Ten reasons why the Woobles are winning
A review of the cutest crochet kit company
My first Woobles
After weeks of seeing the targeted ads, I finally caved and got two crochet kits from the Woobles: Pierre the penguin and Fred the dinosaur. Each kit comes with all the materials, tutorial videos, and instructions.
I should have started with Pierre since he’s more straightforward, and I’ve never crocheted anything. But I made Fred first because I think he’s cuter (no offense, Pierre 😄). After a few weeks of trying, starting over, and picking it up off and on, I finally finished him! I was so proud of my little dude and surprised at how much I learned with him.
Sharks
A few weeks later, while watching the Woobles land a deal on Shark Tank, two things stood out to me:
- They have made $5.3 million since launching in the past two years.
- The co-founder Justine was previously a UX designer for Google Classroom.
Suddenly, I was like, “Wow, they’re killing it! Of course, the company is designer-led. She rethought the entire experience of learning crochet from a user’s perspective. This girl is my hero.”
Feeling inspired, I finally picked up Pierre and finished him in just a few nights.
This time I couldn’t help but think about all the design and business decisions that went into my experience as an end user. And so here are a few things I’ve been thinking about a lot the past few days.
Ten reasons the Woobles are winning.
1. Design
Obviously, the first thing I noticed is the overall branding is great. The packaging is iconic and eye-catching on the shelf, or in my case, in my Instagram feed. And the character's design is simple and cute in a delightfully modern way. If they weren’t as cute, I wouldn’t have felt motivated enough to try to make one.
2. The Educational Experience
Having a pre-started piece out of the way is a great way to let people build confidence by repeating the basic stitch techniques. The beginner kits are structured and scaffolded so that you’re slowly building upon the skills before adding new techniques. There is also plenty of room for error. The process is very forgiving, and it’s easy to undo things and try again. Also nice accessibility touch; they also have instructions for left-handed folks.
3. Multi-modal learning
I am a physical and visual person, so having instructions as photos and videos with narration and text instructions while physically working on the project in my hands makes so much of a difference. If it was just one or two of those, it would be much harder to understand but combined, and it makes a lot more sense. Also, a nice bonus, the video is formatted for mobile, so it's easy to see nice and big.
4. The “Easy Peasy” Yarn
This might be one of the big differentiators, this special yarn that was custom-made for the Woobles is like t-shirt material, so it doesn’t have strands that fray or split, making it a lot easier to see what you’re doing and not accidentally get stuck in the wrong place. It literally reduces friction for beginners. It also makes the end product look much smoother and more modern.
While you can get various crochet patterns anywhere, having this exclusive yarn is a strong advantage and motivator to get the kits. They’re also selling the yarn separately now, making it a great reason for people to keep returning to the company even after they’ve moved beyond the beginner kit level or want to make multiples of the same.
5. Modular and scalable
The characters are very modular. Most use the same raw materials (yarn, stuffing, eyes, tools) and stitches. Some of the “special edition” kits are even the exact same patterns but just in a different color, like the rainbow-colored Disco Fred or special purple (Halloween edition) Salem the cat.
But even the ones that are a little different often have a similar base shape with slight variations in the appendages or accessories etc. I imagine this makes it a lot easier to scale the product easily without worrying about a huge product line with lots of variations.
6. Pricing strategies
So many cues to encourage me to buy more things. There’s free shipping over $45, so there’s that goal post. And there’s a wide range of ways to reach that at different price points. Either through individual kits or the cute little accessories or bundles, or the new book. And then there are the limited edition kits that come and go.
Someone on the Facebook group said they’re like Pokemon, and they gotta make them all, so they have that cute collectible draw. Apparently, these strategies all work because they said the average order was around $50 or so on Shark Tank. And I just ordered two more kits 🤭
7. Messaging and marketing
I really enjoy the storytelling aspect of the company and getting to see behind-the-scenes videos on their Instagram showing all the family and friends helping to pack kits and get out orders. They have a strong social media & e-commerce game, successfully using Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Etsy, Shopify, and Amazon. And the copywriting on all the content is adorable and punny and perfectly on brand.
8. Community
The Woobles Facebook group is probably one of the nicest and most delightful corners of the internet. It’s full of people posting adorable photos of their perfectly imperfect first creations. Even though I have no idea who these people are, I am always so proud of them for finishing their first one or seeing how far people’s skills have advanced. It's also a great place to get help when stuck or confused about something. I also just like seeing how excited people get about things like the new book or yarn or a new kit becoming available.
9. Support
In addition to the Facebook group, there are several ways to get help directly from the company if something is confusing. When I was working on Fred the first time, the head was coming out weird, I texted photos of it to them with questions, and they helped me figure out what happened. They also offer office hours via video to help or email.
10. The IKEA effect
And finally, there’s the IKEA effect, where people love the thing they make more than they objectively should, even (or especially) if it’s kinda bad. It feels great to convert a bundle of yarn and fluff into an adorable penguin, and it’s a warm fuzzy feeling to have learned a new skill that can be built upon more.
Even though using the kits produces a little tangible outcome, I think the real end product is knowing I now have the potential to create something more with these new skills. 🌈
By the way, if you want to make your own Woobles (or enable my addiction 🥹), this referral link gives both of us $5 off! http://thewoobles.refr.cc/jaynev
If you do make your own, please share pics with me! I’d love to see your little ones too!
