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How FabFitFun Takes a Member-Centric Approach to Growth

Women showing their FabFitFun boxes

FabFitFun launched in 2010 as a lifestyle blog and newsletter for women. Three years later, the brand launched its flagship product, the FabFitFun subscription box. Over the years, as the company grew from a few thousand subscribers to over a million, FabFitFun discovered it was potentially losing out on significant revenue due to payment failures. The company needed a way to improve its payment success and optimize its revenue recovery rates.

 

Custom Retry Model Tailored for Unique Business Needs

Recurly has processed billions of recurring transactions, providing unique insights into how to improve payment success. By identifying patterns and applying machine learning, we've developed an incredibly effective, dynamic retry logic that repairs failed transactions, improving subscriber retention, and ultimately increasing monthly revenue. 

This was the exact kind of control and solution that the team at FabFitFun was looking for. But FabFitFun realized that it had unique business needs based on its payment volume and other factors, so the team asked Recurly to think outside the box and work on creating a highly bespoke solution. The outcome was a Custom Retry Model tailored for FabFitFun’s business to ensure optimal revenue recovery.

Using a consultative approach, the Recurly Data Science team analyzed FabFitFun’s payment success history and created a custom retry model, which combines machine learning algorithms and a set of custom-built retry rules customized for FabFitFun’s unique business model and environment. 

The Custom Retry Model has been incredibly helpful for FabFitFun.

Anton Jusufi, Director of Product ManagementFabFitFun

The FabFitFun team didn’t have to wait long to get results. Right out of the gate, the team experienced an immediate lift in recovery rates.  

At such a large volume of transactions, the revenue recovered is substantial. "In the past, when it came to retries, we were lacking control over the process. We wanted to gain more insight and measure the retry process so we reached out to Recurly and their team of experts to create a roadmap around improving our retry logic” said Anton Jusufi, Director of Product Management. “Working with the team at Recurly on a Custom Retry Model helped us address our specific business needs and business logic when it comes to retries and how our business operates. The Custom Retry Model has been incredibly helpful for FabFitFun."

 

Member-Centric Approach Reduces Churn & Keeps Members Loyal

FabFitFun has a member-centric mindset through and through, down to how it refers to its customers. FabFitFun doesn’t say, “customers” or “subscribers,” but instead uses the term members. And FabFitFun puts its members first in everything it does. 

For example, if the company is considering a new feature, it must first answer what value it will bring to members. This kind of member-centricity helps FabFitFun set the tone for everything it does. And that kind of focus helps the brand ensure its members stay loyal and engaged.

Member churn is an issue that every subscription commerce company faces, and FabFitFun is no exception. While the Custom Retry Model helps mitigate involuntary churn, FabFitFun addresses voluntary churn by listening closely to its members and offering them a variety of channels to engage with each other and the company. From its consumer insights team to a members-only community, the knowledge the company gleans from these interactions is priceless toward keeping its members loyal and engaged which in today’s fiercely competitive environment is no easy feat.

“We say membership versus subscription because that’s what we’ve evolved into,” says co-founder Katie Rosen Kitchens. “The box is really the premium piece of the membership, but we are continuing to layer on lots of different perks so that, even if you didn’t like all the products in your box, you’re still getting so much value from the overall membership.” These include access to VIP flash sales, an exclusive digital community, and shoppable video content that helps to bring the items to life.

FabFitFun pink box

The brand is also in tune with its members’ need to occasionally “take a break” from a subscription. If a member encounters a financial challenge like a layoff or simply wants to skip a box, FabFitFun makes it easy. 

When COVID-19 hit in Spring 2020, the brand recognized early on in the pandemic’s outbreak that members may need essential items that would otherwise be challenging to procure, so FabFitFun focused its energy on making sure those types of items were available via its website. And as the pandemic dragged on, FabFitFun recognized that after months of being stuck in the house, members wanted and needed to treat themselves to little luxuries and items that would brighten their moods and deliver the hope of better days ahead.

The company’s fast adoption and quick thinking paid off as member retention is going strong.

One of the key reasons why we're able to get where we are is that we are very fast to react and also very flexible. Recurly plays a huge part in that.

Anton Jusufi, Director of Product ManagementFabFitFun

Conclusion

FabFitFun’s member-centric approach to everything it does is paying off for the brand that’s breaking the mold when it comes to subscription commerce. The brand’s outside-the-box approach to payment retries and its laser focus on churn mitigation prove that FabFitFun knows its members are its most valuable asset.

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