You've probably done some churn analysis at this point -- do you know what % is passive churn (i.e. payment-related) versus customers who are explicitly canceling?
I'd consider spreadsheeting the biggest leaks and getting super aggressive with multiple approaches. Empower your team, consult with professionals, leverage third party tools, outsource... all out offensive.
It's difficult to know the ONE THING that will increase retention, but improving many things by a percent or two will give you noticeable lift.
And by compressing it into a short timeframe, you'll reduce the number of variables around cohorts, seasonality, etc.
Can you point to a 5x markup on our site? Not a challenge, just a question because we try to stay at least remotely competitive to other online pricing. I'd be shocked to find product for 1/5 the price somewhere.
It wasn't only adding products, but adding the flexibility to easily add/remove products via a customer dashboard (while we curated/marketed products we liked) that allowed us to up our AOV. When we launched it was just "pick your plan" and we'd automate the rest -- so we sacrificed a little of the simplicity of automation for the flexibility of service and customization.
Nothing ingenious, just a decision we made that worked.
HN and Reddit have always been very helpful in pointing out Manpacks' price competitiveness with Amazon. :)
To put it into perspective, using Hanes crew necks (that seem to be a baseline for comparison) you're paying a "discounted" $12.99 for a 3-pack on Amazon. Not including shipping -- or what you pre-pay using Prime -- that's $4.33 a shirt. Manpacks lists them at $5, with free shipping on orders above $30.
If you just don't see the value in not having to think about or shop for the basics, then that 67¢ savings will be the deciding factor.
Anyway, I think a subscription requires more thinking than a one-time purchase. You have to guess the failure rate, and then time replacements to arrive sometime shortly before your existing clothes fail. You have to receive an email and respond to it before your replacement ships, then you have to remember to collect the package.
Compare this to Amazon where you order two years worth of clothing at once, pay $20 to have it shipped overnight, and forget about clothes until they seem to be wearing out.
thats fair. i see the exact same 3-pack at around $9.
regardless, though, you're right, its about convenience and margins. i've not done the legwork, so i don't know what the margins look like on something like this.
I'd consider spreadsheeting the biggest leaks and getting super aggressive with multiple approaches. Empower your team, consult with professionals, leverage third party tools, outsource... all out offensive.
It's difficult to know the ONE THING that will increase retention, but improving many things by a percent or two will give you noticeable lift.
And by compressing it into a short timeframe, you'll reduce the number of variables around cohorts, seasonality, etc.