know that I can— I'm more than likely able to convert you into membership. And we saw that with the Launch Your Box launch. You come hang out with me for a week. I had a 43% conversion from the people that signed up in Subscription Box Week to the people that joined Launch Your Box. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. If you can come watch me do a live unboxing for 30 minutes I'm more than likely going to convert you to becoming a subscriber because I'm giving you behind the scenes, because I'm telling you the why, because you're getting buy-in from what I'm doing in these boxes. It's not just the stuff. It's about the experience. And I'm walking you through the experience if you're not a subscriber. And when I do that live unboxing, a lot of times it's mostly subscribers that are watching me. They already have the thing. They already have the box. They already know what's in the box. They're coming to hang out with me because they built a connection with me. Okay, that's the retention part of this. So I'm asking the subscribers to come hang out with me. I'm chatting with them in the chat and saying, hey, tell me your favorite thing. Let's— did you get your box? I'm including them. I'm engaging with them. That's the retention play. The traffic play is that I'm live, and after I do this live, I'm going to run a Facebook ad to it to try to introduce myself to new people. Okay, and then the conversion part is if I tell you the behind the scenes, the making of this box, why I chose this, how to use this, what's this for, I'm more likely to convert that new cold person because they're understanding the process, they have buy-in. Chelsea says, Chelsea says, do you get scared when they don't like it? I get comments sometimes. Like this July box, it's really funny because I get a lot of extreme comments from box to box. So I said, this is my favorite box ever. Oh my gosh, you've made this box just for me. I'm so excited. We'll have all those comments, and then I'll have, uh, this one wasn't my favorite. Yeah, I didn't really like this box. Fine, it's okay. I'm showing up doing a live unboxing with the energy from the people that said, this is the best box you've ever created, this box was made just for me. That's the energy I'm coming with the live unboxing. And if someone says, yeah, I didn't like that— and I know why they didn't like it, it was total beach box. So it was a, it was a towel, it was a visor, it was a beach spike cup holder, if they're not, you know, going to the pool, going to the beach, going to the lake, they're probably not going to love this box. But I don't focus on that when I'm live. I focus on the person that says, oh my gosh, this box was my favorite. I'm like, yes, I love this beach towel, I love this, I love this. And I'm telling them the story of that. And that's what you need to focus on. I just ignore it. I don't block it. I just ignore it. And they'll be You know, Amber's usually live with me and she'll make a comment, oh, if you can't— if you don't use— if you don't go to the pool, this would be a perfect gift for someone. Take that beach towel and gift it. Someone also in that same live, you know, made a comment of how they could use that as a bath towel, and I took that and I was like, oh yes, this has 6 colors in it. Could totally buy some solid towels, throw this on, on in your bathroom and make this a a bath towel. It doesn't have to be a beach towel. It doesn't have a beach on it. It doesn't have, you know, a starfish on it. It was stripes. So how do we do the unboxing, um, and really show them? Okay, so you're not doing a live unboxing, this is your challenge. If you're not doing it consistently, this is your challenge. Now lesson 2 is I'm going to teach you how to do a live, do the unboxing in 5 different ways. So you've already done it with the live. How can we put that box, that unboxing in different formats to reach different people? Because we know not everybody watches lives, not everybody's going to take the time to watch you do that. So we've got 5 different ways that we can do an unboxing, and I do all 5 of them every single month. And you know what that does? It creates a whole bunch of content for me from one single box. And that allows me to share my excitement about that box all month long. And so lesson 2 is creating content from an unboxing. And it's different content. It's not more lives. It's different forms of content so that you can reach your audience in whichever way that they consume your product. Okay, so that's lesson 2 that you're gonna get on Wednesday. Now, lesson 3 that you're going to get on Wednesday is consuming the contents of your box. And so what we want to do here— this is a retention play, 100%. We need to keep our subscribers. We've spent so much effort getting them It's time for us to keep them. And we do this by helping them consume the contents of the box. Same way about these people that say they don't love my July box. I need to figure out a way that they can consume it so they don't cancel. Because if they got a box of stuff they're not going to use, that's gonna hurt me. Because they're gonna say, this isn't worth it, I wasted my money, and I'm gonna cancel. And so I'm showing them different ways to use those beach spike cup holders if they don't go to the beach. You know what? They fit right in between your cushions on your patio furniture. So if you're sitting outside, put your little spike in between your cushions and now you've got a cup holder right next to you. Again, I use the bath reference of using that as a bath towel instead of, instead of a pool towel. I also threw the visor on and showed them how to make a cute messy— I'm not going to do it because I just got I need to get my hair done, but to make a messy bun and wear that visor, 'cause they might feel like they just put it over their head and their head looks weird and they don't know how to wear it. I'm gonna show you how to wear it, okay? And so we've gotta help them consume the contents. And I've got several ways that you can do that. And I've broken 'em down by different niches. Like if you have this kind of box, this is one way you can provide them with consuming it. If you have this kind of box, if you have this kind of box and different ways that you can help them consume what's in that box. Because we know if we get that box and we set it down and we never open it and we never consume it and the next one comes, they're more likely to cancel. So we've got to help them consume the contents of their subscription box and we have to do that all year. We have to do that every month. What I'm showing you in this new module is things that you can do every single month out out of the year. No-brainer. Once you do it once, you're going to rinse and repeat it. And that's what we need. We just need to be consistent in our businesses. We just need to have that consistency so that we show up, we know what to do. Okay, box went out, great. Next week I'm going to do my live unboxing. This is what I'm doing. Sarah has outlined it for me. Then after that, I'm going to do that in the 4 other different ways that she told me how to do an unboxing. I'm put it here, I'm going to put it here, I'm going to put it here. And that's out there. Now I have all this content for social media. I'm also going to help them consume the contents of this box. You know, in May I had a kimono. I'm going to show them how to wear that kimono with lots of different t-shirts, lots, lots of different styles so that they get it out of their closet and they put it on and they wear it and they feel good about their purchase. And then lesson 4 in this new module is all about getting reviews and having your subscribers share. And this is highly beneficial for subscription box. It builds trust. When other people are talking about how much they love and use the items in your subscription box, it builds trust. And that's gonna increase your sales. It's gonna increase your reputation, which also increases your retention. And also all those little reviews create content for you, content on your website, content on your social media. And so we have to constantly, every month, we have to draw those out of our subscribers. We have to ask for them. We have to request them. And so lesson 4 in the new post-launch module is about getting reviews and subscriber shares. And so these are the first 4 modules. There's our 4 lessons in this brand new module. The next 4 are going to drop in September. And we're just going to continue it. These are things that you can do all month long, every single month, 12 months out of the year, whether you have a monthly subscription, a bimonthly subscription, a quarterly subscription. These are going to help you know what you need to do every single month so that you can be consistent and you can grow in between launches. If I'm doing a live unboxing, say I sold out 2 months ago and I don't have any openings right now. Maybe I filled them from my waitlist. That live unboxing is going to generate more people on that waitlist so that this month when people cancel, I have someone to fill their spots. That live unboxing, if I have 30 spots open because I had 80 cancellations last month, I'm going to be able to say, hey, I've got 30 spots. Join now. Here's what we're doing. Here's how excited I am. Here's how excited my subscribers are. So we have to constantly be funneling the people back in because every one of us that have subscriptions have gotten cancellations this month. Every one of us, whether that's 1 or 200 cancellations, it doesn't matter. Every one of us have gotten cancellations. What are we doing to fill those? We have to have activities that drive traffic to our website. We have to have activities that convert people when they come to our website. And we have to be actively retaining the customers that we have, the subscribers that we have, so that we have less and less churn that we have to fill. But we have to do these activities every single month. And I get it, we're tired after a launch. We've done lives, we've done emails, we've done social media, we've engaged our face off, and we want to rest. But we've built a lot of momentum during our launch, and so we just need to continue it. And we don't have to launch every month. I'm not telling you to do that. That's going to fall flat. But we do have to generate buzz about our subscription. We should be posting about it all the time. We should be emailing about it every week. I also have that in the Launch Your Box library. 5 emails you can send. Pick one a week and send it every week like clockwork. Set it up in your system. Every Sunday I send an email about my subscription box. You're on my email list. You got one yesterday. And so I've got different ideas for you to send each week so that they're not the same. It's not just, hey, buy me, hey, sign up, hey, get on my waitlist. It's, hey, here's all this, and then join the waitlist, and then sign up. I have spots available. But we have to be consistent in our actions to get consistent growth. You can't launch, get a whole bunch of subscribers, and expect in 6 months that they're also going to be there. We've got churn every single month. What are you doing to combat that? We got to drive traffic, we have to drive conversions, and we have to drive retention. And the post-launch module, the new launch— the new module in Launch Your Box is dedicated to those 3 actions every single month of the year once you've gotten launched. So I want you to dig into it. It is released on Wednesday this week. And if you're not in Launch Your Box, this is a great time to jump in and refresh yourself. Maybe you had a subscription for a while and maybe you just need some action. Maybe you need somebody to tell you what to do. I'm real good at bossing people around and telling them what to do. Maybe you just need a system and a process. I talked about that last week, how systems and processes help me in my business, and I really create everything to be a system and a process. I've created this monthly system and process to help grow my subscription. So maybe you're just kind of at a loss of what you need to do, and you need to jump back in to launch your box, or you need to join for the first time. Get on the waitlist to join Launch Your Box. Again, I'm talking about things and I'm at— and my call to action is join the waitlist, right? So I want you to do the same thing in your own subscription. It's time to get busy. It's time to create some consistency. And y'all can do this. I'm telling you exactly what to do. You can tweak it to fit your own business model, your own niche, or your own style of of, um, selling or teaching or whatever it is you do. But I'm giving you the blueprint on what to do every single month. All you have to do is implement it. And I guarantee those people that do implement it are going to make a lot more progress than those that sit back and wait for their next launch to do anything. We got to be consistent. We got to continue to drive traffic, conversions, and retention between launches. And if you wake up every week and decide you're going to do those things, all you have to do is put the system and process in place. Once you do these 4 things that I'm asking you to do a month, it's just let's do them again next month. Let's do them for July. Let's do them for August. Let's do them for September. We're just going to keep doing them and you're going to keep getting better at it. And once, you know, they say that a habit It takes 16 times to do something to create a habit out of it. What if you did this over the next 16 months? And once you do it a couple of times, it's going to be like clockwork for you and you're not going to be stressed about it. You're not going to feel overwhelmed and you're not going to have anxiety about it. You're just going to do it. Like, got to do my live unboxing, got to make my 5 pieces of content. I got to show them how to use the contents of this box. I got to generate some reviews and some subscriber shares. And once you do that, you've got your content calendar filled. And because you're shipping a box every month, all you have to do is rinse and repeat it for new content. And if you do it bimonthly, space it out a little bit and do it every, every 2 months. Y'all got this. Let's build some momentum. We're going to— that's going to drop. Is it this week? I need my team. I feel like it's maybe next week. I'm going to look at my calendar because I've been talking about how it's coming out Wednesday. And, uh, let me look at my calendar really quickly because I might tell you wrong things. It is because this is still July. Look at me, I got you all excited for something that doesn't come out until the 7th. The 7th. New library module post-launch part 1 comes out on August 7th. Y'all can go do a live right now. August 7th. Let's get on it. Let's dig in and let's get going. All right, I'll see you guys soon.