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How to grow your candle and soap business with subscriptions Learn about popular subscription models and get tips to successfully start your own.

You’ve probably encountered subscription services in your daily life from streaming platforms to meal kit deliveries. Now, imagine bringing some of that same convenience and excitement to your candle or soap business! 

Subscriptions in your product-based business are an excellent way to stand out in a crowded market. And they’re a powerful tool to create lasting relationships with customers, as well as attract new fans to your brand while boosting your bottomline.

What are subscriptions?

Subscriptions are a service where goods—like home fragrance and bath and body products—are received on a recurring basis, often monthly or quarterly. 

This model works exceptionally well for consumable products, which are items that are used up and need to be replaced regularly. Candles, soaps, and wax melts fit perfectly into this category, making them ideal candidates for subscriptions.

Three common subscription models for product-based businesses are:

Why offer subscriptions?

Incorporating a subscription into your candle or soap business provides a number of benefits to both your brand and to customers. For makers, the benefits include increased revenue, customer loyalty, and predictable demand. And for customers, subscriptions provide convenience, cost savings, and the excitement of receiving regular deliveries of their favorite products.

Benefits of Subscriptions to Businesses

  • Increased revenue and predictable cash flow. Subscriptions provide a steady, recurring income stream that allows you to better forecast your business’s finances and plan for growth.
  • Improved customer lifetime value and retention. Subscribers tend to stick around longer, increasing the overall value of each customer to your business.
  • Builds brand loyalty and enthusiasm. Regular deliveries keep your brand top-of-mind and create a sense of anticipation among subscribers.
  • An avenue to test new scents or products. Your subscriber base can provide you with useful feedback on new offerings before a wider release.
  • A way to use extra supplies. Who of us doesn’t have a stash of unused fragrance oils? Some makers create unique scent blends to feature in their subscriptions so that none of their fragrance oils go to waste.

Benefits of Subscriptions to Customers

  • Convenience. The “set it and forget it” nature of subscriptions ensures customers don’t run out of their favorite products and receive them when they need them.
  • Cost savings. Many subscriptions offer discounts or free shipping, providing better value for loyal customers.
  • Regular excitement. The anticipation of receiving a package can brighten a customer’s day and create continued positive associations with your brand.
  • Gifting made easy. Subscriptions are also excellent gifts and allow existing customers to share their love of your products with friends and family.

There’s no one-size-fits-all choice when it comes to subscriptions. However, there are three popular ways to offer subscriptions. You might find inspiration by combining elements from more than one model, or decide that one of these options is already a great fit for how you want to offer subscriptions.

Subscribe and Save

The modern subscribe-and-save model of subscriptions is a familiar option thanks to online retailers like Amazon. 

With the subscribe and save approach, a customer makes an initial order for a product and selects the interval—monthly, every two months, quarterly, etc.—that they’ll receive subsequent deliveries of the same product.

Typically, subscribe-and-save subscriptions come with free shipping or a discount, ranging from 5-20% off, to reward the customer for committing to ongoing purchases.

For makers, subscribe and save is ideal for products from your core collection that are available no matter the time of year, or ones that are offered year-round. 

The Club Model

Another popular subscription type is the club model: think “candle of the month” or “special soap club.” 

The customer signs up to receive a product at a particular interval, usually monthly or quarterly. While subscriptions are taken on a rolling basis, there is a cut-off date. 

For example, our friends at Frostbeard Studio take orders for their Candle of the Month Club until the 25th of each month. Then the candles are made and shipped out on the 28th.  If someone joins the club on the 26th, they receive their first candle the following month.

This subscription type usually offers early access to a forthcoming new product, features a limited-edition product available exclusively through the subscription, or contains a surprise or mystery product whose full details are revealed upon delivery.  

Curated or Themed Boxes

This third option is seen less often from makers but is still worth considering, particularly if you have a shop where you carry a variety of products in addition to the ones you make. 

Curated and themed subscription boxes often involve multiple products, and as the name implies, are curated to center on a theme.

Businesses can put together curated and themed boxes in a few different ways:

  • If you make a variety of products like home fragrance and bath and body, the box could contain an assortment these products.
  • Offer a mix of products you make plus complementary items you’ve purchased wholesale.
  • Collaborate with another maker to offer a selection of products from both businesses.

Themes can revolve around seasons, holidays, or particular customer interests like masculine scents or spa lovers. This approach is a way to get creative and cater to specific niches within your customer base. 

How to set up a successful subscription program

Launching a subscription requires thoughtful planning and strategizing. For long-term success, the key is to come up with a program that not only excites your customers but also aligns with your business goals and capabilities. Let’s look at the essential steps to get started.

1. Design an enticing offer

First and foremost, a successful subscription program begins with a compelling product. And choosing the product, or products, is a balance of knowing what appeals to your target audience and what you can offer that’s profitable for your business. 

Questions to ask yourself when creating a subscription

  • What are your best-sellers or products with the highest repurchase rates?
  • What do your customers value the most? Convenience, exclusivity, variety?
  • Why would a customer be moved to subscribe?
  • What kind of experience do you want subscribers to have?
  • Can you profitably offer this subscription in the way you want to?

Once you’ve nailed down the specifics of your subscription, make sure the subscription’s product page highlights:

  • its benefits to customers
  • what makes it unique relative to your other products
  • answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Providing this information means shoppers can sign up with confidence and with little need to contact you for more information. Simply put, make it as easy as possible for them to want a subscription and then get it!

2. Price strategically

As with any new product, when designing your subscription offer, thinking about pricing is a must. 

Review your current product price points and profit margins to get clear on how you might price (or discount) your subscriptions. It’s okay to make adjustments with pricing or even test different price points to find the sweet spot for your audience.

And consider offering incrementally larger discounts with longer commitment periods to build even greater value into your subscriptions. For example, if you decide to have a candle-of-the-month club, pricing in this way could look like:

  • Month-to-month subscription: $30/month
  • 3-month pre-paid subscription: $28/month
  • 6-month pre-paid subscription: $26/month
  • 12-month prepaid subscription: $24/month

3. Choose an app that works for you and your customers

The final puzzle piece to starting and managing your subscription with more ease is to use an app! While it is technically possible to run a subscription program manually, an app on your site will make doing so infinitely easier. 

And makers with Shopify websites have many options available to them. Popular ones include:

Pricing and features vary widely among these, and other, app options. Take advantage of the apps’ free trial periods so you can evaluate them and determine which will work for you.

Though everyone’s needs are different, a right-fit app will be convenient for you and your customers alike. That means you can easily see how many subscriptions you have to fulfill and customers can manage their preferences, billing, and shipping details.

Tips for Managing Subscriptions

Launching a subscription program is exciting and also just the beginning of this journey!

As you continue down this path, don’t be surprised if you need to tweak your offerings occasionally. Many makers discover their perfect subscription formula through a bit of trial and error, so don’t be afraid to refine your model based on how things are going and what customers are saying.

And speaking of customers, you will likely notice some coming and going. That’s called “churn” and it’s a natural part of subscriptions, so don’t let it discourage you. The key is to keep in touch with your subscribers, ask for their thoughts, and consider their feedback when making improvements. 

To help you navigate the ongoing management of your subscription program, let’s look at four important areas to focus on: production and inventory management, customer communication, subscriber flexibility, and marketing.

Have a handle on your production processes and inventory

Managing production and inventory for subscriptions can be quite different than compared to one-off orders:

  • Plan production schedules around subscription cycles to make sure you have the supplies needed.
  • Use batching methods to streamline your workflows for making, processing, and shipping subscription orders.
  • Scale operations as your subscription base grows by investing in equipment, hiring help, or optimizing processes.

Communication is key to successfully setting customer expectations

Clear, consistent communication is crucial to maintaining happy customers:

  • Provide all subscription details upfront, including product information, terms and policies, billing dates, and shipping timeframes.
  • Use email automations to keep subscribers in the loop by sending reminder emails before shipping and providing tracking information.
  • Solicit feedback and suggestions from subscribers through short surveys or email to improve the program and address customer needs.
  • Deliver excellent customer service with an FAQ page and prompt responses to inquiries.

Offer flexibility for subscribers

Giving customers control over their subscriptions can significantly increase satisfaction and reduce churn:

  • Offer the options to pause subscriptions, skip deliveries, or easily cancel when needed.
  • Select a subscription app that provides these customer-friendly features.

Get the word out

After all this work, be sure to talk about your subscription just like you would with any new product launch:

  • Promote your subscription regularly through email marketing, social media, and printed order inserts.
  • Share social proof like customer testimonials and reviews to build trust and show the positive experiences of your subscribers.
  • Encourage subscribers to post about their purchases online and tag your social media accounts so you can reshare.

Wrapping Up

Adding a subscription model to your candle or soap brand’s lineup can enhance customer relationships and business growth. Let’s review the three main subscription types:

  • Subscribe and Save: Offers regular deliveries of the same product, often with a discount or free shipping. Ideal for core collection and year-round products.
  • The Club Model: “Product of the month” style with fixed shipping dates. Often used for limited edition products or for early access to upcoming items.  
  • Curated Boxes: Multiple products per box that can include items also sourced elsewhere. Often follows a theme.

Each model has its strengths and the best choice depends on your business and customer preferences. Successful subscriptions rely on thoughtful planning, clear communication, and flexibility to adjust based on feedback.

With the right approach, a subscription service can become an additional revenue stream for your business that fosters customer loyalty, excitement about your products, and another way for you to flex your creativity.

If you have more questions about subscriptions, please drop them in the comments so we can help you with them. And if you already offer subscriptions with your business, we’d love to hear about your experiences and any tips you might have for fellow makers just starting out on this journey.