On today's episode, Julie chats with Jennifer Cline, Director of Marketing at Sub Summit. Jennifer shares some interesting findings and data points from the 2023 Annual Report Preview. Plus, get a teaser of what to expect at this year's Sub Summit, including a brand new event that Julie & Renae at SBB are hosting!
Be sure to use the link below to get the free PDF and register for the webinar that Jennifer talked about. PS: Walmart+ is joining the webinar lineup! Don't miss it on March 8th! AND that very special Sub Summit ticket promo! Shhh, don't tell but did she seriously say BOGO!?
On today's episode, Julie chats with Jennifer Cline, Director of Marketing at Sub Summit. Jennifer shares some interesting findings and data points from the 2023 Annual Report Preview. Plus, get a teaser of what to expect at this year's Sub Summit, including a brand new event that Julie & Renae at SBB are hosting!
Be sure to use the link below to get the free PDF and register for the webinar that Jennifer talked about. PS: Walmart+ is joining the webinar lineup! Don't miss it on March 8th! AND that very special Sub Summit ticket promo! Shhh, don't tell but did she seriously say BOGO!?
So you wanna launch a subscription box and don't know where to start? Girl, you are in the right place. I'm Julie Ball. And I'm Renee Gonzalez, your host here at Subscription Box Basics, a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs wanting to avoid overwhelm. So grab a coffee, some pen and paper, and let's have some fun. Hey everybody. Welcome back to Subscription Box Basics. I'm Julie Ball and I'm here with my friend Jennifer Cline, who is the Director of Marketing at Sub Summit. She's been on the podcast before. Welcome back, Jennifer. Thanks for having me. Always good to talk to you. Yeah, there's so much going on in the Sub Summit world. So thank you first of all for taking a minute to chat with us and kind of getting us up to speed. Since some people will be hearing from you from the first time, why don't you give 'em a little bit of background of your world at Sub Summit .Absolutely. So as the director of Marketing at Sub Summit, I am tasked with leading the charge on our website and our PR and helping identify speakers and making sure what we are providing our audience at Sub Summit is truly valuable, especially from a marketing perspective. We know marketing moves very, quickly, especially in subscription, and so it's my job to keep a pulse on the industry and hear what consumers want from subscriptions and make sure we're providing that for our business owners. Oh my gosh. So much fun and Sub Summit is run. SUBTA - the Subscription Trade Association. And how many years now will this be for our Sub Summit? So this is our eighth year. Very exciting. Every year it gets bigger, and this year we're expecting 2000 attendees. So it keeps growing and growing every year. Awesome. Okay, so we're gonna talk a little bit about Sub Summit later, but first, let's start by talking about some of the data that your team at SUBTA has been analyzing from consumer surveys. What are you learning from these? Yeah, so we are doing a lot of surveys of hundreds of consumers. We really wanna understand what is their relationship with subscriptions. You know, some people see subscriptions as like this dirty four letter word and they, think that they're gonna la be locked into something and they can never get away with it, get away from it. So we wanna make sure... what do business owners need to know and what can consumers tell us? So one of the biggest takeaways that we're seeing from our surveys is that the relationship that you have with subscribers has to be very human, very authentic, very transparent. Amen. It's the top fourth reasons that they are canceling. They're canceling because of price. They didn't get the value that they expected from the brand. They got bored of the product or the customer service wasn. Essentially three out of four of those things are things that you can control. The price may be not so much, but you can make sure that they have a fantastic customer experience. You can survey them and get insights on what makes it so you're innovating on those products and they're exciting. Every month. You have a lot of control over making sure that your people don't churn and really stay with you long term. So that's one of the biggest findings in our latest survey. That's so important to me. Those relationships go so far, especially when so much of the world is just like digital. And I think one of the things that you can do is to create experiences. Yeah. To have special events, whether that's a live Zoom call or an in-person event to foster those relationships. But also when it comes to customer service, just over-deliver. You know, make sure that they feel seen, they feel heard, and that you give them solutions to the problems and that will just keep them coming back more and more. Absolutely. Even when you make a mistake, just being transparent about it and letting them know your, shipping is behind. For example, post a message on social media or maybe send a personal email to them. We expected it to be out in this date. It's gonna be out this date. We've heard such positive response for consumers, they're vastly less likely to leave your subscription if they get that transparent message from you. I agree. We have done that in the past with Sparkle Hustle Grow, whether it was we have a shipping delay or whether we had to have a replacement product. Yes, anytime that we shared what it's truly like to be a small business owner and how we're dealing with the challenges that we face. We always get so much positive feedback. And you know what, one of the things I was thinking about as you were saying that is that fourth one pricing that people are a bit sensitive to. One of the things that I was just talking to a colleague about is, , if you give people some context around pricing that can help them. So for example, you know, lead with the transformation that someone's going to have by experiencing your product. But what are their other options and what are the prices of those other options? And more often than not, you are gonna be in this great position based off of the pricing you have. So I think it's important to give context around the pricing. Yeah. And like you said about experiences creating that experience, you know, what value are you providing them that goes outside of the products If you have the Facebook group or the webinars or the content downloads or that sort of thing. Attribute a monetary value to that and how help them understand there's true value. Yeah, it took maybe just time investment, but time is money, right? And so help them clearly understand the value and the experience that they're getting from. Yeah, when we need to try to share that information, we use what's called a value stack on our website where you list things, but it's not just what's in the box. It's, you are gonna get this community, you are gonna get these experiences, plus you're gonna get the surprise box that's valued at X, Y, Z. Yeah. If you do that value stack and just really spell it out for them, make sure that you are pointing out those experiential factors, then that consumer will. actually see the value better, and again, always leading with the transformation, like, how's their life gonna be better after the experience of your subscription? Right. I love that. Okay, so we talked a little bit about pricing. We've heard a lot of talk recently in the news everywhere about a potential recession, and consumers are already faced with inflation right now in every area of their life. So what should subscription box brands be doing to kind of, you know, recession proof their boxes? Yeah. One of the big data points that came out of this was 77% of consumers...their spending will either stay the same or decrease for this year. Okay. Compared to last year. So the competitiveness for Share wallet is bigger than ever. What we are recommending and seeing is being incredibly important to subscriptions is turning your active subscribers into loyalists. Retention is more important than ever. Making sure that you're taking care of them. Doing everything that we just talked about in the first question there, creating that experience for them and then transitioning that so they are now your advocates and they are referring new business to you. If you can get that hub of amazing people that love and live your brand and that's, they will not get rid of it for anything, then they're gonna find more people for you. Ask 'em to write a review. Ask 'em to promote your product on social. Do whatever you can to help them be really ingrained in your brand and showcasing it on their own platform so they can find more people like them for you because you need their friends, right? You need to make sure that they're super happy and they're telling the world about your product, and that's what we're seeing is hugely successful for subscriptions in 2023. Well, that's good stuff because you have to ask them. You have to tell them what to do. So often someone's not just gonna leave a review. Yeah. But when you say, Hey, if you really love this, then can you leave a review? And here's a link. One of the things that we did was we had an automatic email that sent 10 days after. Our shipment was sent and it was just basically, if you love this, would love to hear back from you. Here's a link to Facebook where you can leave a review . And then it's also said if you were not happy with it or if you had a problem. Click reply so we can help you out. And that was just a way to kind of divert them from giving us a bad review. Yeah, we wanted a chance, like give us an opportunity to make it better. And so that automated email was so helpful in not always feeling like you have to ask, it's automatically gonna ask for you. That's a great strategy. I love that every subscription brand needs to implement that now. That's Yes. Yes. And if you are new to creating these, you call them loyal fans there's a great book by Pat Flynn called Super Fans and I devoured that book in one sitting. It was so good. And getting a little bit of information from someone like Pat Flynn who really knows how to create superfans. Highly recommend that book if that's something that as a listener, you want to kind of dive deeper into finding ways to recession proof your business. Superfans, highly recommend. Great recommendation. I just took a note of that. I'm reading that. Nice. Yeah, you gotta read it. So you have all this data. So where can our listeners get more data like this so they can better understand how to apply some of it to their own business? The stuff that I just shared are just a couple little tidbits of our preview report. So we've got our subscription commerce industry report preview that you can download on SubSummit.com/data. It's about five pages, tons of data that we collected from hundreds of consumers, and then we're gonna be doing a webinar. You can register on that page as well for the webinar. Talking about how do you use this data and really apply it to your business. It's gonna be featuring Paul Chambers and Chris George, the co-founders of Sub Summit. They have experienced running subscription brands and they know what it takes to be successful and they're gonna talk through... we saw this data point and now this is how you're going to implement it into your business, just like we did at a couple of examples there. But they're gonna really get into the weeds of it and help you understand how to apply this stuff. And then, our full report is going to be launched at Sub Summit in person, and so that is going to be an exclusive first look at about 30 plus pages of data that we're gonna be going through, and we're gonna be having sessions around that and really talking about what does this all mean for us? What do we do now? Perfect. Okay. So guys, if you're listening, make sure you check out the show notes. We'll make sure that we put those links. One to go ahead and download it for yourself. Two to sign up for that webinar on March 8th. And actually this podcast is going live on March 6th, so listen up, take action right now after you listen to this episode. So check the show notes for those links. And of course, you said the full report... you guys are gonna kind of unpack it at Sub Summit. Yes. And we know it's a lot to digest, right? 30 plus pages of data and looking at companies and takeaways is kind of overwhelming if you're just sitting by yourself. And so we wanna make sure we do that at Sub Summit so you can ask questions and you can really digest it and help understand the strategies that should come out of that. Perfect. That's, it's so much better when you have mentors like walking alongside, helping you kind of figure out the roadmap and try to figure out like, what do I even do with this data? So that's awesome, and I'm definitely putting that on my calendar for Sub Summit. Speaking of Sub Summit, let's talk a little bit about it. We talked about the pitch competition the last time that you were on, and you told us that people could have a chance at winning $50,000 prize package to help them grow their subscription box business and round one just wrapped up. Yes. Exciting times. So the goal here is that we're gonna identify four finalists and we're gonna fly to Dallas. They're gonna pitch live in person for that chance at the $50,000 prize package. It's $10,000 cash. No equity in your business, nothing that you gotta give away. And then $40,000 prizes, which is going to include a full website rebuild. Our partners at Priella are fantastic and they know what it takes to be successful in subscription, and they do e-commerce. That's what they do all day. So round one closed, nearly a hundred applications, 10 semi-finalists were selected. They pitched, and we've got two finalists who are going to be going out to Dallas. So then that is Blind Barrels. And then we've got Bariatric Society. Blind Barrel is this really unique blind testing experience of very exclusive whiskey that you can get sent to you. And then we've got Bariatric Society, so we know everybody knows somebody that's had weight loss surgery. And this is a community that brings those people together. They have a book club, they have local meetups. And they have a vision for their future. They have a proof of concept, they're really successful, but now they need a little extra push to get them to that next stage of their business. So this is a great opportunity for them to do that, and we're excited to see them pitched in Dallas. Okay. So you have two finalists already, right? Yeah. And if round one's already closed can, people still apply? Great question. So applications are now open for round two. There's still a chance two. So if you know what you want to accomplish with your brand, if you have been in business for two or less years, you are eligible for this price package. You need to jump on our site and you can apply. That is SubSummit.com/pitch. If this feels like an intimidating experience, I want you to know we are here for you, we are supportive. You can jump on our YouTube, it's SUBTA Studios, and you can look at the first round to see what that experience is like. Look at what the competitors are saying, what questions the judges are asking. what does the competitive landscape look like? Do you stand a chance? Yes. Is the answer ? And so you can really start getting clarity around this is a good opportunity and how can you prepare for that? And we do a lot of nurturing throughout this process to make sure that our semi-finalists are ready to pitch and excited about it. Okay, so when's the deadline for round two? Yeah, March 23rd is the deadline for that. So get your apps quick. Awesome. Okay, so March 23rd, and one of the things that I think is so cool about this is if this is your first time ever pitching your business, you are gonna learn so much that you can use in future pitches... whether you're, trying to win grants or whether you try out for Shark Tank Yes. Or any. All these different places that you can earn funding. You're gonna learn a lot from this pitch competition. So let's talk a little bit more about Sub Summit. It's my favorite event of the year. You already know that We have so much fun. I am just really grateful for everything that you and the rest of the Subs Summit team do to prepare for all of these people to come together, to network, to learn, and to have fun. So let's talk a little bit about the schedule. You guys have been releasing new speakers and events. What can our listeners start getting excited about? We wanna make sure this is an event for everyone, whether you are pre-launch or you're actively stuffing boxes in your garage, or if you are a$5 billion subscription, there are sessions that can meet you where you are and really challenge you to think uniquely about your business. One session that I'm most excited about, we've got Neil Point of Google. He's written a book about data and data-driven decisions, and how do you take that data to think uniquely about your audience? He is a wealth of knowledge. He's gonna be a fantastic keynote. Coupled with him speaking right, aligned with him. So you sit down and you listen to two amazing marketing geniuses. We've got Nancy Har Hunt. She's one of my absolute favorite speakers. She really thinks about behavior and mindset and the psychology behind consumers, and so she is rapid fire and gives you so many takeaways in such a short timeframe that you can walk away and seriously sit there in 10 minutes and change things in your business. Everything from, how do I use the word affordable versus cheap or where do I put my calls to action, or what graphics compliment my email marketing to really talk to your people and really make their mind think about your brand differently and get more attractive. We have the C F O from Fab Fit Fun. We have one of my good friends Anthony Coombs from Splendies. This is an authentic, brilliant subscription brand. If you haven't looked at Splendies, look at their social media. They are so inclusive, so talking to their community, they know what community is all about. Yeah, they are fantastic. And so he's gonna talk about hypergrowth and how to be a successful entrepreneur in this space. We've got Julie Ball, she's gonna be there. Big, deal there. So fantastic lineup and we're constantly adding new things to the schedule. Check it out. That one is SubSummit.com/schedule or you can just go on the homepage and navigate your way over there. I feel like every other day we're adding a new session, so it's constantly evolving. Really exciting stuff. I follow you guys on Instagram and LinkedIn and all the things, and I swear you're right. Every single day you guys are like, look who's coming to Sub Summit! Announcing a new speaker. It's always like, you guys have so much coming down the pipeline. It's amazing. We're always on calls, like it's about finding the best of the best that's gonna really, truly have an impact on the conversations and what people are doing in this industry. And so we get hundreds of applications of speakers and it's so great to get on a call with them and hear, what are you doing differently? What are your strategies? What are your struggles? Okay. That is super applicable to what we are hearing in our community. Let's get you on the stage and make sure you're talking about that. Yeah. So then we've got two really exciting sneak peaks that I wanna give. One is, so you're listening to this on March 6th. On March 8th, you absolutely need to be on our site cuz we are gonna have a buy one get one free ticket deal. This is an exclusive insight here. So you buy one Subs Summit full price ticket, and then you get the next one for free. This is fantastic for people that are teams and they wanna bring their buddy and it's, a commitment. It's a financial thing to go to a conference. And so this makes it a little bit more affordable. And then another sneak peak this year that Julie is gonna be running a scavenger hunt. And so this is a great way to engage the community in a new, interesting way. I don't know if you have any little tee teasers that you wanna throw in there too. Oh yeah. You guys know Renae and I, we love that work hard, play hard mentality. So we just wanted an opportunity to bring that to the Sub Summit. And this is something that is brand new and it's gonna be so fun. There will be prizes involved of course. So as we start to build that out and we carve it out, we'll be dropping some hints along the way. So we're really excited about that. And then the, panel you kind of alluded to we are gonna be talking about Renae and I, and Carol, the new co-owner of Sparkle Hustle Grow will be on stage talking about what it's like to go through selling your subscription box business. But then Carol's gonna bring the perspective from buying a subscription box business because let's face it, not everyone either is equipped to or wants to launch something from scratch, and there is an opportunity as people's lives change and they move into different seasons. Like myself, we moved into a new season. Where we were ready to make some changes and Carol was too. And so we're gonna tell that story about how I was ready to sell. She was ready to buy a business. She didn't go out there saying, I want a subscription box business. Yeah. But when she saw and learned about the recurring revenue model and learning about, Churn and retention and the opportunity of the subscription box model, she was just blown away and she loved it. So we're gonna talk a lot about that. And I do have one question for you. The bogo, the buy one, get one I think is brilliant. You could, pair up with a box bestie, you could bring a team member. Is it only March 8th? Yeah, it's gonna be a couple extra days. So there's a secret deadline that'll be coming up. So you've got a couple days, but there's definitely the sense of urgency to get. Okay, that's what I was trying to figure out. Yeah, so this isn't gonna be a, an extended time deal. This is something that will help you make a quick decision, help you financially. So we'll make sure that we have that link. And we, on the eighth will remind everybody to go get your buy one, get one Sub Summit tickets. Re Renae and I will be there. Jennifer will be there As I mentioned before in other episodes, this is the non-negotiable event of the year. This is the one event that we budget for. Highly recommend it. Whether you are in pre-launch, you've already launched or you're in scaling stage. As you mentioned Jennifer, there's a little bit for everyone and just getting around your colleagues and getting to know other people is so impactful. One other thing that's gonna happen at Sub Summit that I forgot to mention is we are gonna do a live podcast, subs of Subscription Box Basics. That's always fun. You can come be in the live audience. Last year we interviewed Caroline from M S A, My Subscription Addiction, and we had so much fun, so be sure to join us for that at Sub Summit. Any closing thoughts about Sub Summit before we end our podcast today? It's May 31st through June 2nd. Absolutely be there. If you're in subscription, you're at Sub Summit. It's a party. It's a lesson. It's education. It's just so much fun. It's three days of a fantastic memories that you're gonna make and carry with you forever. A hundred percent! Dallas, Texas. May 31st to June 2nd. We'll see you guys there. Thanks for your time today, Jennifer. Thanks you guys for listening, and we'll see you in the next episode. See you everybody. Bye!