How to Grow Your Subscription Business
Table of contents
Growing a business takes time and dedication to detail. Traditional businesses create products and spread the word about their companies via various marketing initiatives. It takes the best salespeople to close deals and help companies reach success.
These initiatives help companies gain new customers and trust. Subscription services are charged with the same challenges of winning customers. The process is very similar for subscription services and traditional brick-and-mortar companies.
Subscription services must win customers, retain them, and gain more. Companies must keep their customers. Subscription services need to hold onto a customer for months to cover the costs of acquiring them.
Customer churning happens frequently. Subscription services must protect against churning whenever possible. Churning burns money. Companies often create departments that are specifically focused on keeping customers happy and retaining them for as long as possible.
How Can Subscription Services Maintain Customers?
Subscription services will grow greatly if they win customers and keep them. To accelerate the growth of subscription services, owners must focus on customer retention.
Business owners need to work to gain revenue from customers. It is not always easy to get a customer to pay more. There are four ways subscription services can increase revenue from their customers.
- Increase their prices
- Upsell
- Increase usage
- Cross-sell
The following offers information on how subscription services can increase revenue from retained customers. Taking these initiatives and hiring a dependable Subscription Fulfillment company will increase profits for subscription services.
Subscription Price Increases
Price increases are one way companies can increase their profits. Once a customer has used the subscription for some time, they will hopefully fall in love with it and find they cannot live without the service.
Although a customer will be unhappy with a price increase, they are more likely willing to pay up if they love the service. If the company makes their service highly beneficial for their customers, price increases will be annoying but not deal breakers.
Increase the Cost of Usage
Subscription services must charge for the value of usage. If subscription services set up the correct pricing metrics, customers will pay more as they use more of the service. Because the customer is gaining increased value from the service, they will pay more, so companies can keep their customers without issue.
Upselling
Many companies offer different tiers of subscription services. Companies will offer good, better, and best subscription services. The key to upselling is to first have an inexpensive subscription offering, which is the good level, the standard option. This level attracts customers initially.
As customers see the value in these services, they realize the need for increasing their tier so they can receive an even higher value. Business owners must produce an explicit tier system that explains the offerings of the different levels and their costs.
Cross-Selling
As companies gain success, they often develop new products and services to add to their lineup. Although these products and services may not fit in precisely with their old lineup, loyal customers are often willing to purchase because they trust the company and its track record.
When companies cross-sell, they are selling products and services that go outside the norm of their regular offerings. Cross-selling is highly beneficial for subscription companies.
Improving the Email Strategy
If a subscription service has not already implemented an email campaign, they need to get started right away. If the subscription service is new, companies should email their customers and offer them a discount for the new service.
Subscription companies may also offer a trial version of their services. Businesses may give a gift to their existing customers who try their new subscription service.
Social Media Is a Beneficial Tool for Subscription Services
There are approximately 247 million people who use social media in the United States. Companies that are not using social media are missing out on a substantial chunk of the population.
Companies should create a business account to interact with their customers through various social media platforms. On their social media accounts, companies can host fun giveaways and contests that will engage their customers and spread the word about their subscription services.
Prioritize Mobile
As of 2019, over 89% of Americans own a smartphone. Companies that are not prioritizing mobile devices will not reach their intended audiences. On Black Friday and Cyber Monday alone, the average mobile sales are around one billion dollars. Subscription services must tap into this market. The following are some of the most successful ways of prioritizing mobile in online stores.
- Use accordion-style lists that allow mobile users to see an overview of the site without losing material. Companies should keep an intuitive design that is very similar to most mobile sites.
- Calls to action should be highly visible and easily accessible to customers. A user should never experience difficulty trying to click on a CTA. It is wise to place all call-to-action buttons in the middle of the screen, where users likely have their fingers placed.
- Subscription services also need to make sure there are plenty of white spaces on their pages. Too much information can lead to users feeling overwhelmed.
Create Engaging Content
Finally, subscription services must create engaging content that enriches the user’s experience. Running a blog is an excellent way for companies to engage their audiences and point them towards their products and services.
Hire the Right Professionals
Subscription services that want to increase their customer base, and eventually their profits, need to consider hiring professionals who offer an already established e-commerce platform.
Now is the time to get started on implementing all the tips above. Subscription services are held to the same standards as brick-and-mortar companies. These services must make a concerted effort to rise above their constraints and reach their customer base.
It takes time for subscription services to regain the costs of acquiring a customer. These companies must realize the importance of churning prevention with their customers. To keep customers, companies should work diligently to please their customers and offer them true value.
Getting help from professionals is highly beneficial. Now is the time to get started on these initiatives and see genuine success.
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