Episode 78: Creating a Niche Subscription Box with Shereen Jegtvig Lehman, Founder of Introverts Retreat Subscription Boxes

In this week’s episode of Subscriptions Scaled, we chat with Shereen Jegtvig Lehman, Founder of Introverts Retreat Subscription Boxes.

In the episode, we learn everything from what the box includes to how Shereen finds inspiration for its themes.

Keep reading to learn more about the episode.

Introverts Retreat Subscription Boxes

Introverts Retreat Subscription Boxes sends a book to subscribers each month. Subscribers can choose the book or the Introverts Retreat will select one. 

Along with a book, subscribers receive a candle, bath salts, and handmade soap with an introverted theme. A snack is also included with the box. Introverts Retreat Subscription Boxes has been around for about five years now, and every month there’s a new theme.

Shereen comes up with the themes by looking at introvert memes and jokes on social media. The idea of the subscription box is for people to gift it to introverts; ‘if you love me enough, you’ll leave me alone.’

How Introverts Retreat Subscription Boxes was established

The idea of the subscription came from Shereen’s personal experience of being an introvert. Before running the subscription box, she was a content writer, working for a couple of big websites. But then she felt it was time to move in a different direction.

Shereen’s daughter suggested she create a subscription box. At the time, Shereen didn’t know what a subscription box was and had never had one. Her daughter described a couple she was receiving and Shereen thought it was a neat idea.

Many of Shereen’s writer friends are introverts like her, and they talk online about funny introverted things. Shereen thought designing a subscription box specifically for introverts would be fun.

When Shereen first came up with the idea for her subscription box, it was called ‘Girl’s Night In.’ However, too many people thought this would be some kind of party box for a night in, but this was the opposite of what Shereen was going for. 

Shereen redesigned the whole product, created a new name, and had her graphic designer make a new logo. That’s how Introverts Retreat came about.

Managing products

Shereen offers around 20 different book titles each month, so she has a good idea of how to manage her inventory. She watches the counts and orders more books when she needs them.

She doesn’t have too much trouble. She just needs to ensure that the books are well stocked.

Shereen herself makes the bath salts that are included in the box. It’s not too complicated for her as she has a good system for it.

A wholesaler pours the candles. They aren’t located too far from Shereen so she can go and pick them up easily, which is good because there are a lot of candles.

The soaps are made elsewhere and are shipped to Shereen. She then cuts and packages the soaps and puts a cute little introvert label on them.

It’s pretty hands-on and busy, but the process works for Shereen at the moment and she enjoys doing it. The problem is when the busier seasons come and it is difficult to keep up. Shereen doesn’t like falling behind, especially for new subscribers receiving their first box.

If Shereen wants the business to grow, she needs to outsource fulfillment. There’s a fulfillment company nearby, so she hopes to be working with them by this fall.

When Shereen works with the fulfillment company, she’ll still be involved in a lot of the product herself but someone else will fill the boxes, which should be worth the price.

The challenges of running Introverts Retreat

The biggest challenge Shereen faces is that her subscription box is a gift box that is most popular during the holiday season. Many people will buy it as a gift for others, so a lot of the business comes at Christmas.

Shereen has also had challenges with the software, programs, websites, and apps for the subscriptions; if the subscription is bought as a gift, she didn’t have a way of notifying the recipient of the box when it would be shipped—all notifications went to the person who purchased the box as a gift.

So when Shereen wanted to tell her subscribers that it was time to choose a book, the notification again went to the person who bought the box. So the gift recipient would only know to choose a book if the person who gifted it remembered to tell them.

This was a difficult challenge. However, Shereen found Chargebee, which has a great gifting solution, so she doesn’t need to deal with that problem anymore. With Chargebee, someone buys a gift, the company sends an email to the recipient, and they have their own account. The recipient receives all the notifications and it works seamlessly.

It’s essential to keep your customer in mind. That’s probably one of the first things to do when setting up a subscription service—figure out who your target audience is.

When you set up any kind of business, but especially a subscription box, you want to know who will be your subscriber and what you can do to give them the absolute best experience they’ve ever had with a subscription box.

Flexibility

Initially, Shereen chose the books that each subscriber received. But when she realized that some people didn’t like the books they received, she decided that subscribers should have the option to choose their books, which has been quite a lot of work.

Shereen set it up, but it wasn’t the most user-friendly process initially. Shereen would use her shipping notification emails to let the subscriber know it was time to choose a book. She would give them a link to her website and a coupon code so they could go and purchase the book but not be charged for it. Shereen would then have to match that up.

During the holiday season especially, this process could get a little crazy. But while it was exhausting, it was great that people could choose their books if they wanted to.

Now Shereen has a different process. The subscribers can look at the notification before the box ships. Then they can go to a page, pick one out, and hit select. This process seems to work pretty well.

Introverts Retreat Subscription Boxes are certainly very niche, and with so many introverts in the world, it’s not surprising the boxes are doing so well.

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