The Dollar Shave Club Experience Is More Than A Close Shave

Everybody loves a funny TV commercial or video. That’s how Dollar Shave Club erupted—yes, erupted—into public consciousness, with a hilarious viral video in 2012 that moonshot the unknown direct-to-consumer inexpensive grooming products company into the shaving kits of men (and women) everywhere. 

But me, hey, I’m a reader, and here’s what I really love: a good magazine. Even if it is a very small magazine.

This past year, I finally got on board the Dollar Shave Club (DSC) train as a gift from my wife, Sarah. Here’s what I have to report—the shave is close, the cost inexpensive, and the member experience is exceptionally sticky.

Sticky? Yes, as in sticky in a marketing flytrap sort of way, but a good flytrap, which is the magic that marketing should ultimately work, particularly with existing customers.

Turning Subscribers Into Members, Members Into Fans

I’ve become a little bit of a DSC fan. I know. It’s a little weird. And it’s all because of their magazine for members.

Each month I look forward to opening my razor blades in their innocuous, low-profile, plain brown craft paper shipping envelope. Inside I’ll find my four-pack of four-blade razor cartridges, which are always welcome. But then comes the kicker, “Bathroom Minutes,” the aforementioned magazine for members.

Now magazine may be stretching it a bit. Bathroom Minutes is a simple, one-color publication. It is 5-1/2-inches wide and like a town crier proclamation of days old, unfurls in an accordion folds to stretch from my extended fingers to my armpit.

Just like DSC’s ads and videos, Bathroom Minutes is humorous. Quirky. Witty. It places a premium on sharp copywriting, brief stories, and interesting, if simple graphic design. (Their brand personality even extends to the small wrapper on the blades. A recent one stated: CRUSTY: GOOD NAME FOR A CLOWN. NOT A RAZOR.)

It includes the obligatory letter from the Chairman Michael Dubin, which is anything but ordinary, along with member spotlights (recent issues featured a brewer of hand-crafted beer, a woodcarver, and a nonprofit founder), a brain teaser or puzzle, and even a quote or two, such as this recent gem:

“Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink.” Charles Bukowski.

Reducing Churn and Creating the Upsell

Articles from the magazine are repurposed as content marketing for DSC’s blog, where they nestle quite nicely with lifestyle articles and a lively Q&A about health and hygiene. As important, the blog content is updated frequently.

And here’s why this, including advice about the utility of a bathroom sink, is important.

In the hunt for new customers, existing customers—despite lip service to the contrary—are often given short shrift. When you look at your subscribers as members and choose to engage them as part of a community—which is what this approach does—you get real-world ROI for the effort. Not only does it reduce churn, it also establishes trust and rapport—especially important when you are looking to expand beyond the core product that initially attracted these customers.

The magazine creates a format where an upsell to new products isn’t automatically rejected by the bullshit detector of the consumer brain, but actually sort of expected and welcomed. While DSC now sells more than 62 million razor cartridges to its 1.7 million members, it also sells shaving cream, aftershave, and men’s hair products. It’s even used the power of this platform to invent and successfully market new product categories such as One Wipe Charlies, which are—and let me quote DSC’s founder Durbin from published stories here—“butt wipes.”

You have to give it to them—they’ve got a knack at DSC. They really get brand personality, differentiation, and the value of entertainment.

But more than that, they’re on to something strategically that isn’t rocket science. They have invested wisely in the lifetime value of a customer, even if it is only for a few Bathroom Minutes each month.