Lisa Sugar’s Five Golden Rules That’ll Generate Subscription Growth for You, Just Like PopSugar Must Have!

Passion, customer impact, focus, feedback and service are crucial for maximum subscription and membership growth. For an example, take a look at PopSugar and their subscription box, PopSugar Must Have. While I recommend you subscribe to learn more about building your own subscription program, here’s five “Golden Rules” you can use immediately from a recent interview with Lisa Sugar, PopSugar’s founder and CEO.

Golden Rule #1: Choose a Product to Sell That You Can Be Passionate AboutPopSugar got its start with a simple blog about things Lisa Sugar was passionate about – celebrities and fashion. Because of her passion, she was able to pour herself into a business that just continues to grow.

The amount of time it takes to oversee all the nuances of a subscription business can be overwhelming, and that’s where passion is needed to find the energy and focus you need to keep going. Lisa is a great example. Even with a team of more than 450 employees, Lisa is still curates each box herself. “Our editors are testing products all day long,” she shares, and she and her head merchant review each new product launch and new brand that her editorial team sends her way. She also frequents trade shows to scour the floors for ideas. That’s passion!

Golden Rule #2: Choose Items for Each Box That Fulfill a Need or Want of Your SubscribersWhat you deliver to your subscribers must create excitement and engagement. Lisa chooses to offer her subscribers more premium options than other boxes. Her subscribers pay more, but they receive full-size items of great quality. “I think it’s very much quality over quantity. We definitely pride ourselves on thinking long and hard about what we're putting in the box and if it is higher quality, maybe we have one less item than we would one month to the next because of that.”

“I like to say nothing in the box should go to waste, so if for any reason something isn't for you, it would be a great gift for someone else. The idea is that you can really act and use everything and if for some reason you personally can't, hopefully a friend or co-worker can, or you give it to somebody as a birthday gift later,” says Lisa.

Golden Rule #3: Have a Plan for Member RetentionMember retention is the byproduct of engaging your subscribers so they continue to find value with your subscription. With PopSugar Must Have, members receive various seasonal offerings. They also get early access into knowing teasers for the next month’s box.

Like I always say, turning your subscribers into a “vibrant tribe” is key to your membership growth. Lisa adds, “We've actually done some really fun things where we've reached out to those loyalists and offered additional boxes, sometimes free, that are advertising-funded but still curated the same way a regular box would be.” Contests that include working with brand partners are another activity that PopSugar includes in its retention arsenal. “Being able to come up with fun, creative ways to work with a really great brand partner who loved what we were doing with the box, who then let us create a special, fun additional box with the same types of items and brands that we love working with - that is something that is exclusive to the loyalists who have been a part of the Must Have box family for a while.”

Golden Rule #4: Pay Attention to Customer Responses and FeedbackUnderstanding what your customers like about your subscription and want in the future is crucial to your membership growth. With PopSugar, “we really look at all the data and we look at what they're responding to. We do a survey after every box that goes out to figure out their favorite and least favorite items.