Subscription Box Marketing – 34 Ways to Market Your Box & Increase Sales

If you want to see the best subscription box marketing tips, tricks, methods, and tools, then you’ll love this guide!

This is the largest collection of subscription box marketing tips on the planet.

The best part?

All these subscriptions box marketing techniques in this guide are 100% actionable.

So if you want to gain new subscribers all while building a dedicated following as well as an increase in monthly box sales, then you must read this new guide.

Check it out:

Subscription Box Marketing – Ultimate Guide

Here are the best techniques and actionable tips that you can do to successfully market your subscription box business.

1. Add your box to one of Urban Tastebuds listing (shameless plug).

I know, I know, it’s a shameless plug but what better way is there to get your box in front of hundreds of thousands of people each year then submitting your box to Urban Tastebud. You can do that here.

2. Start an affiliate program.

There’s no better way to increase your box sales and customer base than paying bloggers, websites, businesses, influencers, and even your current customers to do that for you. Plus, they’ll be extra willing to promote and share your boxes even harder since they’ll be able to bring home a nice commission for each box sale that they send your way.

The hardest part is just finding which affiliate program you want to use. Most subscription box companies tend to use Shareasale since it’s the easiest and most affordable, but there are some other great options as well:

• Shareasale
• Skimlinks
• Impact Radius
• Rakuten
• Pepperjam Network
• Avantlink
• Flex Offers
• Awin

Plus there’s even some more affordable and easier to manage referral program options such as Refersion and Referral Candy.

3. Reach out to social media influencers.

If you truly want to exponentially grow your customer base all while bringing awareness to your monthly box, then getting your boxes in the hands of influential people on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter is essential.

Just find an influencers profile and see if they ever promote products on their profile. Even if they don’t it never hurts to be their first.

To get started, just direct message any influencer that’s well known in your box’s industry and offer to send them a box in return for an honest review.

That’s it.

Plus, you can always offer up money for a review but in my personal experience, I recommend that you tell them to sign up to your affiliate program that way they can get a commission for any sales that they get once they post their review on social media.

You can also use GrowSumo to help you find the best influencers possible in your niche.

Check out this fantastic guide on influencer marketing by Kissmetrics for more details.

4. Reach out to bloggers and review sites.

Just like social media influencer marketing, finding popular bloggers with readers that are your target audience is a great way to grow your box company.

Just shoot them a cold email about how you’d love to send them a box in exchange for a review and 9/10 they’ll be likely to agree.

5. Use an influencer and affiliate management agency.

Once you have a box and an affiliate program with great affiliates, a good way to truly increase sales and acquire new customers is to hire an affiliate management company.

They’ll be the ones personally responsible for communicating with all your affiliates while also providing them with all the tools, discounts codes, free sample boxes, and other things needed to achieve the best ROI.

A cool one to get started with is Ignite.

6. Build a loyal social media community.

Build doesn’t mean buy. By creating engaging social media content on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, just to name a few, you’ll be able to connect with your customers and future customers at a more intimate level.

Best of all, it makes it easier than ever to drive sales.

Here are a few subscription boxes that are killing it on social media:

As you probably noticed, most of these companies don’t even show pictures of their boxes. Instead they focus on creating great content for their audience which basically gives them more brand awareness such as recipes, memes, quotes, featured photos, and more.

Plus, don’t be afraid to use Snapchat or Instagram stories to show any behind the scenes in your business. People love that.

7. Encourage your followers to share pics of their box.

One of the most important things to do is to create a hashtag just for your box that people can use when they take and post any pictures of their box on social.

And to make things even more interesting, you can even take those photos and repost them onto your account with credit.

Candy Club does a crazy good job at that:

It’s a good mix of professional Candy Club photos and photos taken by their proud subscribers.

8. Host box giveaways.

Hosting a subscription box giveaway is one of the best way to quickly market and promote your box, especially if you’re new to the game.

One of the best ways to start is by first giving your box to your list of influencers.

Then from there you can ask them to promote your box all while providing their readers with details on how they can win one.

You can even require people to follow you on Instagram (or Facebook) and tag a friend in order to be entered into the giveaway.

The possibilities are endless.

I recommend you start by using Rafflecopter.

9. Offer killer coupon codes and discounts.

Just by offering new customers a killer coupon code or discount on their first box, you can greatly increase your conversion rate.

Even a 10% discount can convert well. But of course, it won’t hurt to aim a little higher.

The sweet spot is around 30-50% off the first month.

Here are 100 monthly box companies that offer discounts.

10. Introduce a new curator each month that has a heavy influence in your industry.

How many of you would subscribe to a box just because one month, Leonard DiCaprio or Jennifer Lawrence is sharing all their favorite products?

Every last one of you would, me included.

Now even though it is pretty hard to get an A-list star without breaking the bank, that doesn’t mean you can’t get an A-list star in your company’s niche.

Whether if it’s a popular food blogger or a stylish Insta-famous fashion blogger, partnering up with a micro-influencer to be a curator for a month can potentially lead to an explosion in sales.

Quarterly used to do a great job at this before it ceased operations.

11. Cross promote with other boxes.

This is an idea that I’ve been toying with in my mind forever.

1. Let’s say you own a BEAUTY subscription box and partnered with a CLOTHING box.
2. You then create an offer such as join BEAUTY and and get a month of CLOTHING FREE.
3. For ever sale, you pay CLOTHING a percentage of the money.
4. BEAUTY can then share their deal to the followers and email list subscribers, while CLOTHING does the same.

Win-win.

Just a thought.

12. Offer special discounts to certain groups (military, teachers, fireman, etc.)

These men and women deserve it. ID.me can help you offer discounts on your website.

13. Use Cratejoy or Subbly.

Cratejoy is by far the easiest and most powerful way to start and run your subscription box business.

When you use Cratejoy, you’ll get everything you need to run, promote, and scale your subscription business.

For only $138 a month, you’ll be able to sell through your own website as well as have your box listed on the Cratejoy Marketplace which receives over 3 million monthly page visits.

But for a more affordable option, Subbly is your option for only $79 a month.

14. Make sure your box design is great.

Having a crappy box can kill your business.

Having your box arrive in crappy condition is just as bad.

By using a high quality, custom designed box, you’ll improve your customer satisfaction by 73% (yes I made this number up but I’m more than confident that the number is actually higher).

Here are some great companies that specialize in custom boxes:

• Packlane
• Boxup

Also on a side note, be sure to also arrange the contents in your box in an organized manner.

15. Offer free shipping.

One thing I seriously hate is when a subscription box advertises their costs and then puts the shipping and handling cost in parenthesis. Just add it to the price straight off the back and offer “free shipping”.

Trust me, it works.

16. Offer a discount if subscribers join in larger increments (3 months, 6 months, annually, etc.)

Entice people to subscribe for a longer period by helping them save some money in the process.

17. Offer a free trial.

People like free stuff.

By giving potential subscribers a taste of what you have to offer, there’s a good that they’d actually join, especially if your box rocks.

Best of all, you can obtain an email address in the process.

Here are 10 monthly box companies that are excelling at this method.

18. Release an insane deal during the Holidays.

The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the busiest shopping period of the year.

That’s why I recommend that you release a discount or deal that’s so irresistible that people are essentially forced to subscribe to your box.

But don’t let this method be limited to only November and December, you can also capitalize on popular gift giving holidays like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day.

19. Make your friends and family promote your boxes.

Because let’s be honest, there’s no better ambassador than mom or dad. And let’s not forget about your best friends too 🙂

20. Include items in your box from unique and new vendors.

One curation method I’m really fond of is including items from little known businesses.

By adding them to your box, there’s a greater chance that they’d promote your box on social media mainly because they’re hyped that they got to be included.

One of the best place to source new, intriguing items is Etsy.

21. Start building an email list (newsletter).

Even though social media is a powerhouse driver of sales, email is just as powerful.

By enticing potential customers to sign up for your newsletter with a discount, you not only gain a new subscriber that you can share information with, you also greatly improve your odds of converting that subscriber into a paying customer.

I personally use ConvertKit and it’s crazy awesome, affordable, and easy to use.

And if you’re fairly new to email marketing, Kissmetrics has you covered.

22. Pay for social media ads.

Organic reach is down.

And that means one thing – paid advertisement.

In order to truly target new customers, one of the best things you can do is pay for ads on social media.

Whether if you’re promoting a discount on your box on Instagram or encouraging people to join your box for a special freebie, using paid social media advertisements will help you reach your audience.

These guys can help you get started.

23. Use Google Adwords.

This is one of the best ways to acquire new customers on Google.

The way it works is that you can bid for certain keywords and from there whenever people search for a certain term, your site pops up on the top of Google’s search results.

For example, if you run a vegan snack subscription box, you can bid for those keywords and have your site listed first.

Just set a budget and your add is ready to go.

24. Have a great website design and user interface that’s incredibly user friendly.

I swear that if I go on your site and I have to pinch, zoom, and slide side to side, I’ll rage.

If your website is not mobile-friendly and optimized for smartphones then you’re going to lose.

Not trying to be harsh, but it’s the truth.

By having a smooth flowing, clean, and informative site, you’ll not only entice readers to join your club, but also make it easier than ever for them to give you their money.

25. Create content on your website that makes you an expert in your space.

By becoming the go-resource for a certain niche based on your subscription box business, you’ll be able to build brand awareness as well as a community of dedicated blog readers.

For example, if you run a box subscription company that sends out cruelty-free and vegan beauty products each month, you can have your blog or social platforms that features makeup tutorials using those products, information and news about the cruelty-free world, and funny vegan memes and photos.

Whether if you’re making funny content on your Facebook or Instagram accounts, recording DIY tutorials, or even hosting a podcast for your niche, there are hundreds of content types that you can implement in your content marketing strategy.

You can get a real good idea on how to do all this by checking out Ipsy.

I also recommend you read Neil Patel’s insanely detailed article on content marketing.

26. Guest blog.

Once you become an expert in a certain space, you can then share your expertise in the form of guest posts ( or even by answering questions on forums or Quora).

This is by far one of the best and easiest ways to get in front of a new audience all while solidifying your expertise in your niche.

It truly is one of the best inbound marketing strategies. Here’s why.

27. Make sure your SEO is on point.

By optimizing your site for specific keywords about your brand as well as niche, you increase your chance of new customers finding your site on the first page of google.

But don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you and go into great detail about how search engine optimization is so important when building your website and acquiring new customers.

I’ll leave that to the professional.

28. Make sure your web hosting is on point.

A slow website can cost you thousands of dollars in lost sales.

Using a fast web host will make your potential customers extremely happy.

WP Engine is the best.

29. Add a social cause to your box.

According to Gallup, research has found that when choosing between products of equal value and price, 94% of shoppers will choose the brand connected to a social cause.

So whether if you own a sock box or you send delicious snacks monthly, by making it a mission to donate a pair of socks for each new subscription or donating food to feed hungry children in America, people will better connect with your brand and truly respect what it is that you’re doing.

They may even feel entitled to do their part and help donate.

I recommend using Charity Navigator to find the perfect charity.

Here are a few boxes that are already doing this:

• Love with Food
• Sock Panda
• Kali
• Love Goodly

Your business can be next.

I recommend you check out these monthly boxes that give back if you’re looking to get some cool ideas.

30. Have insanely good customer service.

Whether if it’s reply to emails or direct messages instantly, or kindly and swiftly fixing any issues, having a good relationship with your customer is a great way to keep customer retention high while also increase your subscribe satisfaction rate.

Even if you think that losing one customer isn’t the end of the world, you just never know who that person is and what kind of influence they have.

That one bad review could potentially deter 10, 20, or maybe even hundreds of potential customers.

That’s why treating every subscriber like a superstar will only help your business grow.

This article by HelpScout can help you handle even the meanest of people.

31. Audit your customer demographic.

To truly understand what type of social posts you need to share, what types of items you need to include in your box, their age, where they live, etc, auditing your customer base is the perfect way to better understand who it is your audience is.

This will ultimately allow you to craft better emails and even more relevant social posts.

32. Proudly show off your social proof and recent publication features.

There’s no better way to show potential customers that your box rocks than by showing them where and who has featured you.

Plus, throw in a couple testimonies and people will be lined up to subscribe to your box.

Say It With a Sock does a great job at this by implementing it right above the fold.

Talk about some flattering quotes from some big hitters.

33. Implement everything from the “Thank You Economy.”

Once you read this killer book by Gary Vaynerchuk about how he grew his dad’s wine store into a 40+ million in sales business by actually caring about his customers and going above and beyond, you’ll be on your way to even greater success.

Because let’s be real, focusing on your subscription box branding from a visual and customer service standpoint can either make or break your company.

You can read it here.

34. Network, network, and network.

By far to truly market your subscription box is to attend relevant conferences in your niche and build relationships with other box owners and other companies that service the subscription industry.

I personally recommend going to Subscription Summit.

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You’ve read about the 30+ subscription box marketing techniques. Now it’s time to implement them.

The first step?

Leave a comment to let me know which actionable marketing technique you’re going to try first.

Cheers.

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This post contains affiliate links which means that I will make a small commission if you purchase a product after clicking on any of them, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support. 

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