Tim Schnell

Director of Engineering @elastic, previously @rackspace and a sundry of startups. Thoughts & opinions are my own. This is not the algorithm.

1 minute read

Starting a subscription box business can be incredibly difficult but often figuring out what steps to take first can be the most daunting part. Should I start with a prelaunch campaign? When do I figure out how to source product? How do I pick what day to start shipping? The following checklist is meant to help you get started but is by no means an exhaustive list of things to do!

Prelaunch

Start immediately with social accounts
 Setup Instagram, Twitter, Facebook accounts
Start posting content regularly
Setup a prelaunch email campaign
 Buy a website domain name from Namecheap
 Setup Mailchimp account
 Build a prelaunch page (using launchrock) with Mailchimp integration to start collecting emails
Get beta product
 Source product for 20 test/review boxes (Amazon, Etsy, find wholesaler later)
 Find a box/sticker supplier from here: http://subscriptionschool.com/services-resources/
 Make sample boxes
High quality product photos are important
Create Cratejoy Marketplace Listing
 Setup Marketplace listing with pictures
Design Website
 Design product website with clear, concise value propositions
 Subscribe Flow Images and text (Do you need product variants or a survey?)
 FAQs
 TOS and Privacy Policy
 Test your checkout flow
Don’t forget to the business setup
 Setup an LLC with LegalZoom or maybe Stripe Atlas
 Learn sales tax rules/Apply for Sales Tax Certificate (This will depend on your state)
 Open business bank account
 Setup/update Stripe account
 Setup quickbooks

Launch!

What to do on launch day
With a prelaunch you have been collecting emails for hopefully 4-6 weeks so start with a Mailchimp blast out to all of your leads
Find 5 influencers to launch with
     Highly engaged 5000+ instagram followers should do it for the cost of a box
     Preferably 1 bigger influencer, may cost $100, release to 20-30k followers and blog post
Lots of calls to action over social media ahead of launch day

Post-Launch

Get ready for your first ship day
Design and Update the Cratejoy subscriber-facing emails with your branding
Use Pirateship for buying postage
Purchase and setup Dymo label printer
Buy shipping boxes/product for 50-100 subs, depending on how big your launch estimation is
Ship day
Breathe
Over-communicate on social media/email!

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