5 Tips To Optimize Your Online Subscription Pet Store
Camila Gómez
September 10, 2022
Whether you already offer subscription boxes for your online pet store or are looking to start offering them. There are a few simple things that you can do to optimize your success.
More and more people are buying online, and pet owners are no different. Pet supplies sales and subscription boxes have soared over the last few years. Since pet owners are looking for surprise treats delivered right to their doorstep. Furthermore, they like to pamper their pets and subscription boxes allow them to surprise their beloved cats or dogs with a weekly, monthly, or quarterly box. One full of unique pet products and supplies.
They help your customers discover a new favorite dog toy or cat treat and build customer loyalty. Not only do subscription boxes allow you to increase revenue from the box itself, but also allows you to attract customers to purchase full size versions of samples you included. Or buy a replacement for a favorite toy found in a box several months ago.
Start Selling Pet Products As a Subscription
Before you start selling your pet subscription, you need to find your unique angle and make customers pick your boxes over your competition. What will you include, how customized will the boxes be, and what can you add. Something that will make your pet products subscription box stand out and be in demand. Attracting the customer is the first step but you also need to decide how you will sell your subscription services.
- Will you sell monthly subscriptions?
- Are you interested in shipping a larger box once a quarter rather than monthly?
- Can the customer cancel at any time?
- Will you offer a discount for a yearly subscription rather than a month-to-month payment plan?
All these questions will need to be answered before you can offer your cat and dog subscription boxes on your online store. Even if you have already started selling subscription boxes, it might be time to evaluate whether or not they are successful. And what you can do to increase sales even more.
Expand your offerings or streamline the entire process to make the experience better for your customer. Planning is key for this step and with a little planning, you can achieve success with your subscription boxes earlier than you imagine.
1. Offer a Great Delivery Experience For Your Subscribers
It is unlikely that the items you are packing in your pet subscription boxes are fragile. But you still want your box and its contents to arrive in excellent condition and unharmed. Depending on the location of your customer, certain delivery methods might make sense for some customers but not for others.
Subscription boxes are appealing not just for the surprise of the unboxing but because the customer can count on the box being delivered around the same time every single month. Having a delay in shipping or having contents delivered with damage will weaken the customer experience and may cause them to cancel; or not renew the subscription at the end of their agreement. Similar to the tip above, planning is key and taking the time to research delivery options. This will help you ensure that you are spending the right amount on shipping and that the customer will be satisfied upon arrival.
You may want to read:
Tips for Running a Profitable Subscription-Based Business
2. Address Picky Pets And Offering Food Options
Some dogs and cats will eat and play with anything while others are much pickier in their tastes. Small sample bags of dog or cat food, toys, treats, and grooming supplies are all common items customers look forward to getting in the pet subscription boxes.
While dogs and cats might not be as picky about their toy and grooming products, they can be very picky about their food. You don’t want your pet subscription box to arrive and the dog or cat walk away from treats included month after month. The customer needs to feel like they are getting value from their box. Offering a variety of small samples can be a great way to allow dogs, cats, and their owners to experiment while still feeling like they have gotten value from their pet box.
You could also put only the most popular and well-liked food and treats in your box. Think about your best selling food and treat items. Do you have a product that flies out of your store each month? Include a favorite along with something new for the dog or cat to try.
You might also want to consider allowing picky pets to be an option when customers sign up for your monthly pet box delivery. If the pet is especially picky, including a commonly loved treat along with more non-food items might be a better choice for the customer. If a pet is adventurous, you can be free to add in a unique treat that might become a new favorite.
3. Make Subscription Box Shopping Unique
Typically pet supply subscription companies offer boxes customized for cats and dogs. Dog boxes can be further customized by the size of the dog. You can keep it simple with small, medium, and large dogs. You can however customize as much as you want.
Perhaps you want to sell basic, premium, and ultra-premium boxes with each one selling at different price points per month. So, allowing our customers decide just how much they wish to pamper their beloved pet might give you an edge in the market. Depending on your access to inventory, bird boxes or subscription boxes for small animals might find a market in your online store.
Also, maybe you have noticed that many of your customers have both dogs and cats but wouldn’t want to sign up for two boxes each month. Therefore, you might offer a combo box filled with special surprises for both dogs and cats. Your goal is to make your boxes unique to draw attention. Find something that will help your business stand out from all the other pet subscription boxes and you will find success with subscribers increasing month over month.
4. Customize Further by Age And Condition
First, you can allow your customers to choose custom boxes by age or health condition. Just like people, not all animals are alike though the age of the pet can indicate what the pet might most like to receive. A toy that lights up and moves on its own, might be perfect for a younger cat but an older cat might like mice or a ball that they can bat around better.
Young dogs have plenty of energy, so something like a disk to run after or balls to chase might be exactly what their owner is looking for. Older dogs might value a soft blanket or new water dish more. The age of the pet can greatly affect how much the dog or cat will love your box. Ideally both the young and older pets can get excited when the box arrives and find something that they like.
Health conditions might also impact what pet owners find appealing in their pet subscription box. Special food for teeth issues or toys for pets with joint issues might be appreciated by your customers. What’s more, there is a huge array of health conditions that could impact an animal.
It would be impossible to cater to each one but general boxes for animals with mobility issues, digestive issues, or sight problems might be very appealing to owners who want to spoil their pets and give them something each month that will bring excitement. Just because an animal has a health condition does not mean that they can receive something perfect for them and make their owner happily continue their subscription month after month.
Lastly, you might have noticed a common theme among all the tips offered. Planning ahead and understanding who your customers are, what they want, and what you want to offer will make the addition of pet subscription boxes to your online store easier.
5. Looking Ahead With Subscriptions Cloud
Finally, signing-up to your products and services shouldn’t be difficult; offer options and the ability to save delivery addresses or payment information. You do not want your potential customer walking away from their subscription because they encountered an issue with payment. Delivery needs to be reliable, and the items need to arrive in excellent condition. Make unboxing something that they want to share with their friends and family for all the right reasons.
With so many aspects of a subscription pet box to think about and manage, you might be wondering where to begin. While planning is the key to success, it is also important to know which tools can help you achieve your goals easier and faster.
Subscription Cloud can make it easy for both you and your customers. For them, the power to decide how often they will receive your box and what they want included. And for you, to be notified when someone subscribes or removes their subscription helps you track the progress of your business offerings.
Sign up today for your 60-day free trial.
When you understand what you want to offer your customers and their pets, you’re ready for the next step: to sign-up for our free trial and discover for yourself what Subscription Cloud can do for your business.
Get instant updates
Subscribe to our newsletter and we will keep you up-to-date on amazing features that we are releasing for Subscriptions Cloud.
Let’s start something new
say hello!
Subscriptions Cloud: The making of the platform merchants were looking for.We have heard it too many times. Great Subscriptions App, BUT…
The Amazing subscription platform that supports CBD and is native to Bigcommerce and Square!
Follow us
Company
_______
Legal
_______
Another Carbon Neutral Development