BarkBox Knows Its Customers
In today’s world it seems like there is a subscription box for nearly everything; meals, clothes, makeup, and so much more. However, some of these subscriptions are much more popular than others. BarkBox, a dog toy and treat subscription box, has been a hit since the company launched in 2012 and has continued to grow over the years. One of the reasons BarkBox has been so successful is because they know the audience they are marketing towards. Barkbox has a very specific target audience of young professional women with no children aged 25–35 or 45–55 year olds whose children have moved out of the house (Danielson). This group of people then see their dog as their child and become dog moms, a factor that Bark box has built their brand around. According to the head of content at BarkBox, Stacie Grissom, “A dog parent throws parties and cares about the gifts they get their dog” where a dog owner just sees the dog as property (Westergaard). A survey by the American Pet Products Association noted, over 60.2 million households own a dog in the United States (Digital Commerce). While not all of those households will fit into BarkBox’s target audience, it still leaves a large number of people for BarkBox to market towards.
In addition to knowing their target audience, Barkbox also knows how to market towards such an audience. They know that these individuals care about the how they perceive their dog is feeling and wanting to give the dog the best toys and treats possible. Appealing to this, Barkbox creates different monthly themes for each box that goes out, with past themes including “squeak away camp”, “space jam”, and many more. This makes the boxes even more exciting because the toys are always new.
Additionally, one of Barkbox’s unique selling points is that they make all of their own toys, so pet parents can be assured that the toys they receive in the box cannot be found anywhere else. The company also uses surveys to understand what customer preferences there are and designs new products from the results; for example, their Super Chewer line was created after finding many customers wanted more durable toys for their dog (Recurly). Listening to their customers helps BarkBox retain subscribers from year to year. They also offer a referral program to encourage current customers to get their friends to sign up.
BarkBox knows how to speak the language of pet parents and while their voice on social media may be different from most businesses, it works very well for them. In fact, most of their social media team is made up of comedians (Digital Commerce). They do not shy away from the humor and sometime horrors of owning a dog. They also bring everyday humor into their social media, including some dark humor. While the posts could turn some people away, it seems that BarkBox has found the perfect balance to get customers laughing and wanting more without going too far.
One example of BarkBox’s social humor is through a video they posted on Youtube call “Dog Mom Rap”, featuring two dog moms rapping about all that goes into their daily lives with their dogs. The video was a huge hit and has over half a million views. They also encourage customers to engage with the brand by posting pictures of their dog, with the new toys they receive, using the hashtag #BarkBoxDay, driving more conversation around the brand. By marketing to their target audience using the humor specific to their customers and having toys that cannot be found anywhere else, BarkBox has been able to create a unique product and connect with their customers.
Knowing their target audience is extremely import because without that knowledge, BarkBox would not be able to use the same style of humor they currently use in their social media posts. By understanding their audience they can create content that is specialized to that audience and makes the audience feel a greater connection to the brand. Barkbox can also choose where to run their advertisements based of the demographics of their target audience. For example, since their target audience is women, they would not want to run their advertisement in a men’s magazine. Understanding their target audience has brought BarkBox a lot of success.