Customer Stories
5 beauty brands nailing subscriptions
Want to get the most out of your subscriptions? Use the examples below to inspire you. We’ve highlighted five of the best beauty subscriptions we’ve seen, along with what makes them stand out. From boosting enrollment to growing average order value, these brands know what it takes to be successful, and soon, you will too.
1. TULA: Enrollment opportunity in their shopping cart
The team behind skincare brand TULA knows that some customers take a bit longer to make the decision to enroll in a subscription. TULA nudges them closer to a decision by putting an enrollment opportunity into their shopping cart.
A customer might add a product to their cart as a one-off order. But once they return to their cart before checking out, they can turn that one-off order into a subscription with a single click. The customer only needs to toggle the “Switch to Auto Delivery” feature from left to right, and the rest is taken care of.
TULA sweetens their subscription customer experience with another benefit: rewards points in their loyalty program, which customers can redeem on future subscription purchases. TULA also lets shoppers enroll in their loyalty program from the shopping cart page before they even check out.
Enrolling in a loyalty program is a natural leap from enrolling in a subscription. Subscribers agree to receive a recurring shipment so they can rapidly earn points to redeem.
2. Youth To The People: Strikethroughs to highlight cost savings
Youth To The People (YTTP) uses clever messaging to reinforce that subscriptions are the best way to shop with the skincare brand. They strike through the standard price next to the size of the product and on the “add to cart” button to show customers how much they’ll save by signing up for a subscription. Additionally, they drive this logic home by branding their subscriptions “Smart Replenish.”
3. LolaVie: Recommend replenishment schedules by product
A shopper with long hair might need to replenish their shampoo more often than a shopper with short hair. This is why top beauty brands let subscribers set their replenishment schedule when they enroll. Brands nestle a drop-down menu next to the enrollment option where shoppers can choose their shipping cadence.
But what if a customer is unsure how often to replenish a bottle of detangler? This moment of indecision might cause a customer to abandon their purchases entirely. Harvard Business Review found that 87% of sales “opportunities” contain some level of customer indecision. They also found that as “indecision increases, win rates plummet.”
LolaVie doesn’t just recommend a replenishment schedule for their range of hair care products. They recommend a schedule for each product size, like a one-month replenishment for a five-ounce bottle of detangler and two months for a twelve-ounce bottle.
With product-specific replenishment suggestions, LolaVie is trying to get ahead of customer overstock — having too much product on hand — before it becomes a problem. A customer who signs up to receive a twelve-ounce bottle each month might cancel if the bottle is only half-used when the next one is set to ship.
4. NULASTIN: Defaulting to subscriptions to remove buying friction
NULASTIN wants to make the subscription-enrollment decision as easy as possible. That’s why they’ve cut out a purchasing step for their customers by defaulting to subscriptions on their product pages. Consumers must consider the subscription option first before moving to the one-off purchase.
Defaulting to subscriptions also reinforces adherence to NULASTIN’s product and encourages subscribers to maintain an optimal usage schedule.
5. Furtuna Skin: Easy-to-use subscriber dashboard
The team at Furtuna Skin understands that a subscriber’s circumstances can change once they’ve enrolled, so they make it simple for subscribers to control their shipments with an intuitive dashboard.
With the help of their subscription provider, Furtuna Skin gives subscribers the power to swap a product for a similar SKU, skip a month or longer, cancel, and more.
Furtuna Skin is up front with customers, not just about the benefits of a subscription but also about the ease of pausing. This candor eases any fears that a subscription “locks customers in,” making enrollments more likely.
Besides letting subscribers manage their subscriptions, Furtuna Skin also offers a tiered incentive to improve retention and customer lifetime value. Subscribers receive 10% off their first order and 15% all future orders.
Elevate your subscription experiences with Ordergroove
Subscriptions are now vital to standing out in the highly competitive beauty and personal care verticals.
If you haven’t yet launched a subscription — or are seeing slow or stalled enrollment with your current subscription provider — consider reaching out to Ordergroove. You’ll receive a range of out-of-the-box capabilities to drive acquisition, retention, and AOV, as well as a development team to guide you through the setup and a success manager to aid your growth.
To learn more about how Ordergroove’s subscriptions can benefit your brand, click here to set up a demo.