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Ready to elevate your ecommerce brand?Get in touch with us at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:info@underwaterpistol.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">info@underwaterpistol.com</a>or call&nbsp;<a href="tel:+442034677614" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">+44 203 467 7614</a>.<h4> </h4>

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Charlie Semmence

Subscription ecommerce is growing at a rapid pace, with millions of subscribers and thousands of companies contributing to an industry worth <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2022/03/21/growth-in-context-how-businesses-can-take-advantage-of-key-trends-for-subscription-success/?sh=4ec8c97638a6" data-mce-href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2022/03/21/growth-in-context-how-businesses-can-take-advantage-of-key-trends-for-subscription-success/?sh=4ec8c97638a6" target="_blank">over $650 billion</a>. It’s no wonder so many brands are interested in breaking into the market. If you’re launching a new subscription service, or keen to reinvigorate an existing one, we’re here to help. Read on for 6 of the best strategies for launching and scaling a successful ecommerce subscription service. 
<h2>1. Audit your brand guidelines and define a subscription niche</h2>
Let’s start right at the beginning. Before you start promoting your subscription offering, you need to review how your brand is recognised by your audience, and analyse your customer journey. Assess your brand guidelines and create a signature style across all your communications. The likes of your brand’s fonts, colours and “brand story” will all need to be considered at this stage. Also, identify your brand's USP, and establish which niche your subscription service will cater for. Today, there are subscription brands representing almost any and every conceivable niche – ranging from <a href="https://boxofgoth.com/" target="_blank">Box of Goth</a> to <a href="https://www.coffeeandaclassic.com/" target="_blank">Coffee and a Classic</a>. You’ll therefore need to carefully consider how your brand can carve out its own distinctive place in an increasingly competitive ecommerce subscriptions market.  
<h2>2. Reach out to your existing customers via email</h2>
When it comes to starting or promoting an ecommerce subscription service, your existing customers are a goldmine of potential revenue and growth. One of the most effective ways to tap into them is by targeted email marketing. Your current customers are already familiar with your brand and have shown an interest in your products. By crafting compelling email campaigns, you can nurture these relationships and encourage repeat business. Start by segmenting your email list based on customer preferences, purchase history and behaviour on your website. This segmentation allows you to send personalised recommendations and exclusive offers tailored to each customer's needs and interests. Whether it's introducing them to new subscription packages, offering loyalty rewards, or simply expressing appreciation for their continued support, a well-executed email marketing strategy can re-engage existing customers and drive them to explore your subscription offerings further. 
<h2>3. Create an exclusive community for your subscribers</h2>
One of the great benefits of moving your brand into the subscriptions space is the opportunity it presents to build a community and provide an interactive, participatory experience for your customers. This in turn helps cultivate a ‘we’ relationship with your customers, instead of an ‘us-them’ relationship, whereby you simply project a need for your product or service on your target audience. Branded online communities can also offer many practical benefits for subscription businesses, such as enhanced brand exposure and credibility, reduced customer support costs and improved customer retention.
There are various examples of how brands have created engaging communities for their customers through the years – ranging from <a href="https://ideas.lego.com/" target="_blank">Lego Ideas</a>, which enables enthusiasts to propose designs that they feel should be on sale, to the <a href="https://www.traditionalmedicinals.com/articles/" target="_blank">Plant Power Journal</a> of Traditional Medicinals. 
Remember that there’s no ‘one size fits all’ here – different approaches to community building work better than others for certain brands and verticals. 
 
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" alt="" src="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1472/1782/files/plant_power_journal_1024x1024.jpg?v=1617016141" data-mce-style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.traditionalmedicinals.com/articles/" target="_blank">The Plant Power journal</a> offers their community regular, informative content.
 
<h2>4. Set up an ecommerce loyalty or referral program</h2>
To keep your customers happy, engaged and coming back for more, you need to unlock the holy grail of any ecommerce subscription business: loyalty. <a href="https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2019/11/customer-loyalty-survey.html" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2019/11/customer-loyalty-survey.html">74% of customers</a> are motivated to be loyal to a brand if given the opportunity to work towards a goal or reward, while 79% are likely to be loyal if they are able to unlock exclusive benefits. Implementing a loyalty program to reward existing customers and a referral program to tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing can significantly boost your subscription service. Reward loyal customers with incentives like points, discounts or exclusive access, and encourage them to refer friends and family in exchange for discounts or freebies. Be sure to personalise your offers and promote them effectively to increase customer retention and also attract new subscribers. 
<a href="https://www.craftginclub.co.uk/" target="_blank">Craft Gin Club</a> – the UK’s biggest subscription club for gin lovers – boosted their repeat purchase rate by 53%, and member spend by 51%, after creating a tiered loyalty program that presented their committed subscribers with exclusive rewards and perks. This included the chance to earn 200 loyalty points for each box, as well as vouchers and discounts. 
<h2>5. Make use of user-generated content (UGC)</h2>
The term ‘user-generated content’, or UGC, refers to the content – such as text, images and reviews – that customers create, rather than brands. Encouraging your subscribers to share their own UGC related to your products can help present your brand as authentic and credible. It can also be instrumental in cultivating trust among your target customers, and driving their decisions to buy from you or subscribe to your products. To make the most of UGC’s benefits for your own ecommerce subscription service, you don’t have to just sit there and wait in hope for the hashtagged pictures and videos of your products to roll in. Instead, you can encourage your followers to share photos and videos of their products when leaving reviews, which can then be repurposed for your social media marketing. And with your newly launched loyalty program, why not reward extra loyalty points to members who create and post images of themselves using your products?  
<h2>6. Consider influencer marketing for your ecommerce store</h2>
There are various ways influencer marketing has worked well for ecommerce brands seeking to spread the word about their subscription services. Many of us, for instance, are familiar with YouTube's ever-popular "unboxing" videos, in which an influencer removes the packaging from the product they’ve just received and talks about it to the viewer. Again, your brand doesn’t have to be passive with its use of influencers to promote its subscription offerings. You could sign up relevant influencers for longer-term relationships with your brand – especially useful for promoting subscriptions given the nature of subscriptions running for a longer period of time. You might also offer incentives for ambassadors to engage with your brand on social media – for instance, giving money-off voucher codes that they could then share with their followers.
Popular subscription brands such as <a href="https://yogaclub.com/" target="_blank">YogaClub</a>, <a href="https://bitsbox.com/" target="_blank">Bitsbox</a> and <a href="https://www.ipsy.com/" target="_blank">IPSY</a> have long drawn upon influencers’ expertise in various ways to generate brand awareness, expand reach, and bolster sales and revenue. 
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
Here at <a title="About Underwaterpistol" href="https://www.underwaterpistol.com/pages/about-us">Underwaterpistol</a>, we’re experts in building and growing stand-out subscription offerings across a wide variety of verticals. As ecommerce experts and Shopify Plus partners, we help brands like yours unlock recurring revenue and maximise customer lifetime value on the platform. Want to know more? Explore our <a href="https://www.underwaterpistol.com/shopify-plus-agency/development/subscription-commerce" target="_blank">subscription ecommerce services</a> here, or <a href="https://www.underwaterpistol.com/contact" target="_blank">get in touch</a> with our team to discuss about how we can help you resolve your unique needs and challenges.

6 powerful ways to grow your ecommerce subscription service