#45 The Emily & Knife Sharpening Subscriptions
It's a great idea. Let's inject a whole bunch of EASY into the process!
You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business on the internet. Today’s email was written to “chill vibes” station on the Sonos.
Good morning,
We’ve had an increase in orders in the last week. Here’s to that trend continuing. We’re growing a thing here :).
This will be our first Holiday season in business in a meaningful way. We started in August of 2021. Google search trends show interest in knife sharpening doubles over the coming three months. Thanks Thanksgiving! Industry folks say their sharpening orders quadruple. That’s good news. We’re looking forward to it.
The last day to order to get your knives before Thanksgiving is Nov 10th. How are your knives looking for the big day? How about your friends and family’s knives?
Football has started. It’s Fall! Thanksgiving is coming. Wahoo.
Bit #1 • We sponsored a podcast!
The thinking goes like this. If a trusted cooking person says go sharpen your kitchen knives with Vivront.com a lot of people will do it. 90% of our kitchens have dull knives after all. Well, now we know some people will do it.
So far, we’re a good chunk of orders short of break even, not counting labor. Ouch. We’ve sold packages but, there is work to do. The data says there have been 96k insertions of our 60 second spot. Here’s to hoping folks keep listening and finding that episode in the future. This group’s conversion rate is higher than any other traffic we’ve seen to date. It’s also the most expensive so far. Ugh.
Hit reply.
How many times do you need to hear a podcast spot before you purchase? For me it’s 3 -4 times. There is more work to do here. :) Or there are more impressions to purchase.
Help. We want to be guests.
Podcasts sell this product better than FB/Insta ads and search media. We paid to play the first time. Now we want to offer our expertise to anyone who wants to chat about kitchen knives, sharpening, home cooking and the like. We’ve got good stories and perspective.
Hit reply… what food podcasts should we make friends with next?
Hear the ad in rough form at the link. We’re all ears on how to make it better for the next round.
Bit #2 • The Emily
Last week we introduced the Jenny, a one (small) knife sharpening solution. This week, please be introduced to the Emily.
It was a beautiful summer evening a month ago. We were at a backyard pool party splashing about. A friend from college, Emily, suggested we just make this whole knife sharpening thing easier and offer subscriptions. We agree.
Wouldn’t it be great to not think about sharpening anymore? You’ll always have sharp knives. We’ll remind you when it’s time to send ‘em in.
Many early Vivront customers are looping back and ordering their second sharpening services. It’s a good time to release this new product and make all that easy.
We had subscription options when we first started. The offering was on the same page new customers would go too. We removed it after some feedback and to not confuse folks. Now, subscriptions are back and available on their own page.
Are you ready to Always have sharp knives with lots of easy? Great. Order a 3, 6 or 9 month recurring shipment HERE.
Bit #3 • Summer again with homemade shrimp rolls
Enjoy some knife skills in high quality video with Andrew Zimmern. He’s selected a 6.5” utility knife with a clipped tip (in a Japanese karasuki style) for this video. Listen in as he lays down a solid voice track about what he’s thinking while cutting. Enjoy!
This is from his solid newsletter “Spilled Milk” BTW.
Sum
Ok. Reminders, hit reply for:
Number of times you need to hear a podcast ad before purchase
Which podcasts we should be guests on
Consider enjoying all the EASY we’ve injected into having sharp kitchen knives with our new subscription product, the Emily. And finally, have some fun with Andrew with a short cutting lessons by video.
Change
“For some families, going back to school means going back to lunchroom debt.” [This one is behind a paywall. Stop loading the page before the wall kicks up. ;)] While the laws around lunch shaming have changed in MN it is taking some time for district policy and operations to catch up.
Form completion for school lunch application is an issue all over the country. Here is a story about Ohio from the Dayton Daily News. The 30 day grace period is coming to an end, soon.
This article from MKE fits the school lunch status trend. It also includes the following schedule for what it means to quality for reduced or free meals.
For reduced-price meals: Household size of 1: $25,142 Household size of 2: $33,874 Household size of 3: $42,606 Household size of 4: $51,338 Household size of 5: $60,070
For free meals: Household size of 1: $17,667 Household size of 2: $23,803 Household size of 3: $29,939 Household size of 4: $36,075 Household size of 5: $42,211
”Some families don't feel comfortable asking for or filling out an application for free meals. Others don't meet the income limits but still struggle to come up with lunch money every day.”
On Your Way
Thanksgiving is 65 days away. Wahoo!
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Order kitchen knives sharpened or give the gift of sharp at Vivront.com.