My name is Johanna, and I am the founder of Happy Rebel. I totally understand the hesitation in ordering a mystery box from us after following many of the MSA comments regarding our previous offering during Black Friday last year. I would honestly feel the same way if I were you! I really appreciate everyone taking the time to share their thoughts, and I am happy to, in turn, share with you our entire process regarding the 2017 mystery boxes in hopes of addressing your concerns as thoroughly as possible. I am an open book.
We first offered mystery boxes during Black Friday week in 2016, and they were very well received by the MSA community. The boxes were $25 each, included $70 worth of items, and we sold out in a few hours. A great majority of those who purchased the boxes purchased at least two, some more than that, so the following year we decided to double the price, and (just almost) double the value as a response to the previous year buying patterns.
In the first year we also allowed people to email us to request any specific items they might want in their box. This is certainly more time intensive for us, but we know that even though the surprise of mystery boxes is fun, some people are deep down hoping for something in particular to appear in their box, and if it did, that would make them very happy. If we can send something somebody really wants in their box, and we have it, why not? We were able to meet some requests and not others, but overall customers seemed to appreciate the effort, so we were excited to make the same offer the following year.
The main points of feedback from the MSA readers we received in 2016 was that 1) they would rather have a higher quantity of smaller value items in their box rather than 1-2 larger value items and 2) it sold out too quickly and they were disappointed they weren’t able to get one. In response to that we wanted to be as prepared as possible and let as many people participate as desired. As soon as MSA contacted us about another mystery box offering again in 2017, we started contacting our previous vendors. We wanted to be ready to restock whatever products customers had requested most. We had some products on hand that we would be including, but knew we would need to reorder some products if we wanted to offer the box for at least a full day. The products that we ordered, and ended up in the boxes, were directly driven by the request forms we received, as well as previous feedback when the collections were originally shipped. If we had been able to reorder every requested item, everyone would have received exactly what they asked for. We would have loved to do that, but unfortunately that just wasn’t possible in all cases. We did not anticipate being able to fulfill every request, which is why we did not guarantee anyone’s wishlist. We tried to be as clear about this in our offering description as possible, even sharing the priority order in which we would be fulfilling the requests we received, so I was honestly caught off guard by the response on MSA. We had been able to fulfill requests at about the same rate in 2017 as we had in 2016, but the response to the same offering was almost the exact opposite. It was just not the reaction I was expecting at all. I can really appreciate the disappointment some people felt by not receiving what they had requested, but we never intended to set any sort of unrealistic expectation. This was a learning experience for us, we accept the feedback, and I can assure you we will not be offering the ability to submit any type of requests again in the future. We are guaranteeing a robe at this tome for those that wish to receive it as I think it is a perfect item for moms here around Mother’s Day, but it is size dependent, so we have to know sizes to be able to include them.
Secondly, the pricing / inflated value / sending overpriced junk comments were equally surprising. Honestly, I did not see that coming at all either. Every one of our past boxes have been reviewed by MSA, showing all of the items from past collections, including photographs of the box inserts showing our individual prices. All of our items we feature in our collections are available for individual sale in our online shop as well (until they sell out), with prices and descriptions for everyone to see. We also include part of the shipping costs in the price of our individual items. This is not anything particularly new, but seemed to catch some off guard. We still get more positive than negative feedback on not adding additional shipping charges on individual items, so that is something we will continue to do.
I take personal care in curating each collection. My approach is that I don’t include any item that I wouldn’t want to receive in a box myself. I don’t put my company name on anything I would consider “junky”, but everyone is certainly welcome to their opinion. Different people have different tastes, and not everyone will like the same things. For example, the matches were by far our top selling individual purchase item in our online shop all year. The art prints were the first item from our kitchen collection to sell out and one of our top requested items on the mystery box request forms. Our list price for them was less than what the artist started selling for after our collaboration (without the foil print element like ours had). The hair tie bracelet was the item we received the most positive feedback about from our summer collection. When reordering products for the mystery boxes, we chose the items that we thought people would still really enjoy, even if they weren’t able to get something they specifically asked for.
This may come as a surprise, but we really did not receive as much direct communication as you might think, given the number of MSA blog comments there were on the Black Friday post. We encouraged people to reach out to us to see if we could help, but very few actually did. It was frustrating for us to see so many comments, when such a small percentage were actually reaching out to us. For the customers we spoke with, we offered to swap out different items for something they would like better, or a partial refund or replacement for anything that might have been damaged or missing from their boxes. Our hope is that a customer should never have to contact us with an issue. It is an inconvenience, and we don’t want anyone to be upset in the first place, but we welcome the opportunity to correct any issue that might have occurred. The internet can be a weird place sometimes, and I am very sad a few people were able to discourage others from feeling comfortable contacting us.
What it all boils down to is intent. Our intent has always been, and always will be, to please our customers and treat them fairly. We aren’t a huge company backed by venture capitalist sending quadruple the value of products vs. purchase price, but we try to craft a unique vibe and aesthetic with our boxes that are different from others, and offer good customer service. Our relationship with our customers is not a churn and burn dynamic. Long term subscribers are a necessity for our business. We see mystery boxes as a fun way to connect with potential new customers – let them test us out at a lower price point without commitment. We failed to do that last year within the MSA community, and for that I apologize. We have taken all of the feedback we have already made changes. The mystery boxes sold out during Black Friday, but they have been available again on our website fairly consistently since December. Since then we are no longer accepting specific item requests unless we can guarantee them. We will no longer reorder items. Once a product sells out in our shop, we will not restock. Customers can know exactly what they can expect in their mystery box by looking through our shop. We will continue to gather feedback as we go, and consider mystery box opportunities in the future that we think Liz’s readers will be excited about.
This might have been more information than you wanted to know, or it may not be “enough” to put you at ease, but transparency is something that is important to me as a customer, and something I am always willing to show in return. If there is anything you would like me to address further, or if there is anything else we can do for you, please do not hesitate to reach out to us directly. If not, please have a great week, and maybe I will see you around MSA again soon. Cheers!
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