Hubble is the first brand of contact lenses sold directly to consumers via an ecommerce, subscription-only model. With four manufacturers controlling 95% of the contact lens market, there’s been little competition, and prices are extremely high. Hubble wanted to make contact lenses affordable and convenient.
Today, they offer customers FDA-approved daily contact lenses, delivered directly to their doorstep. Lens are inspected for quality, made with high quality materials, and packaged in 100% recyclable boxes.
I sent a slew of JavaScript API questions to the Recharge team, and they were able to quickly respond with answers. As a developer, it made me feel comfortable to move forward with their product.”
Paul RodgersCTO, Hubble
Challenge
Hubble knew they needed a platform with custom reporting and strong analytics to scale. They found that customers weren’t completing the checkout process. They wanted to eliminate the cart pages, and design an efficient checkout experience to optimize conversions.
Solution
With Recharge, Hubble utilized two APIs to create a new checkout flow. “We have a custom flow that creates a cart with JavaScript and utilizes a completely separate API to access a doctor’s information we need to verify prescriptions,” Chief Technology Officer, Paul Rodgers, explained. Instead of using various product pages, Hubble created a one-page checkout for subscriptions.
Hubble also used Recharge’s API to automate customer emails. Three days in advance of delivery for the initial set of contacts, the Hubble email system gets triggered. Customers are notified about the shipment, and get updated on their orders.
Results
The new checkout flow simplified subscriptions, so customers weren’t overwhelmed with information, and had less steps to complete. Within the first three months of using Recharge, Hubble saw a hugely positive response to the upgraded flow. They gained more than 17,000 customers, processing more than 600 orders daily.
With Recharge, Hubble has been able to monitor email campaigns, and assess how emails affect retention. With the Recharge API, Hubble produced a retention report that demonstrates how each cohort performs on a daily basis. With this report, Hubble can “see how changes to the site, the shipping price, or anything else is affecting customer retention” shared Paul.
By implementing Recharge in their daily operations, Hubble saw a massive lift in daily orders and customer acquisition, increasing their run rate by $1 million on a monthly basis. They’re now on their way to become the fastest-growing contact lens brand in the country.
Every day at 4 a.m., we have a job that downloads all the customer data from the Recharge API and then creates SQL scripts for us to plug into our reporting.”
Paul RodgersCTO, Hubble
To combat the throwaway culture of personal care products, UK brand Wild Deodorant created the first deodorant refill. They designed aluminum-free, compostable applicators made from recycled plastic.
Instead of buying another deodorant when they run out, customers can refill their case with a brand new stick of deodorant. This eliminates unnecessary plastic, lowering waste, cost and carbon emissions. Wild is committed to sustainability and customer satisfaction. They’ve sourced scents from nature’s finest ingredients, offering a variety of options from Coconut Dreams to Orange Zest.
We’re proud to have such a strong and collaborative partner network to enhance the Shopify sites Eastside Co develops. Our team has a great relationship with Recharge, and the platform delivers fantastic results when integrated on our client sites.”
Jason StokesFounder & CEO, Eastside Co
Challenge
Wild wanted to empower customers to manage their subscriptions. Their business model was a perfect match for subscriptions—once customers had purchased their applicator, they could sign up for deodorant sticks on subscription.
However, if a customer had too much product, or wanted to skip a shipment, they needed to be able to make those adjustments easily. If there are too many steps to complete, a customer might just cancel their subscription altogether. They also wanted to allow customers to swap their current subscription for a different scent. Wild wanted to reduce churn and increase engagement by giving customers flexibility to personalize their subscriptions.
Solution
Wild partnered with Eastside Co, a premier Shopify agency specializing in ecommerce businesses, to build out a customer portal. Eastside Co blended attractive imagery with intentional functionality, leading prospective customers straight to the subscription program. Once there, customers can customize each aspect to receive their own, unique product.
With Recharge’s API, Wild designed a fully functional customer portal. In the portal, customers can easily skip a shipment, try a new fragrance, or change delivery dates.
Results
With the overhauled UX, the portal clearly offers the ability to swap products so customers are more likely to stay subscribed, therefore growing lifetime value and reducing churn. With all the changes, the results speak for themselves: in less than one year, subscription processing alone has grown to over £1m a month. The phenomenal success of the site and subscription service meant other countries were given the green light. There can be technical complexities to navigate in order to achieve success in multiple countries, but through collaboration with Recharge and Eastside Co, Wild has launched a German store and has plans for more countries as their business continues to scale.
The combined tech stack of Shopify and Recharge, brought together by Eastside Co, has really demonstrated the power of subscriptions and helped boost Wild to the next level much more quickly than we’d anticipated.”
Charlie Bowes-LyonCo-founder & CMO, Wild Cosmetics
BVA is one of the largest Shopify Plus agencies in the Plus Partner network, helping companies like MVMT Watches, Rebecca Minkoff, Tommy John, and Native Deodorant grow their ecommerce storefronts. They are one of Recharge’s top agencies year after year and continue to drive innovation and push the envelope with innovative subscription business models.
Native is a DTC brand that sells clean and cruelty-free personal care products. After disrupting the industry with its subscription-based model and chemical-free deodorants, the brand was acquired by Procter & Gamble and expanded its product line to body wash, soap, and toothpaste.
BVA’s analytics and development teams helped me transform many of my ideas into quality features on our site. They’re organized, communicative, and collaborative, which is immensely efficient during large projects.”
Niva BiglerHead of DTC, Native Deodorant
Challenge
Native came to BVA first and foremost to migrate their website to Shopify Plus. After conducting technical and strategic discovery, it was identified that there were several challenges to solve:
- Create a Customer Portal to match their brand and meet their sales objectives
- Empower subscribers to easily pause or delay their active subscription
- Allow subscribers to add one-time products to their recurring order
- Convince customers who wanted to cancel their subscription to stay
Each of these objectives existed with the goal of increasing subscription adoption, mitigating churn, and increasing average order value.
Results
The first step was creating a fully custom and responsive dashboard that delivered a premium and innovative experience to online shoppers. Since launch, Native has continued to fine-tune their customer dashboard and optimize core business metrics for revenue growth.
Empowering customers to take control of their subscriptions is simple enough in theory, but it requires education for customers who aren’t used to managing more than a single purchase. A “Manage subscription” button was added to the Customer Portal that offered options to the customer to skip their upcoming order or swap for a different product entirely.
Customers who skip or swap are still considered active subscribers and likely continue their relationship with the brand which reduces churn and continues growing lifetime value. With these two options set for customers who were at risk of churning, Native turned their attention towards those who wanted more.
Native used Recharge’s One-Time Products feature that allowed customers to add singular products on top of their recurring order. This allowed customers to try new products without the commitment of a monthly subscription, growing average order value all the while.
Finally, they shifted their attention to tackle the number one cause of subscription cancellations: customers receiving too much product. There was a hypothesis that decreasing the default subscription frequency for customers would result in an outsized, positive effect on how long the customer is subscribed. Over a 9 month span of experimentation, the results supported that hypothesis: customer lifetime value increased because the delivery frequency was tailored to Native customers and their products.
Through a repeatable process involving strategy, data, and analytics BVA has helped identify new opportunities to improve Native’s customer experience and has provided actionable analytics to support the implementation of new features and track their success.
The Recharge team has been paramount to helping us understand user trends for our biggest clients, including Native Co. They’ve been extremely collaborative in finding ways to be creative with their platform’s functionality to improve our clients’ business results.”
Sean GlassDirector of Delivery, BVA
Adam Hendle started Ballsy in 2017 after a “shower thought” inspiration. He noticed how many products his wife had, versus the classic “4 in 1” available for men. While an often overlooked part in the personal care space, men’s below-the-belt area has its own set of issues. Adam decided to create a bold, playful men’s brand that tackled an often overlooked area of men’s bodies.
Adam spent six months concocting different washes (at home, with essential oils and aloe vera), and eventually reached out to a manufacturer to help him bring his vision to life. After launch, Ballsy sold out of all their units in 24 hours.
Being able to see more in-depth cohort analysis and retention is very helpful. It’s one thing to just look at customer growth, another to look at actual subscription growth on those customers.”
Adam HendleFounder, Ballsy
Challenge
Once the ball was rolling, they expanded their line to include more body products, and looked to continue growing their brand. While Ballsy had been offering subscriptions, they decided to switch to Recharge when they wanted to focus on them as a key offering. To scale the service, they needed to overhaul the subscription flow.
Ballsy had a page for subscribers, but it only featured a list of all the products with a button to subscribe. Since they had added more categories to their product line, they wanted to showcase each product group individually and give customers specific information on each. Additionally, Ballsy wanted to incorporate more of a user journey, and expand the subscription experience beyond just clicking a button.
Solution
Ballsy partnered with Alpha Omega Agency, an agency that delivers unmatched ROI through brand growth and engineering. With Alpha Omega, Ballsy built out a brand new subscription flow. First, they worked to create product pages for each category – body, face and hair, etc. The new pages break down each product, show the customer how much they save by subscribing, and clarify they get free shipping. Customers can click through the different category pages and select products to build their subscription. In addition to subscribable products, there are also one time options, like a shower tool or hand sanitizer.
Results
In the new subscription flow, customers custom build their own subscription. They explore products, and create the best bundle for themself and their personal care needs. Plus, with the enhanced product pages, customers were drawn to add more products to their subscription. Alpha Omega also added call-outs to the pages, like highlighting that customers can cancel anytime. With these additions, customers have clear information about the subscription program before signing up. Overall, the new flow was both engaging and informative.
Since launching the new subscription flow, Ballsy achieved a massive increase in their subscriber base. In just the first 14 days, they saw a 55% daily increase in new subscribers. And overall, Ballsy had a 30% increase in the total number of subscriptions. Given their enormous success, this brand is positioned to only continue growing, both their business and this niche segment of the market.
I like that Recharge is singularly focused on subscriptions. It has more analytics and allows for more customization.”
Adam HendleFounder, Ballsy
Seeking an optimal way to deliver vitamins and improve upon already existing routines, Better & Better makes premium, natural toothpaste infused with essential vitamins. Backed by science, their initial vitamin formula, Fully Charged, includes vitamins D3 and B12, which are the two most common vitamin deficiencies for adults in the US. Brushing better means pure, natural, vegan, and simple ingredients — and never forgetting to take your vitamins.
The second Better is a commitment to make their products better for the planet from ingredient sourcing to packaging. Their innovative toothpaste packaging reduces plastic and their new Natural Floss and Bamboo Toothbrushes are plastic-free.
We’ve had amazing partners to help us strategize and build our e-commerce experience, but we always knew that day-to-day, we would have to be able to run the business ourselves. We needed a platform that would really give us flexibility, allow us to be customer-centric, and be easy to use.”
Mary CostaChief Marketing Officer, Better & Better
Challenge
Focused on optimizing people’s routines, Better & Better launched as a subscription-only business. With their subscription model, they ensured customers would never be without toothpaste, and their business could maintain a reliable recurring revenue stream.
In an effort to embody one of their core principles of perpetual progress (always getting better), they realized in a few short months that they needed to evolve their options for purchase. So in pursuit of a more personalized customer experience and out of respect for how customers primarily shop for toothpaste, Better & Better decided to offer a one-time purchase option. They also wanted to provide a more flexible, intuitive, and engaging subscription experience for their customers to maintain their strong subscriber base.
Solution
From launch, Better & Better partnered with BVA, a commerce agency that grows direct-to-consumer brands, to build out their digital storefront. To deliver customers an engaging experience, and help them find the right product fit, BVA created a custom quiz. In the quiz, customers answered questions such as how many people were in their household and which type of toothpaste they preferred. To complement the personalization aspect of the quiz, BVA implemented Recharge’s API’s. They built a portal in Recharge, where customers can completely customize their subscription – they can select product type, quantity, frequency, and payment options. After purchase, customers were able to swap products for upcoming shipments.
To meet customer and client needs, when Better & Better shifted to a one-time purchase and subscription hybrid model, BVA needed to ensure the subscription incentive was clear and the options were flexible. They wanted customers to be able to choose what’s right for them and for Better & Better to maintain and build a strong subscriber base. In addition to updating the product detail pages and checkout, BVA evolved the customer portal. All customers can see their prior purchases, but subscribers can easily swap products, add one-time products to upcoming shipments, skip shipments, and schedule their upcoming orders to any date of their choice.
Results
After moving to a hybrid model, Better & Better saw a 25% lift immediately in order volume. While the additional option helped lower the barrier to entry for some, their orders are still primarily for subscriptions — 65% of their customer base chooses subscriptions at initial checkout.
Plus by shifting the customer portal, BVA helped Better & Better focus on their entire customer base. Every customer has access to the portal — increasing engagement, encouraging one-time purchasers to later sign up for a subscription, and encouraging subscribers to add items to their recurring subscription shipments. Better & Better has seen an increase in CLTV and decrease in churn correlating to the introduction of the account portal and the opportunity for customers to add on items to their orders. And, the portal with Recharge has laid a solid foundation for future loyalty programs and rewards structures.
By implementing Recharge for Better & Better, our teams have been able to create a seamless subscription experience that is not only convenient for customers but aims to delight. Additionally, this platform will allow flexibility as the client continues to scale and grow.”
Shayna LapidusProducer, BVA
Athena Club is a personal care one-stop-shop focused on improving the ways people practice personal care. The brand offers high-quality yet affordable products across Body, Skin, Wellness, and Period Care through a convenient subscription service via its direct-to-consumer e-commerce website. Athena Club’s award-winning products—such as the best-selling Razor Kit—are made in partnership with experts using high-quality materials, effective ingredients, and innovative patented technologies.
[Our custom solution] definitely served its purpose at the time, but we outgrew it and were looking for something more sustainable that can handle scale and was proven in the market, that also had a robust enough API to be able to build upon if we needed to.”
Alexander SokolovSenior Director, Software Engineering, Athena Club
Challenge
Subscriptions have always been core to Athena Club’s offerings as a subscription-first brand. They wanted to offer high-quality self-care essentials at reasonable prices while also offering flexibility that was hassle-free, so subscriptions was a logical facet in connecting with their customers.
Previously, they utilized a custom-built PHP-based REST API to run their subscriptions, but it quickly became hard to navigate and leverage at the rate that they were growing.
At the end of the day, they needed to find a solution that would reduce the time and effort they were spending in maintaining their subscriptions interface, to allow them a greater capacity to develop new features and scale to the next level.
Solution
They were looking for a robust and scalable API solution to support their customizations. Athena Club ultimately decided to migrate from their homegrown subscription solution to Recharge, as they were attracted by Recharge’s well-documented and mature API. During the migration process, they were also able to rely on Recharge’s partner, Absolute Web, who were well equipped to assist in migrating their headless build over to Recharge and ensure a seamless data transfer.
Athena Club implemented a bespoke bundling functionality with the API to create custom subscription bundles that customers could choose from, with discount tiers based on the items their orders contained. With the use of Recharge’s webhooks, they were able to achieve control over subscriber actions, like managing discount tiers based on whether items were removed or added.
They also revamped their cancellation flow—where they previously had no deterrent for cancellation in their fully custom customer portal—allowing them to offer incentives to help customers with their specific problems and prevent cancellations.
Recharge’s dunning capabilities have been another prime feature in Athena Club’s retention strategy. They have seen great results by being able to configure how many times they want to retry customers’ cards after failed charges, and the time between attempts through experimentation with different cadences.
Results
Through Recharge’s Account Management program, Athena Club has had access to Recharge’s roadmap and key stakeholders so that they could have meaningful impact in Recharge’s ever-growing product. With the insight into the product roadmap, they’ve had the ability to provide feedback as a merchant to work on the features that are important to their growth, while also receiving support for any questions they had through regular health checks and data-driven consultation. Plus, with Recharge’s robust API and Absolute Web’s support and experience in custom builds, Athena Club’s migration was smooth and successful. As a result, they experienced zero hours of downtime and a 20% reduction in time spent maintaining their subscriptions—bringing it down to zero hours of subscription program maintenance.
All of these elements combined have contributed to a powerful and comprehensive self-running subscription program, that has allowed Athena Club to shift their focus to optimizing for scale and take their subscription-first business to the next level.
The way that I would measure success in this migration is no downtime and no technical debt to work on after we migrated. […] A lot of work went into maintenance of the system—something we no longer have to worry about. Products get shipped out on time correctly, with the right amounts. This was a huge stress relief off of our shoulders and we were able to focus on building new features that actually deliver customer value with Recharge.”
Alexander SokolovSenior Director, Software Engineering, Athena Club
Founded by “regular guys,” Tiege Hanley makes skin care meaningful, accessible, affordable, and relevant – for regular guys. Their simplified skin care system is designed to help men look and feel amazing.
Challenge
Tiege Hanley’s simplified skin care system has struck a chord with customers, earning the company thousands of subscribers. But with their churn rate hovering near 20% each month, they were in search of a solution that could keep uncertain subscribers’ accounts active.
Solution
After putting their heads together with the team at Recharge to formulate a churn reduction strategy, Tiege Hanley landed on the Cancellation Prevention feature.
Cancellation Prevention is a no-code solution designed to retain subscribers attempting to deactivate their subscriptions. It uses customer cohort data and order data to create churn reduction strategies and present targeted cancellation reasons and winback strategies.
The updates to Recharge with the launch of Affinity, along with features like Cancellation Prevention, are game-changing. They empower merchants with baked-in retention tools that help you to grow your business right out of the box.”
Tom BambaraSenior Manager, Tiége Hanley
Implementation: How-to
Tiege Hanley’s Cancellation Prevention approach included the following steps:
1. Identify cancellation reasons
First they identified the most common reasons for cancellations from prior years of customer actions and distilled them into 4 distinct, concise options to be used in their new cancellation experience.
2. Implement Cancellation Prevention
Then they implemented Cancellation Prevention into their cancellation process, populating its prompts with custom brand copy, and connected each cancellation reason to a relevant retention incentive or alternative.
3. A/B testing
Finally, they began A/B testing cancellation alternatives for different reason codes: 10% discounts versus 15% discounts for customers canceling due to cost, and the option to skip an order versus the option to delay a shipment for customers canceling because they had too much product already.
Results
Cancellation Prevention made an immediate impact for Tiege Hanley: It prevented 11.6% of intended subscription cancellations, helping drop the company’s churn rate down to just 12.3% in the 3 months following its implementation—over 43% lower than the same period the year before.