The Cratejoy Merchandising Team spends a significant amount of time and effort identifying high-quality boxes to pull into special sales, promotions, and highly-trafficked collections.
Our team wants to share with you what gets considered when evaluating a subscription box for merchandising.* Each of these categories are important to consider when you are evaluating how you can improve and grow your business.
*We can’t guarantee that you’ll get pulled into promotions, but creating and maintaining high-quality listings will boost your business!
Listing Quality
Every part of your listing matters! We recently completed our Listing Quality Content Series and recommend that you read the recap here. Each section has helpful tips and links to in-depth articles.
Two important considerations:
Update your listing (especially photos) frequently
Remove outdated info (previous month’s shipping date)
Add exciting new info (current box sneak peek/shipping date + new photos)
Know your customer
Read this blog post to learn more about marketing to your target audience.
Seasonal & Retail Trends
A box full of spooky decorations probably won’t get featured in June, but is definitely considered in September.
At home activities (gaming, crafts, puzzles, etc) had a huge moment in 2020, due to world events, and were regularly featured.
Conversion Rate
Does your listing receive a lot of views, but not a lot of sales?
Make sure your box is listed in the correct category & subcategory and sets buyer expectations. It can be tempting to choose a category that you feel may reach more people. However, this can hurt your sales if your box is not a match to that category.
Once the buyer is on your listing, are you setting proper expectations with buyers and enticing them with high quality photography and copy that tells them why they should buy?
Read more about how to increase your conversion rate here.
Churn Rate
If you get frequent cancellations there may be a need for improvement. Pay close attention to customer feedback (messages and reviews). Consider sending a survey to customers who cancelled and ask them to provide feedback.
Read more about how to reduce churn here.
Listing Engagement
Respond to reviews & questions on your listing! Each response shows your current and prospective customers that you value their experience.
Also, answering frequently asked questions in your Q&A section reduces the number of customer service messages you receive.
Reliable Shipping & Clear Shipping Information:
Unclear shipping information, or not following through on the shipping expectations communicated, will result in an inbox full of unhappy customers and, possibly, negative reviews. Ultimately, this can cause your business to lose current customers and future sales.
Clear shipping information displayed prominently on your listing is one more nudge for a potential customer to subscribe.
Making sure you ship on time keeps customers happy and out of your inbox.
Merchandising is just one way Cratejoy helps our sellers.
We know that high-quality listings get more attention and sales — even without being featured by Cratejoy.
Use the information we’ve gathered for you and watch your business grow!