Launch Your Box Podcast with Sarah Williams | Start, Launch, and Grow Your Subscription Box

Do you go LIVE on social media to talk about your subscription box consistently? Or does the very idea of going LIVE fill you with dread? Almost every subscription box owner understands how important making regular, live connections with their audience is. But so many avoid connecting with their followers this way. Why?  For a lot of people, going LIVE on social media brings up major feelings of a...

What are you doing to add value to your subscription box and increase the lifetime value of your subscribers? By thinking creatively and strategically - in other words, thinking outside of the box - you can uplevel your subscribers’ experience and bring more revenue and higher profit margins into your business.  In this episode, I catch up with Paul Chamber, co-founder of the Gentleman’s Box, on w...

This episode answers two questions I get asked a LOT. Should your subscription box be on a separate page from the rest of your business? Should you create a private Facebook Group for your subscribers? The answer to both questions is, “It depends.”  Whether you need a separate page for your subscription box is determined by your answer to the question, “Is your subscription box for the same ideal...

Today’s episode was inspired by a question from a member of Launch Your Box - and a former guest on the podcast. Betsy Goodman shared her sold-out launch story in episode 93. Betsy is a maker and a teacher - she teaches lettering and wax seal techniques. Her work is beautiful and her question is a common one among subscription box owners who make or teach as part of their subscription.  Betsy’s qu...

Are you relying solely on automations to recover failed payments? If so, you are losing money and experiencing unnecessary churn in your subscription box business. Business is personal. Recovering failed payments needs more than just automation - it needs a personal touch. Your personal touch.  Think about how much time, energy, and money you spend getting new subscribers. How much time and energy...

Is your subscription box missing something that would increase its value in the eyes of your subscribers? Maybe things are feeling a little monotonous or routine. Or maybe some months you feel like you need “a little something extra” to make your subscription box feel like the complete experience you want it to be. But, how can you add value without blowing your budget? Remember, you need to stay...

When you’re just getting started on your subscription box journey, it can be hard to imagine yourself successfully managing a thriving subscription. That’s when you need to seek inspiration from someone just a few steps ahead of you. Kathy Strahs from The Awayday Box is just that person.   Kathy was inspired to provide moms like her - burnt out and depleted from all the past few years have thrown...

In this episode, I’m going deeper into lead magnets and showing you how to build a lead magnet funnel.  Top of the funnel -this is the largest part of the funnel. Your goal is to collect as many leads as possible. Start with a free offer, giving your audience something of value.  Freebie or low-dollar lead magnet. Ads to targeted interests going to cold and warm audiences. Make sure your lead magn...

Have you ever set a really big goal for your business? A goal that made you feel a little dizzy at the thought of trying to reach it, but you got brave and made it anyway? That’s what Whitney and Andrea, the dynamic duo behind Cotton Chaos did at the beginning of 2022.  Cotton Chaos is a graphic t-shirt business that sells retail and wholesale tees. They also have a t-shirt subscription that launc...

Are you struggling to build your audience or find the right people for your offer? Do you have a plan in place to get some traction and start making progress toward starting and growing a successful, sustainable subscription box business?  Inside Launch Your Box, I work with thousands of subscription box owners. Many of them are starting their businesses from scratch. And so many of them come to m...

“It takes money to grow.” - Sarah Williams Is it time to raise your prices? After all, costs are up on absolutely everything. Your costs are up - on products, packaging, shipping, and more. Your costs going up means your profit margins are going down.  If you don’t raise your prices, you’ll keep chipping away at your profit margin - and your business won’t be sustainable long term. It takes money...

Have you ever felt the pull to change what you’re offering? Sometimes, pivoting and offering something different to your audience results in success in the form of a growing, thriving subscription box. That’s exactly what happened with Launch Your Box member Joanne Jurica of Rustic Glitter.  There are so many things I love about Joanne’s story. A former lash stylist, Joanne was forced to close her...

What one thing can you do in your business every single day that would help you be the most successful? Work to build and grow your email list!  If you’re not replenishing the pool of people you’re selling to, you won’t be able to grow your business the way you want to. Growing your email list gets new, fresh eyes on your stuff. It allows you to present your offer to new people. And that allows yo...

“Email marketing needs to be part of your audience building strategy.” - Sarah Williams You know social media is an important part of audience building. You’re showing up consistently, creating engaging posts and reels, connecting with your followers. But… How often are you sending emails to your email list?  Just as important as your social media (and maybe even more important) is your email list...

“SEO doesn’t have any fuel without content.” - Sarah Williams How do you get your stuff in front of people right when they’re looking for it? The answer, in part, is SEO. I brought a special guest to the podcast to talk about how and why to create SEO content for our subscription box businesses.  Crystal Waddell is an e-commerce seller and content creator. She’s also one of the hosts of The Smart...

Do you think growing your subscription means spending tons of money on ads? It doesn’t need to be that way! There are so many low and even no-cost ways to market and grow your subscription box business.   The bottom line? You can’t rely on just one marketing channel or strategy. You need to build a multi-channel marketing plan, layering one type of marketing on top of another. Don’t worry - buildi...

I have a special episode for you today! Cheryl Ham is a long-time member of Launch Your Box, an OG member of Scale Your Box, and the founder of the wildly successful Yarnable subscription box. She’s here today to catch us up on all that’s happened in her business since her last visit to the podcast almost two years ago.  Cheryl’s business started as more of a hobby. She had a full-time career and...

“20% of your customer base generates 80% of your revenue.” - Sarah Williams Identifying your ideal customer is not something you do once. It’s something you need to tweak and get clearer about in your business on a daily basis. In this episode, I’m talking about how to figure out who the 20% of your customers are who are responsible for 80% of your revenue and why you should focus all of your effo...

I’ve got some star power for you on this episode of the Launch Your Box podcast! Lauren Jacobs, a.k.a The Cheerful Baker, is a member of Launch Your Box and the creator and curator of a successful cookie decorating subscription box. She’s also one of the stars of a recent episode of The Christmas Cookie Challenge on The Food Network! There is so much to love about Lauren’s story and how she went f...

Have you launched your subscription box but found yourself struggling to grow? Launching your subscription box is a HUGE milestone. Celebrate that! The next HUGE milestone for so many of my members is reaching 100 subscribers. Some - those with large, engaged audiences - do this during their first launch. Most don’t. I didn’t.  Growing your subscription box to 100 subscribers and beyond takes time...

Did you know the subscription box industry reached 22.7 Billion dollars in revenue at the end of 2021? And it’s expected to more than triple that number by 2027! Why am I telling you this?  Because there IS room for you and your subscription box. If you’ve had your subscription idea for a while, dreaming but not yet doing, make 2023 the year you get it started.  It’s time to stop sitting on the si...

Welcome to the 100th episode of the Launch Your Box podcast!  I talk a lot about consistency on this podcast. And inside Launch Your Box. And on my social media accounts. It’s not because I don’t have anything else to talk about. If you’ve been around at all, you know I talk about all the things. But in so many of “the things,” consistency matters.  I’ve gotten to 100 episodes by showing up every...

Have you considered starting with a one-thing of the month subscription? You should. Why do I say that? Well, my one-thing of the month subscription is easier to manage and more profitable than my fully curated subscription box. And my one-thing of the month subscription has almost double the number of subscribers as my larger, more expensive box.  When people start thinking about starting a subsc...

“Don’t bring that stale inventory into 2023!” - Sarah Williams  Inventory is one of the biggest challenges product-based businesses face. Too much, not enough… and what happens if it doesn’t sell? Now, during this buying season, is the perfect time to liquidate any old or stale inventory you have sitting on your shelves.  One of my favorite ways to move product and get old inventory off my shelves...

I’m so excited to have Katie Eney of The Literary Book Club back on the podcast. I invited her back so she could bring us up to date on the big things that have been happening in her subscription box businesses.  Katie’s quarterly luxury box, The Literary Book Club, focuses on collectible editions of classic books and wrapped page-numbered gifts that accompany the books. She also sells one-time sp...