When you’ve worked on something for over a year, it’s a pretty surreal experience to see it finally come together. That’s what my co-founder Alex and I are experiencing right now.
Today, we’re proud to officially announce that Cratejoy has launched its public beta, allowing the most passionate and unique sellers to register their subscription businesses on our cutting-edge platform. We’ve been working towards this day since graduating from Y Combinator last August. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding to finally take our first big step towards our vision to bring the subscription model to everyone and change the face of modern e-commerce.
A couple of weeks ago, Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times wrote a great piece about the surge of consumer rental platforms that has surfaced over the past several years, and this piece resonated with us. From Uber and Lyft to Rent the Runway and Le Tote, there are now an unlimited number of ways to rent even the most basic services and products. And while the average consumer is spending significantly less money on certain aspects of their life, rental businesses everywhere are thriving, and the phenomenon only appears to be growing.
Cratejoy is an all in one subscription commerce platform that includes everything you need to start your own subscription box business online.
Most ecommerce sellers and subscription box owners are so focused on finding the social media “secret sauce” that they are ignoring one of the most valuable marketing channels: Email.
Many marketers claim that the inbox is a ghost town where spammy content and promotional clutter go to live unopened, but sending a good email is still the best way to capture leads and drive sales. In the last four years, customer acquisition through email has quadrupled. Adopting an email marketing campaign lets you enter the personal lives of people who have already “opted-in” to receiving information and deals from your company.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, email has an ROI of 4300%. This is easy to believe with simple and cheap solutions such as Mailchimp helping ecommerce storeowners automate and personalize attractive email campaigns. An effective email strategy requires time and planning, but you can jumpstart your creative process with these five awesome subscription box emails.
“Anything that is measured and watched, improves.” -Bob Parsons, Founder of Go Daddy
An online presence is practically a given in order for any small business to grow. However, just creating a website and hoping that people will find and engage with your content is not enough to propel your company into success. There are many powerful and free tools that can help you understand your web traffic, but Google Analytics is the best way to gain true, actionable insight. For 10 years homegrown and startup companies have been using Google’s software to improve their business. So can you
Online sellers have a lot of explaining to do. There’s no sales rep on the floor guiding customers through available inventory. Your buyers can’t touch or feel the quality of your product through a virtual storefront. In ecommerce, what you see is what you get—which makes contracting a professional product photographer absolutely essential to your success.
Beautiful, clear images sell. It is that simple. Photos add personality, context and value to your brand, even if what you’re selling inside your subscription box is always changing. While there are many tools and resources for DIY photography, hiring a professional is your best bet. They understand what works and can help plan shoots, scout locations and select props.
We caught up with Gerry Flynn, Cratejoy seller and owner of Austin’s paleo food service “Fixed Foods.” He gave us an inside look at how he hired a photographer to bring his brand and products to life for his online shop.
Choosing a name for your business is a daunting task. This is especially true if you have multiple partners and are trying to reach a consensus.
A name is the identity that will drive your company and will often be the deciding factor for customers choosing between two similar products or services. A great name tells a story, legitimizes your business and inspires brand advocates. The foolproof way to create a business name that sells is to embark on a good ol’ brainstorm session.
Here are four things to consider when brainstorming a company name:
Reddit is a risky marketing tool that can put your subscription e-commerce business right in front of your target audience and result in fast-paced growth. Reddit’s simple user-interface is prime real estate for finding communities of people talking about your products and industry.
There’s only one problem: Reddit is also territory for trolls, and trolls hate marketers. Navigating the Reddit waters might be scary because negativity online often catches fire and users will call you out publicly if they are suspicious of your sales pitch. In order to hack Reddit, enhance your brand and positively impact growth you must:
Subscription-model ecommerce businesses are sprouting up across various industries and prove that the market for consumers seeking out niche products delivered to their door is much larger than expected. Box of the month startups have many options for growing and finding new customers through social media, content marketing and paid promotions. Pitching well-known bloggers is a great method for putting your product in front of your target audience.
Before you start sending cold-emails and asking bloggers to write about your business, it is important to understand bloggers are people too. A well-curated blog is often a person’s full-time gig or passion project that they deeply care about. Don’t waste their time by failing to research their audience or the topics they usually cover. Make sure your pitch is thoughtful, personalized and free of spelling or grammatical errors.
We chatted with Stephanie Bruce, Founder and Owner of PäshBox, a monthly scarf subscription service. In our Q&A, Stephanie explains how to discover and engage bloggers that are valuable for business.
