A good subscription model is the one that can retain
loyal members of an organization and promote enterprise growth.
In recent times, having a subscription business model is more than just a choice and to many businesses, it has become a necessity. Earlier, a majority of the firms invested in technology and infrastructure, ignoring the subscription models. This was often overlooked as a CRM strategy. But those are the gone days.
Subscription Business Model - if implemented right can be the greatest powerful tool for growth of your organization. The very same companies who neglected it earlier are now witnessing heavy success with subscription strategies. What is it about this business model, and why is it so profitable? How do one create a successful model for their organization? Keep reading to know the answers.
Subscription Model
A subscription based business model periodically charges its members a recurring fee to access their resources, products or services. As mentioned, the subscription can give access to resources of an organization like blogs, white papers, eBooks etc., or products/services like online streaming platforms, online classes etc.,. Gyms, yoga studios, clubs, associations, art societies, NGO, NPO etc., are one of the highly profitable industries using this model.
Benefits of a Subscription Model
Like any other business model, Subscription model too brings in a lot of benefits for an organization.
Encourages Customer Retention
Garners Loyalty
Offers Convenience
Better Predictability
Financial Forecasting
Ready To Use Marketing Base
Faster Feedback Loop
Amplified Brand Awareness
Better Customer Relationships
Personalised Experience
So, here’s how you can create a Successful Subscription Model for your business
Define Your Goals
Before launching the subscription model, it is important to determine your goals. What outcomes do you expect from this strategy? Is it for revenue or for your organizational growth?
Adopting a subscription model requires you to define your goals early-on. The goals help to understand and build your buyer personas. As you determine the personas, pricing of the plans can be organized depending on the features each target base will be interested in.
Make It Worth Signing Up
If people are paying you to access a certain product/service/resource of yours, make it worthwhile. Increasing your resources can add great value to your model.
As you keep up with the analytics, it is easy to understand the pain points of the customers. Address these particular challenges and offer them solutions that stand out in the market. Add a strong value proposition in your offerings. Simply put, Give Them What They Need.
User-Friendly Interface
Now that your goals are clear and you know what product you market to your customers, ensure an easy and hassle-free checkout process. A clear and smooth system creates better experience to your customers and boosts acquisition.
So remember to keep it simple when it comes to checking out. Make it accessible across all platforms like mobile, online etc,. Automate the sign up procedure and always keep a customer service tab for answering queries. Adopt a secure, reliable, automated, and seamless gateways trusted by both you and your members. Check out the latest apps that provide user-friendly platforms.
Ensure Flexible Payments
Having one or two options or a rigid plan may sound off to many. Keep it flexible and scalable for the customers. Giving them choices to pause the plan, skip and cancel is essential. Though you may experience a momentary dip in revenue, in due course this will retain subscriber’s loyalty and boosts customer retention.
Curate Custom Experiences
Be it the pricing or the overall experience, make sure to add a personal touch that resonates with the customer’s preferences. For example, you offer all the resources as a package. Some of them may or may not need an entire package. Instead they will like the idea of having an option to choose a specific resource. So give them options, let them choose and curate a plan that is feasible to their budgets.
Why? By personalizing the subscriptions, you show how you understand them, value their choices and appreciate your bond.
Communication Is The Key
The downside of this particular model is ‘Subscription Fatigue’. Not updating products and services frequently can result in boredom. Posting repetitive or similar content can make them lose interest too. This can affect the business drastically. So make sure to bring in new changes and incorporate the latest trends into business to evolve rapidly . Be transparent and ensure consistent communication.
Engaging with customers and communicating with them frequently is the key to subscriber retention. More you ignore, More customers you lose. There are several apps that help you to keep them engaged constantly. Choose the right app and experience increased loyalty.
Analyse the reports
Reports provide excellent insights on your consumer behaviour. A certain number of subscribers paying subscription fees each week/month/year reflects recurring sales. Analyse the goods that generate revenue. On an ongoing basis, you can estimate the flow of this revenue and can concentrate on pushing steady growth.
Do we need an analysis? Absolutely! Subscriptions indicate the customer's intent to buy. Even with slightest fluctuations, you know how many subscribers will return. Imagine companies selling off products/services. They don't know if they need to restock, or how many purchases one will ever make? With subscriptions, you can forecast the sales based on billing cycles and customers life cycle.
Reward Loyalty
Rewarding their loyalty increases retention rates. Keep a track of all your members and check their activity on all platforms. Reward the loyal members by giving Free additional benefits, early access to new launches, or redempt the loyal points.
Of all the businesses, Subscription Models hold high demand in the market. It helps to streamline processes, and combines an entire community into one.
Looking for smart solutions for your subscription business model? We would love to discuss!