Dose #78: BFCM Prep

Matt here with your weekly Subscription Prescription 💊

This week’s dose is all about what you should worry about for BFCM while selling subscriptions. Knowing what offers to make, managing acquisition costs for subscribers, and figuring out the right cadence for communications is what we dive into this week. Plus, a special guest!

For this week’s dose, I’m excited to have a special guest: Jordan Salvit, the founder of Katnip Box and Salvit Advisors. Not only has Jordan grown his own subscription business, but he’s worked directly with brands like Mid-Day Squares and Hunt a Killer to grow theirs.

Jordan helps guide subscription brands through the noise so you’re making smart, profitable decisions. Learn more about his work, especially for brands looking for help scaling past $20 million in revenue, here.

I’m excited because not only is Jordan sponsoring this week’s dose, but he helped with the content. You’ll be seeing more mentions of Jordan and his team because his approach to helping brands tightly aligns with my own.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Writing about BFCM while you’re prepping for BFCM makes me cringe. With so much going on, you probably don’t have time for content! But there are a few things every subscription brand is trying to figure out every holiday season, and this dose addresses those questions head-on.

If you indulge me for a few minutes, you won’t regret it! This dose is designed to give you a leg up in your planning and execution.

Reading too much already? This week’s dose is also on our podcast:

This week’s podcast dose is also about Milk Bar’s First Bite Club Delivered and why it’s so powerful.

Offers for New vs. Existing Subscribers

First, a question I get asked all the time is how to keep existing subscribers from just hopping over to whatever special you’re running this season.

When I asked Jordan Salvit this question, he just smiled and said don’t worry about it.

Take a step back and think this through for a moment. Most of your existing subscribers aren’t going to flip to a new offer. They’re happy. If a small group switches over, it shouldn’t be a big deal.

Next, if the offer you’re making doesn’t have enough margin for you to take that minor hit, then something is wrong with the offer you’re making.

Finally, existing subscribers should be more worried about the great offers you send them because they’re already subscribers!

Instead, focus on two things this holiday season: creating an incredible offer to attract new subscribers and thinking through the specials you can make to your existing subscribers. This includes new products, bundles, and content - it’s entirely up to you.

This entire month should include an insert or some other offer you put into every subscriber’s shipment. That way, they can’t miss what you’re offering them.

Managing Acquisition Costs

One of the things Jordan and his team at Kitnip Box worry about each year is that the customers they acquire during the holiday season are different than the rest of the year.

Consider that typically, their gift subscriptions are less than 10% of orders, but during BFCM that can be 20-30%! Why do I mention gift subscriptions? Those subscriptions have a finite lifespan depending on how long you sell them. This means the payback period won’t be the same as you normally average.

In fact, most of your averages will be off this time of year. Acquisition costs will be very different from what you see throughout the year. How can you meet this head-on?

If you sell gift subscriptions, make it easy to do several simultaneously. (Why buy it for one grandkid when you have 12?) Think through upsell offers and bundles you can include for new subscribers.

Facilitate the purchases happening - you’re already trying to squeeze as much as possible from any customer, and subscriptions are no different.

Communication Cadence

You know this time of year is insane. You’re probably seeing Black Friday specials already. They come earlier and earlier every year! How can you compete?

Suppose you’re sending three emails a week; up that to 6 or even 9. Stay top of mind. Don’t let your customers and prospective customers get lost in the sea of emails and SMS messages from other brands!

Final Thoughts

Always bring it back to the offer. Think through the reasons why people buy during the year. Is that any different during BFCM? If the holidays aren’t where your brand lives, no worries; save those specials for January.

If the holidays are on-brand for how your customers buy, albeit with some differences (think more gifts this time of year), then get into the ‘why’ behind it all. What can you offer to make this more special to them?

Focusing on the offer - what someone gets for purchasing from you - is always a great place to start when figuring out how to navigate BFCM.

That’s it for this week’s dose! Thanks again to Jordan Salvit and Salvit Advisors - we’re excited to partner with them on this dose and more in the future.

Stay tuned for Dose #79 next Tuesday - and good luck with BFCM!

- Matt Holman 🩺

The Subscription Doc