Subscription Contributions

You may know that in January 2019 we started some Yarn Subscription Boxes, these exceeded our expectations almost instantly which was fan-bloody-tastic! As a Small Business Fangirl I soon realised that there was a brilliant opportunity to work with and help promote other brands by enabling them to pop some marketing materials in our boxes, to be sent directly to hundreds of our best customers. I did a shout out on Instagram to see if anyone fancied putting any products or promos in the boxes and was completely overwhelmed by the response so I thought I’d dedicate a space on the website with some more info…

We never want it to feel spammy or inconsiderate to our customer so we are careful to only put in things that we think they would love. Everyone is welcome to send in items and if perhaps they aren’t the perfect fit for our customers and don’t go in our boxes The Creative Business Network have happily agreed to pop them in their goodie bags at Creatival so all items will still be shared with a fabulously creative audience – Nothing will go to waste!

So here’s the deal

• The Key is the overlap – If you think your customers might overlap with LAD’s customers then I’m sure they’ll love what you have to offer! (more info on LAD customers below)
• Everyone is welcome to send anything be it – Finished products, craft supplies, gift vouchers, discount codes or just flyers for your business, if you think they’ll be into it – wing it over!
• You can send as many or as few as you’d like – we want this to work for everyone so it’s truly up to you what and how much you send. If you send 100 then they’ll go in 100 boxes, if you send 5 then they’ll go in 5 boxes. You dictate this.
• Ideally we would like products without plastic packaging – we appreciate this isn’t always possible but our ethos is to ditch the single use and we are aiming for this throughout the business, including sub boxes. If you usually stock your cards in cellos just send us the cards & envelopes and we’ll pack them ourselves – saves you time, and saves the customer waste!
• We have a year to fill – so you’ve never missed the boat, if it sounds like something you’re into feel free to send things any time of year and we’ll put it in an appropriate box ASAP.

Is it a good fit?

We decide if it’s a good fit based on whether or not we think our customers will like it. You know your customers better than anyone, do you think they are the same as LAD customers? Here’s some info about our customers that might help, of course each of them are magically individual and unique but on the whole they are:

Fun, creative, stylish ladies* who appreciate quality and are game for a laugh. They enjoy a sweet treat and although they’re busy they try to make time for things they love and a bit of down time. They also love my dog – although that’s possibly a projection <3 (oh gosh, aren’t they great?! I adore them!)

(*again, this is just an approximation of course they aren’t all ladies for instance but you see what I’m getting at)

How it works for everyone

The goal is to introduce my subscribers to your wonderful business as long as we think it’s a good match, it won’t suit everyone and that’s totally fine – we don’t want to be cheeky so it’s only if you think this would work for you.

For the Subscribers – Obviously the subscribers get not just the lovely yarn they’ve ordered but also a number of treats in each box, it works for them as long as we curate it well, otherwise it becomes spammy.

For you – As businesses, our objective is to make money so giving things away is never particularly fun however from a sensible marketing perspective I think it’s a brilliant opportunity for certain brands to reach their target audience in a different way. It works best when a business truly has a similar customer/audience to LAD, not just for my subscribers, who I really want to love everything in their box, but also for the brands who donate things, you won’t get anything out of it if they aren’t you people but if they are, you’ll be speaking to a crowd of wonderful humans who support and invest in you – not just financially, but with their time, loyalty and interest (speaking from experience).

I’ve asked my subscribers to kindly share any of the treats that they received that they particularly like. This does mean that the products tend to get a better result than the flyers etc but that seems fair in terms of the cost of ‘donation’.

From me – I don’t guarantee anything with the subscription gifts as otherwise it gets a bit too complicated but I do not underestimate what you’re giving. I’m well aware that this deal also works for me – not only is it more exciting each time I pack the boxes because there’s an array of things to put in them, it’s also a great selling point for me that my boxes get filled with treats as well as yarn! For that, I honestly try my hardest to help however I can. I really want to thank you for donating and so I spend a lot of time photographing the items that come in and sharing them on IG stories and on my blog. Again it’s not guaranteed but so far I think I’ve managed to do all of them.

Where to send lovely things

If you’ve read all this and fancy sending some bits our way that would be wonderful! You’re welcome to let us know what you’re sending but you don’t have to. We’re in the studio most days and love happy post (even if it isn’t actually for us!) Please send whatever works for you to our shop at the below address and we will store it safely until it’s time to despatch the Sub Boxes:

Lauren Aston Designs
27 Commercial Road
Exeter
EX2 4AE

And of course you can always get in touch if you have any questions.

Thank you SO much to everyone who’s sent things so far, I’ve had the best time seeing it unfold on social media and love to hear about the orders you’ve received and the audience you’ve reached as a result. Keep me in the loop and let me know how you got on.

Thank you!

L x