June 3, 2024 • 14 mins
In this episode of Subscription Box Basics, Julie Ball discusses the essential elements that your subscription box website needs to convert visitors into customers. She emphasizes the importance of having a professional website and covers five key components: offering an incentive, clear call-to-action, professional photos, social proof, and ways to collect email addresses. Julie also suggests using accountability partners to get feedback on your website and offers resources for further learning. Tune in to ensure your website is optimized for maximum sales conversion.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So you want to launch asubscription box and don't know
where to start, girl, you are inthe right place.
I'm Julie ball and I'm ReneeGonzalez, your host here at
subscription box basics, apodcast for new and aspiring
subscription box entrepreneurswanting to avoid overwhelm.
So grab a coffee, some pen andpaper, and let's have some fun.
(00:22):
Hey everybody.
And welcome back to subscriptionbox basics.
I'm Julie Ball, your head coach.
And today I'm rolling solo andwe're talking about websites.
Guys websites are so important.
Because they are the firstimpression with your brand and
with your product.
Now I'm going to first off sayif this is something that you
(00:42):
are going to D I Y.
That can be risky.
I know we can get a littlescrappy as entrepreneurs,
especially when the budget mightbe tight.
But if there is any one placewhere you may want to outsource,
let it be your website.
You do not want to have anamateur website because it is
(01:02):
going to drastically affect yoursales.
So today we're going to talkabout websites and I'm going to
focus on five things that aregoing to help you convert
better.
What I mean, when I say convertis when someone comes to your
website.
Do they ultimately convert to acustomer?
Do they press add to cart and gothrough checkout?
(01:23):
So the higher your conversionrate, the better your website
performs.
And so I'm going to talk aboutfive things today that I want to
make sure you have on yourwebsite to help you convert
visitors into customers.
But this is not an all-inclusivelist.
There are so many things youneed to have for your website.
Things like.
Is it mobile friendly because somany people are going to be
(01:45):
visiting it on their cell phone.
Does it have professionalimagery?
Does it have great copywriting?
Does it have the actual legalthings that you need, like the
privacy policy and terms of use,accessibility and all those
things.
We're not going to talk aboutthe full list.
But grab your pen and paper,because I'm gonna talk about
five things right now that youdefinitely need to have.
And I want you to go check yourwebsite to revisit what your
(02:09):
website looks like, does it havethese things or grab an
accountability buddy, and lookat their website while they look
at yours, that way you have anoutsider's perspective on how
could I improve my websitebecause you want more sales,
right?
So let's dive in first thingsfirst, before we even go through
my list of five things.
You need to make sure that yourwebsite is professional, that it
(02:32):
doesn't look like you justpieced it together.
You need to make sure thatpeople can see immediately what
you're offering them, what yoursubscription box is.
They need to know within secondsthat you are a subscription box
for X, Y, Z.
I remember, man.
It was probably like, 15 yearsago when I was doing website
(02:55):
design and development.
I read a book called don't makeme think by Steve Krug and.
It was all about websiteusability.
And one of the things thatreally stuck with me was the
whole concept of the book ofdon't make me think, like when I
get to your website, I need toknow immediately what it is, you
(03:15):
offer.
So first of all, put that inyour back pocket and don't make
me think if I'm going to come toyour website.
All right now, to my list offive things, we're going to kind
of go through these quickly.
So jot them down and then headover to your website and see if
you have them.
Number one and offer.
We've talked a lot about offersthis year.
I feel like we're in an economywhere you can't just have a
(03:38):
product out there, you have togive people an offer.
An example of an offer would bea gift with purchase.
That's my favorite.
So maybe you're giving themsomething in addition to the
actual subscription box they'regoing to receive, maybe you're
giving them some sort ofdiscount or maybe you're giving
them some sort of extra thing,whether that is a product, a
(04:00):
service, a experience, adiscount, something to really
convert them, make them go fromHmm.
I'm thinking about buying to addto cart and converting.
So do you have an offer?
Beyond just saying, this is mysubscription box, please
subscribe.
Do you have an offer?
If not put it on your to-do listto brainstorm some offers.
(04:22):
And if you go back in ourpodcast archives, we talked
about this multiple times.
So I will in the show notes linka couple of episodes where we
discuss offers.
Number two.
Do you have a clear call toaction?
Another thing from that bookthat I read, what don't make me
think was.
(04:43):
Tell people what to do.
You're going to get your desiredresponse if you actually tell
them what to do.
An example of that in a call toaction is.
On a button subscribe today.
Maybe you don't want to use theword subscribe because your
customers might not like thatword so much.
Maybe it's joined today.
And roll today.
(05:04):
You know, tell them what to dowith a clear call to action.
Make sure you have that multipleplaces on your website,
especially in the hero, which isthat top, most section of your
website, where they're going toland on and not have to scroll
to get to.
You want to make sure you have acall to action above the fold.
That's kind of a outdated term,but you understand what I'm
(05:26):
saying?
They the above the fold sectionis think of like old school
newspapers, whatever was abovethe fold was what was going to
really catch people's attention.
So on a website above the foldjust means before you have to
scroll.
Make sure that you have a callto action above the fold.
Number three.
(05:47):
Photos.
not just any photos, but youneed to have professional
photos.
If you need some professionalphotos, we have some
recommendations.
I'll make sure to put them inthe show notes.
We love Becca bond fromsubscription box photography.
And we also like Suna.
If you don't have the budget forprofessional photography, that's
okay.
You can absolutely do someprofessional photographs on your
(06:09):
cell phone.
You just need to have some goodlight, maybe go buy some poster
board.
So you have a clean whitebackground and play around with
it.
There's tons of free tutorialson YouTube that you can look at
to get some great tips.
It's actually easier than youthink.
But if you don't have that IFRdesign, again, this might be a
place where you want tooutsource and send to a
(06:30):
professional photographer.
So you want to make sure thatyou have photos of the actual
box.
Some of the packaging, they cansee what they're going to get in
the mail.
You definitely want to have somephotos of sample products.
Now you could do that where it'san unboxing photo.
And that just means that the boxis open and the sample products
(06:51):
are displayed sort of coming.
Coming out of that box.
Or you can do a flat lay of itwhere it, you have your products
neatly laid out flat so you cansee all of them.
You can drop that type of photoin Canva and even add some text
on top.
We had one of those photos whereI pointed to the different
products and it would call outwith text what the category was.
(07:15):
So for example, I had astationary category in my former
box.
And so I put a little arrowpointing to the journal and I
wrote stationary.
Another category I had was book.
And so I put a sample book inthere and using Canva.
I put the text book with alittle arrow pointing to it.
So you can really make somegreat visuals with a flat lay
(07:36):
photo.
And the last photo that you wantto consider is putting people in
there.
People experiencing the box.
People exuding the emotion thatyour box is going to make them
feel.
Maybe it's, if you have a boxfor pets, then absolutely put
pets and the box in there,making sure that whoever is the
user of the products from thebox, you can see them in that
(07:59):
photo.
Next on your website.
I want to make sure that youhave social proof, so that can
be in the form of testimonials.
That can be in the form ofreviews or even as seen in.
So if you have any mediafeatures, you can include that
as part of your social proof.
It is been shown to have atremendous impact on the buying
(08:24):
habits of people when they seesocial proof.
Sometimes when people have a tonof buying decisions.
They don't know which option tochoose.
That can lead into analysisparalysis where you're like
overthinking it, and then youdon't even take action as a
consumer.
So reading reviews andtestimonials, they can help push
(08:44):
people towards your product overanother product.
Or once they're on your website,it can push them towards that
final buying decision.
It's really going to make animpact.
When you think about your ownhabits, when someone tells you
how great a new restaurant is,doesn't that make you want to go
try that new restaurant?
Same concept.
So make sure that you arecollecting reviews and
(09:07):
testimonials, and it's supersimple to ask for them.
A lot of times people don't postreview unless they're upset
about something.
So make sure you're proactivelyasking for reviews.
An easy way to do this is tosend an automated email about 10
days after you've shipped yourbox.
By that time it should havearrived and the consumer should
(09:28):
have already been able to openit and experience it.
And in that email, you couldjust send it as a followup and
say, if you loved your box, we'dlove to hear about it.
Here's where you can leave areview and then you can link it
to Facebook reviews or you're anonline platform where you're
collecting reviews, maybeTrustpilot or something like
that.
And then, oh, that same email.
(09:48):
You can also do some proactivecustomer service and say if
there was something missing orwrong with your box would love a
chance to make it up to you,click reply and let us know how
we can help.
That way, you are asking them tocome to you first, instead of
.Going to social media, if theyhad a bad experience and you can
really, really do some greatcustomer service through those
(10:11):
types of emails.
Lastly, number five, you want away to collect emails.
Not everyone that comes to yourwebsite is going to be an
immediate buyer.
So, you know, like the storyfrom the tortoise and the Hare.
So think of your buyers likethat.
Some of them are going to be thetortoise and they're just going
to run quick and they're goingto make their quick buying
decision.
And that's great for a businessowner like us, but some are
(10:35):
going to be like the hair andthey're gonna take their time.
Now you need to nurture them.
But if they get to your website,You don't want them to forget
about you?
So, one thing that you can do isbuild your email list by
collecting their email addresswhen they hit your website.
There's so many different waysto do this, whether it's a
pop-up or maybe you have a leadmagnet A lead magnet is
(10:57):
something that you were going togive them for free in exchange
for their email address, like aPDF download.
Maybe it's a coupon.
Maybe it is.
A recipe or a printable planner,something like that, whatever
would draw your customer in.
Whatever's going to help themalong the way and show that you
are a value.
You can ask them for their emailaddress in exchange for that.
(11:19):
So you can use your emailmarketing service provider.
For example, maybe it'sMailChimp, maybe it's flow desk.
You can create a form that youcan embed on your website or
create as a pop-up.
No, we're not going to dive toodeep on building your email list
and how to collect those emailsbecause that's a much larger
topic.
And every email marketingservice provider is slightly
(11:41):
different.
But all you need to do is builda form promote that and when
people come to your website, youcan gather their email address.
Now, once you gather their emailaddress, Don't give them radio
silence.
You want to make sure that youare nurturing them by sending
them emails.
Inviting them back to yourwebsite with special offers and
gift with purchase, you know,make them want to come back to
(12:02):
your website because they've gotto get to your website in order
for them to convert.
So be of value and continue totell them what to do, like visit
our website.
Subscribe today.
Join today and get this gift.
But I just want to emphasizethat an email list is going to
be one of your most valuablemarketing assets.
It's going to convert more thansocial media.
(12:25):
It's going to convert more thanevents.
It's going to convert more thananything.
And if you need someone to teachyou about email list building,
we highly recommend AmyPorterfield's program.
She's got a program called listbuilding society, and I will
include the link in the shownotes.
It's a great place to learn fromsomeone who really has perfected
(12:47):
the art of email lists.
Be sure to check the show notesfor that.
Now I know this was a reallyquick episode and now you
probably have a small to-do listfor your website.
But it is really important thatyou have these things on your
website in order to convert.
So let's do a quick recap.
Number one.
An offer for your product,something like a gift with
(13:08):
purchase or a discount.
Number two, a clear call toaction multiple times on your
website.
Number three compelling andprofessional looking photos of
the box of products, of peopleexperiencing your box, number
four, social proof, things likereviews and testimonials, and
number five, a way to collectemails to build that email list
(13:32):
for marketing.
Now it's time for you to takeaction, go to your website and
see if you have these things.
Or like I said, better yet.
Grab an accountability, a boxbestie and say, I would love to
review your website.
Will you review mine?
It's such a great way to get asecond set of eyes on there that
knows what to look for.
(13:53):
I hope you found this episode tobe incredibly helpful.
I want to see you get moresales.
I want to make sure you areconverting the people that you
get to your website.
Now.
Make sure.
Once you've gone through thislist, you have all these things.
Your step two of this would beto drive more traffic to your
(14:13):
website.
And that's a whole other podcastepisode topic.
So hopefully I'll be able tocover that in the future.
Thanks for listening today.
And we'll see you in the nextepisode.
Bye.
So you want to launch asubscription box and don't know
where to start, girl, you are inthe right place.
I'm Julie ball and I'm ReneeGonzalez, your host here at
subscription box basics, apodcast for new and aspiring
subscription box entrepreneurswanting to avoid overwhelm.
So grab a coffee, some pen andpaper, and let's have some fun.
(00:22):
Hey everybody.
And welcome back to subscriptionbox basics.
I'm Julie Ball, your head coach.
And today I'm rolling solo andwe're talking about websites.
Guys websites are so important.
Because they are the firstimpression with your brand and
with your product.
Now I'm going to first off sayif this is something that you
(00:42):
are going to D I Y.
That can be risky.
I know we can get a littlescrappy as entrepreneurs,
especially when the budget mightbe tight.
But if there is any one placewhere you may want to outsource,
let it be your website.
You do not want to have anamateur website because it is
(01:02):
going to drastically affect yoursales.
So today we're going to talkabout websites and I'm going to
focus on five things that aregoing to help you convert
better.
What I mean, when I say convertis when someone comes to your
website.
Do they ultimately convert to acustomer?
Do they press add to cart and gothrough checkout?
(01:23):
So the higher your conversionrate, the better your website
performs.
And so I'm going to talk aboutfive things today that I want to
make sure you have on yourwebsite to help you convert
visitors into customers.
But this is not an all-inclusivelist.
There are so many things youneed to have for your website.
Things like.
Is it mobile friendly because somany people are going to be
(01:45):
visiting it on their cell phone.
Does it have professionalimagery?
Does it have great copywriting?
Does it have the actual legalthings that you need, like the
privacy policy and terms of use,accessibility and all those
things.
We're not going to talk aboutthe full list.
But grab your pen and paper,because I'm gonna talk about
five things right now that youdefinitely need to have.
And I want you to go check yourwebsite to revisit what your
(02:09):
website looks like, does it havethese things or grab an
accountability buddy, and lookat their website while they look
at yours, that way you have anoutsider's perspective on how
could I improve my websitebecause you want more sales,
right?
So let's dive in first thingsfirst, before we even go through
my list of five things.
You need to make sure that yourwebsite is professional, that it
(02:32):
doesn't look like you justpieced it together.
You need to make sure thatpeople can see immediately what
you're offering them, what yoursubscription box is.
They need to know within secondsthat you are a subscription box
for X, Y, Z.
I remember, man.
It was probably like, 15 yearsago when I was doing website
(02:55):
design and development.
I read a book called don't makeme think by Steve Krug and.
It was all about websiteusability.
And one of the things thatreally stuck with me was the
whole concept of the book ofdon't make me think, like when I
get to your website, I need toknow immediately what it is, you
(03:15):
offer.
So first of all, put that inyour back pocket and don't make
me think if I'm going to come toyour website.
All right now, to my list offive things, we're going to kind
of go through these quickly.
So jot them down and then headover to your website and see if
you have them.
Number one and offer.
We've talked a lot about offersthis year.
I feel like we're in an economywhere you can't just have a
(03:38):
product out there, you have togive people an offer.
An example of an offer would bea gift with purchase.
That's my favorite.
So maybe you're giving themsomething in addition to the
actual subscription box they'regoing to receive, maybe you're
giving them some sort ofdiscount or maybe you're giving
them some sort of extra thing,whether that is a product, a
(04:00):
service, a experience, adiscount, something to really
convert them, make them go fromHmm.
I'm thinking about buying to addto cart and converting.
So do you have an offer?
Beyond just saying, this is mysubscription box, please
subscribe.
Do you have an offer?
If not put it on your to-do listto brainstorm some offers.
(04:22):
And if you go back in ourpodcast archives, we talked
about this multiple times.
So I will in the show notes linka couple of episodes where we
discuss offers.
Number two.
Do you have a clear call toaction?
Another thing from that bookthat I read, what don't make me
think was.
(04:43):
Tell people what to do.
You're going to get your desiredresponse if you actually tell
them what to do.
An example of that in a call toaction is.
On a button subscribe today.
Maybe you don't want to use theword subscribe because your
customers might not like thatword so much.
Maybe it's joined today.
And roll today.
(05:04):
You know, tell them what to dowith a clear call to action.
Make sure you have that multipleplaces on your website,
especially in the hero, which isthat top, most section of your
website, where they're going toland on and not have to scroll
to get to.
You want to make sure you have acall to action above the fold.
That's kind of a outdated term,but you understand what I'm
(05:26):
saying?
They the above the fold sectionis think of like old school
newspapers, whatever was abovethe fold was what was going to
really catch people's attention.
So on a website above the foldjust means before you have to
scroll.
Make sure that you have a callto action above the fold.
Number three.
(05:47):
Photos.
not just any photos, but youneed to have professional
photos.
If you need some professionalphotos, we have some
recommendations.
I'll make sure to put them inthe show notes.
We love Becca bond fromsubscription box photography.
And we also like Suna.
If you don't have the budget forprofessional photography, that's
okay.
You can absolutely do someprofessional photographs on your
(06:09):
cell phone.
You just need to have some goodlight, maybe go buy some poster
board.
So you have a clean whitebackground and play around with
it.
There's tons of free tutorialson YouTube that you can look at
to get some great tips.
It's actually easier than youthink.
But if you don't have that IFRdesign, again, this might be a
place where you want tooutsource and send to a
(06:30):
professional photographer.
So you want to make sure thatyou have photos of the actual
box.
Some of the packaging, they cansee what they're going to get in
the mail.
You definitely want to have somephotos of sample products.
Now you could do that where it'san unboxing photo.
And that just means that the boxis open and the sample products
(06:51):
are displayed sort of coming.
Coming out of that box.
Or you can do a flat lay of itwhere it, you have your products
neatly laid out flat so you cansee all of them.
You can drop that type of photoin Canva and even add some text
on top.
We had one of those photos whereI pointed to the different
products and it would call outwith text what the category was.
(07:15):
So for example, I had astationary category in my former
box.
And so I put a little arrowpointing to the journal and I
wrote stationary.
Another category I had was book.
And so I put a sample book inthere and using Canva.
I put the text book with alittle arrow pointing to it.
So you can really make somegreat visuals with a flat lay
(07:36):
photo.
And the last photo that you wantto consider is putting people in
there.
People experiencing the box.
People exuding the emotion thatyour box is going to make them
feel.
Maybe it's, if you have a boxfor pets, then absolutely put
pets and the box in there,making sure that whoever is the
user of the products from thebox, you can see them in that
(07:59):
photo.
Next on your website.
I want to make sure that youhave social proof, so that can
be in the form of testimonials.
That can be in the form ofreviews or even as seen in.
So if you have any mediafeatures, you can include that
as part of your social proof.
It is been shown to have atremendous impact on the buying
(08:24):
habits of people when they seesocial proof.
Sometimes when people have a tonof buying decisions.
They don't know which option tochoose.
That can lead into analysisparalysis where you're like
overthinking it, and then youdon't even take action as a
consumer.
So reading reviews andtestimonials, they can help push
(08:44):
people towards your product overanother product.
Or once they're on your website,it can push them towards that
final buying decision.
It's really going to make animpact.
When you think about your ownhabits, when someone tells you
how great a new restaurant is,doesn't that make you want to go
try that new restaurant?
Same concept.
So make sure that you arecollecting reviews and
(09:07):
testimonials, and it's supersimple to ask for them.
A lot of times people don't postreview unless they're upset
about something.
So make sure you're proactivelyasking for reviews.
An easy way to do this is tosend an automated email about 10
days after you've shipped yourbox.
By that time it should havearrived and the consumer should
(09:28):
have already been able to openit and experience it.
And in that email, you couldjust send it as a followup and
say, if you loved your box, we'dlove to hear about it.
Here's where you can leave areview and then you can link it
to Facebook reviews or you're anonline platform where you're
collecting reviews, maybeTrustpilot or something like
that.
And then, oh, that same email.
(09:48):
You can also do some proactivecustomer service and say if
there was something missing orwrong with your box would love a
chance to make it up to you,click reply and let us know how
we can help.
That way, you are asking them tocome to you first, instead of
.Going to social media, if theyhad a bad experience and you can
really, really do some greatcustomer service through those
(10:11):
types of emails.
Lastly, number five, you want away to collect emails.
Not everyone that comes to yourwebsite is going to be an
immediate buyer.
So, you know, like the storyfrom the tortoise and the Hare.
So think of your buyers likethat.
Some of them are going to be thetortoise and they're just going
to run quick and they're goingto make their quick buying
decision.
And that's great for a businessowner like us, but some are
(10:35):
going to be like the hair andthey're gonna take their time.
Now you need to nurture them.
But if they get to your website,You don't want them to forget
about you?
So, one thing that you can do isbuild your email list by
collecting their email addresswhen they hit your website.
There's so many different waysto do this, whether it's a
pop-up or maybe you have a leadmagnet A lead magnet is
(10:57):
something that you were going togive them for free in exchange
for their email address, like aPDF download.
Maybe it's a coupon.
Maybe it is.
A recipe or a printable planner,something like that, whatever
would draw your customer in.
Whatever's going to help themalong the way and show that you
are a value.
You can ask them for their emailaddress in exchange for that.
(11:19):
So you can use your emailmarketing service provider.
For example, maybe it'sMailChimp, maybe it's flow desk.
You can create a form that youcan embed on your website or
create as a pop-up.
No, we're not going to dive toodeep on building your email list
and how to collect those emailsbecause that's a much larger
topic.
And every email marketingservice provider is slightly
(11:41):
different.
But all you need to do is builda form promote that and when
people come to your website, youcan gather their email address.
Now, once you gather their emailaddress, Don't give them radio
silence.
You want to make sure that youare nurturing them by sending
them emails.
Inviting them back to yourwebsite with special offers and
gift with purchase, you know,make them want to come back to
(12:02):
your website because they've gotto get to your website in order
for them to convert.
So be of value and continue totell them what to do, like visit
our website.
Subscribe today.
Join today and get this gift.
But I just want to emphasizethat an email list is going to
be one of your most valuablemarketing assets.
It's going to convert more thansocial media.
(12:25):
It's going to convert more thanevents.
It's going to convert more thananything.
And if you need someone to teachyou about email list building,
we highly recommend AmyPorterfield's program.
She's got a program called listbuilding society, and I will
include the link in the shownotes.
It's a great place to learn fromsomeone who really has perfected
(12:47):
the art of email lists.
Be sure to check the show notesfor that.
Now I know this was a reallyquick episode and now you
probably have a small to-do listfor your website.
But it is really important thatyou have these things on your
website in order to convert.
So let's do a quick recap.
Number one.
An offer for your product,something like a gift with
(13:08):
purchase or a discount.
Number two, a clear call toaction multiple times on your
website.
Number three compelling andprofessional looking photos of
the box of products, of peopleexperiencing your box, number
four, social proof, things likereviews and testimonials, and
number five, a way to collectemails to build that email list
(13:32):
for marketing.
Now it's time for you to takeaction, go to your website and
see if you have these things.
Or like I said, better yet.
Grab an accountability, a boxbestie and say, I would love to
review your website.
Will you review mine?
It's such a great way to get asecond set of eyes on there that
knows what to look for.
(13:53):
I hope you found this episode tobe incredibly helpful.
I want to see you get moresales.
I want to make sure you areconverting the people that you
get to your website.
Now.
Make sure.
Once you've gone through thislist, you have all these things.
Your step two of this would beto drive more traffic to your
(14:13):
website.
And that's a whole other podcastepisode topic.
So hopefully I'll be able tocover that in the future.
Thanks for listening today.
And we'll see you in the nextepisode.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.