How Custom Subscription Box Design Helps Improve Sales and Renewals

It’s not overly challenging to sell a product once. However, it becomes more difficult to get your customers to commit to a subscription that lasts for months or even years.

Along with creating a killer design that appeals to your target market, there are other factors to consider when dealing with subscriptions. After all, you have to hold your customers’ attention for the long haul, not just a moment.

So, what are some things that you can do to create custom subscription box designs that will turn a one-off purchase into a subscription? Or turn a 3-month subscription into a 6-months membership, and 6-months into a year, et cetera? Furthermore, how do you keep your long-term subscription holders from backing out via that ‘cancel any time’ option you are likely to give them?

Determine Who You Want  Your Market to Be

This one may seem a bit self-explanatory. Of course, when you are taking any product to market, you have to determine your target market. But with subscription boxes, you have to fine-tune branding, messaging, and package design even more than a product that is sitting on a shelf. You have to really appeal to your market to get them to take that leap and commit to recurring purchases. With that being the goal, it’s a good idea to dive even deeper into your target market than you might have for a regular retail product.

The result of this is connecting with an audience that truly identifies with your product. Because in the end, it is all about the product. You can have a great design, but if your product isn’t resonating with your market, you are going to fall short. On the other hand, If you are selling to people who have a legitimate interest, a passion, or your product resonates with them on some deeper level, they are more likely to go from one-off buyers to subscribers, and they are much less likely to cancel.

Determine Your Graphics Strategy

Once you have your market all figured out, it’s time to get a handle on your graphics strategy. If you get stuck here, that’s ok. A great printing and packaging partner will help you determine a successful graphics strategy. You can lean on their experience to help guide you in creating a design that will resonate with your intended market.

BeSpoke Box for Men is an excellent example of designs that work. The market is clearly defined —modern, outdoorsy men. So they use a simple, yet functional folding corrugated carton box with minimalistic print. In this case, the utilitarian, no-frills design is perfect for the target customers.

On the other end of the spectrum, BIRCHBOX, who sells beauty products, uses a top opening ridged box with beautifully displayed high-resolution color print-work. The rosy pink and peach colors texture that adds depth, breaths a feel that is perfect for high-end beauty and makeup branding.

When your design strategy compliments your product and effectively speaks to your target market, you are more likely to gain more memberships and sustain them.

Surprise Your Customers with an Amazing Subscription Box Design with Extras

One of the most significant factors in keeping your customers coming back for more is to surprise them with an innovative subscription box design, and some extras. An unexpected ‘welcome to the club’ bonus will go a long way, but it can also be something as simple as printing graphics or messaging on the inside of the box, or underneath the flaps and tabs. Unboxing has become an experience of its own, and nowadays there is a large community of people that treasure ‘collectable’ boxes almost as much as the products that they contain.

If you can give your customers a pleasurable and unique unboxing experience, they are sure to keep coming back for more. Working with a printing company that doesn’t charge for reproofing will help you save a lot of money if you decide to create different prints that keep your customers waiting on the edge of their seats for this months box to arrive.

Change Up Your Subscription Box Design

Along with small changes in subscription box design graphics or messaging to give your customers something new each month or each quarter, you may even decide that occasionally offering an entirely different box is in order. On top of this, some brands send completely different products each month. So, the different shape and size of the various items might be best suited for different types of boxes.

Having a fantastic packaging partner will make all of the difference if this is the case for you. A printing and packaging company that doesn’t charge for sampling and the use of their structural engineers allows you to make changes as often as needed without all of the extra packaging R&D expenses attached.

Be on Time

If you miss a month or are late with your shipments, your customers will lose interest. If they don’t outright cancel before their term is up, they are not likely to renew their subscriptions. To increase your odds of always delivering on time,  you need to have a flexible printing and packaging company at your disposal that responds quickly to your questions and can handle changes to your graphic design, structural design, or both and get samples out on short order so that you don’t miss your monthly delivery dates.

When working with the best retail packaging company that is a yes company instead of a no company, you may be embarking on the most important factor in creating a successful subscription box design. You need a team that has the expertise and capabilities to produce what you envision and implement changes on the fly so that your subscription box service never suffers.

If you always get your subscription boxes delivered on time, you understand your market, have a great graphics strategy and keep your customers surprised and wanting more; you’ll be well on your way to improved sales, membership retention, and subscription renewals. But you can’t do this on your own. You’ll need the help of an experienced and reliable printing and packaging partner to help ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible.