Should I close down my business :(
My subscription business has been open for a couple of months and the progress is dismal, as a result I am thinking about closing it down.
Some background - I did a prelaunch and got a few hundred e-mails. My first month of trading got me 3 subscribers (one-off), and I gave around 15 boxes to bloggers to generate some hype. Only a handful actually blogged and marketed the box. In my second month I have had no subscribers at all. I have reduced the price heavily since initially starting, added free shipping, introduced discount coupons on the site and to bloggers, got professional pictures done, spent a large amount on FB and Instagram ads - but nothing seems to be getting people to really buy the box. Social media is dismal too - I have had the accounts open for 6 months or so, and consistently post nice looking pictures and creative, graphic-designed content, but only have a couple hundred followers on each platform. In essence, I have tried so many things but still seem to be getting nowhere.
As there are hardly any subscribers, it is very difficult to order supplies as well since the quantities would be so low. I have been thinking very seriously about closing the business as I think this just isn't working. I am struggling to find the problem in the business, but after some deliberation I feel there are two possible problems: 1 - no product/market fit & 2 - the inability to customize boxes.
On the customization front, how do subscription businesses create bespoke boxes for each of their subscribers? From a supply and logistics perspective, it seems so hard to do at a large scale and also very difficult at a small-scale when orders to suppliers would be in the single figures. That is why I haven't added customization.
On the product/market fit front, I guess I just have to sadly accept the idea is not resonating with people. If anyone wanted to help, check my website, social-media and evaluate the idea - I would be so grateful and can PM you the name of my business. It would be so great to get people's thoughts and advice on my situation.
Thank you so much!!
My subscription business has been open for a couple of months and the progress is dismal, as a result I am thinking about closing it down.
Some background - I did a prelaunch and got a few hundred e-mails. My first month of trading got me 3 subscribers (one-off), and I gave around 15 boxes to bloggers to generate some hype. Only a handful actually blogged and marketed the box. In my second month I have had no subscribers at all. I have reduced the price heavily since initially starting, added free shipping, introduced discount coupons on the site and to bloggers, got professional pictures done, spent a large amount on FB and Instagram ads - but nothing seems to be getting people to really buy the box. Social media is dismal too - I have had the accounts open for 6 months or so, and consistently post nice looking pictures and creative, graphic-designed content, but only have a couple hundred followers on each platform. In essence, I have tried so many things but still seem to be getting nowhere.
As there are hardly any subscribers, it is very difficult to order supplies as well since the quantities would be so low. I have been thinking very seriously about closing the business as I think this just isn't working. I am struggling to find the problem in the business, but after some deliberation I feel there are two possible problems: 1 - no product/market fit & 2 - the inability to customize boxes.
On the customization front, how do subscription businesses create bespoke boxes for each of their subscribers? From a supply and logistics perspective, it seems so hard to do at a large scale and also very difficult at a small-scale when orders to suppliers would be in the single figures. That is why I haven't added customization.
On the product/market fit front, I guess I just have to sadly accept the idea is not resonating with people. If anyone wanted to help, check my website, social-media and evaluate the idea - I would be so grateful and can PM you the name of my business. It would be so great to get people's thoughts and advice on my situation.
Thank you so much!!
Some background - I did a prelaunch and got a few hundred e-mails. My first month of trading got me 3 subscribers (one-off), and I gave around 15 boxes to bloggers to generate some hype. Only a handful actually blogged and marketed the box. In my second month I have had no subscribers at all. I have reduced the price heavily since initially starting, added free shipping, introduced discount coupons on the site and to bloggers, got professional pictures done, spent a large amount on FB and Instagram ads - but nothing seems to be getting people to really buy the box. Social media is dismal too - I have had the accounts open for 6 months or so, and consistently post nice looking pictures and creative, graphic-designed content, but only have a couple hundred followers on each platform. In essence, I have tried so many things but still seem to be getting nowhere.
As there are hardly any subscribers, it is very difficult to order supplies as well since the quantities would be so low. I have been thinking very seriously about closing the business as I think this just isn't working. I am struggling to find the problem in the business, but after some deliberation I feel there are two possible problems: 1 - no product/market fit & 2 - the inability to customize boxes.
On the customization front, how do subscription businesses create bespoke boxes for each of their subscribers? From a supply and logistics perspective, it seems so hard to do at a large scale and also very difficult at a small-scale when orders to suppliers would be in the single figures. That is why I haven't added customization.
On the product/market fit front, I guess I just have to sadly accept the idea is not resonating with people. If anyone wanted to help, check my website, social-media and evaluate the idea - I would be so grateful and can PM you the name of my business. It would be so great to get people's thoughts and advice on my situation.
Thank you so much!!
Is anyone else sooooooo frustrated???
Is it just me, or is the setup process for products just incredibly frustrating? I can't launch my site the way it looks now with no product images or descriptions, and now it's going to be too late to launch for April deliveries because of when I need to cut off the orders.
And the instructions to add photos and descriptions DO NOT WORK! I have submitted so many trouble tickets to support to get help on this. One person responded that I would need to hire a professional. For something so basic as adding a product image???? Seriously?
Then another guy from support is actually trying to help me but it takes so long to communicate and still nothing is done.
Now I've lost a month's worth of revenue and all of the hype that I built through my other sites is just WASTED!
Does anyone know of another company that offers the subscription websites that is more user friendly? I need to fix this yesterday!
And the instructions to add photos and descriptions DO NOT WORK! I have submitted so many trouble tickets to support to get help on this. One person responded that I would need to hire a professional. For something so basic as adding a product image???? Seriously?
Then another guy from support is actually trying to help me but it takes so long to communicate and still nothing is done.
Now I've lost a month's worth of revenue and all of the hype that I built through my other sites is just WASTED!
Does anyone know of another company that offers the subscription websites that is more user friendly? I need to fix this yesterday!
That's very difficult to say, we have thousands of followers on social media (mainly Facebook and Twitter) and only a tiny fraction are customers.
If you were running a pre launch email sign up page then in our experience it was about 10% who signed up for the first month. I'd expect that to be significantly lower with Facebook likes though, maybe 1 - 3% but that's just a guess
If you were running a pre launch email sign up page then in our experience it was about 10% who signed up for the first month. I'd expect that to be significantly lower with Facebook likes though, maybe 1 - 3% but that's just a guess
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