The One-Two Punch. Print & Social Media Combine For One Great Business Model

Have you heard of the Dollar Shave Club? With over 18 million views on YouTube, chances are pretty good that you have.  With their fun and irreverent video, posted March 12th, 2012,  they became an overnight success. Their business model is providing shaving razors, via mail, to consumers who sign up for a monthly delivery.  What sets Dollar Shave Club apart from many short-lived success stories is that they realized the key to mail order prosperity is customer retention.  That’s where PRINT comes into the picture.  But before we discuss that, take a look at their video (less than 2 minutes) that went viral:

The Dollar Shave Club knew that they couldn’t send out the razors in a simple box packed with paper if they wanted to have continual business long term.  They needed to enhance the product’s perceived value and make it look special. Also,  at the same time, the needed the ability to upsell other products and encourage repeat business. The picture below is what a customer receives each month.

Dollar Shave Club Monthly Packet

So this is where the power of PRINT and PACKAGING came into play.  The actual razors are in the very small box. There is a sample of cream that can be purchased additionally in future months. The fold-out card in the background gives fun, and engaging, tips about shaving with information about higher quality razors that are available at a higher price.  And the box itself is cleverly designed to hold everything, along with additionally printed messages welcoming the customer.  There is no doubt that a lot of thought and planning went into the development of this kit.  It is very well done and we wish them much success.