3 Subscription Brands Delivering Amazing Influencer Marketing Campaigns

What first started as a way to try sample-sized products has quickly evolved into a full-blown industry of subscription boxes packed with meal kits, beauty products, new clothing, pet supplies, books — you name it. In fact, the subscription box market is expected to reach $105.4 billion by 2032, with a growth rate of 14% during 2024-2032. 

But how can your brand break through the clutter and get the attention of consumers in this saturated market? With innovative influencer marketing strategies, your brand can increase reach, drive subscriptions, and keep customers coming back for more each month. 

In this 2-part series, we’re examining influencer marketing strategies specifically for subscription box brands. In Part 1, we explored 5 influencer marketing best practices tailored to this market.

Now, in Part 2, we’ll look into 3 subscription box brands who are delivering amazing influencer marketing strategies. Take inspiration from BarkBox, Scentbird, and KiwiCo.

BarkBox

BarkBox is a monthly pet subscription box, which is filled with premium treats and toys for dogs of all kinds. Boasting over 1.8 million active subscribers and a reported 95% customer retention rate, it’s clear that BarkBox is far from slowing down. 

So, what’s the secret to their success? Dog-fluencers! 

Today, the modern dog owner turns to platforms like Instagram to discover the best products for their canine companion, similar to how parents look for product recommendations for their kids. By working with dog influencers, BarkBox is able to provide the ultimate social proof to their target audience. 

With the goal of turning organic influencer content into Meta Partnership Ads, BarkBox and its influencer partners created Reels on Instagram and Facebook, ensuring that the assets featured a person and told a compelling story around the product, blending in seamlessly with other “lo-fi” content on the platforms. 

For instance, dog influencer @eriszoi posted a Reel showcasing Eris’ excitement when opening up the BarkBox monthly subscription. 

But the collaboration didn’t stop there. To drive the bottom line, BarkBox took it one step further by turning their influencer content into Partnership Ads on Instagram and Facebook. As a result, BarkBox’s Partnership Ads achieved:

• 13% more subscriptions, compared to the brand’s usual ad campaign (without Partnership Ads)
• 13% lower cost per action,compared to the brand’s usual ad campaign (without Partnership Ads)

Scentbird

Scentbird is the fragrance subscription service helping users discover the scents that are perfect for them. The brand’s monthly boxes contain sample perfumes and colognes from over 600 brands and counting. 

Leveraging Aspire’s Influencer Search Engine, Scentbird quickly finds creators who match the brand’s aesthetic and mission, often working with over 40 creators at any given time. And because scents are so unique to each individual, the brand’s diverse cohort of influencers meticulously explain the notes of each fragrance, sometimes even pairing it with a personal story around the scents. Each creator also provides a unique promo code to their audience, which empowers Scentbird to drive immediate sales with every post. 

This strategy has proven to be a cost-effective way to source lots of high-performing content for the brand. In fact, their influencer-generated content (IGC) on TikTok has garnered over 5.4 million TikTok views (and counting), amounting to $185K in Total Media Value. 

Finally, the company repurposes the top-performing IGC into paid ads to stretch the impact of this amazing content and drive more sales down the line. 

Learn more about how Scentbird achieves success through influencer marketing in our full customer feature. 

KiwiCo

KiwiCo is a subscription box that provides hands-on STEM and art projects for kids of different age ranges. As an educational subscription box, KiwiCo often works with mommy influencers to drive engagement with its target audience — families. By working with influencers who are parents and educators, KiwiCo is able to collect lots of different content featuring kids of all ages in various settings and showcase its range of different crates. 

In an interview with Modern Retail, KiwiCo’s CMO Angela Song revealed that the brand’s influencer strategy involves utilizing both organic and paid content on Instagram Reels. Not only is there less competition on Instagram Reels (as compared to TikTok), but there are also more opportunities to push ads, whether it’s on Stories or Feeds, in addition to Reels. 

To get the highest performing Reels, KiwiCo advises creators to follow a few best practices, including having a hook in the first few seconds of the video, using text overlays, and including catchy sounds. As a result, the company is seeing 56% higher click-through rate and 63% more reach from their investment in Instagram Reels, according to Song. 

Ready to get started with influencer marketing? Download our free ebook, A Step-by-Step Guide to Running an Influencer Campaign.

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