Conventional wisdom says economic hardship leads consumers to cut back on discretionary purchases. But a survey of US and UK business leaders found that throughout 2022 — when inflation was reaching its peak — subscription numbers actually grew.
Whether consumers are responding to the perceived value of subscriptions or eager for convenience when financial stressors are running high, it’s clear subscriptions are tapping into something special. It’s a competitive market because of the potential for big success. Investing in subscriptions can be worth it if you do it right.
Setting up a subscription doesn’t have to be difficult. With the right tools and guidance, you can launch a subscription program almost as quickly as you can put together a subscription product. Follow these steps to easily add a subscription to your ecommerce store.
There’s a lot to be gained from a good subscription program. One of the top benefits of recurring revenue is the predictability inherent to the model. When you have monthly subscribers, it’s much easier to forecast your income. And once you can estimate what you’ll be bringing in each month, it’s much easier to plan for the future of your business.
Subscriptions are also an excellent tool to increase customer loyalty when done right. Their convenience is a great selling point, and you can introduce your buyers to new products and services they might like. Customers are likely to increase their spending on products similar to those they subscribe to. If you’re the one to understand their needs, you can be the beneficiary of that spending.
Your subscription business plan will depend on the type of product you offer and the needs of your customer base. As you consider how a subscription will fit within your ecommerce offerings, look to competitors or customers themselves for information on how they want to shop.
Sellers of consumable products tend to do best with replenishment or curation subscriptions. Replenishment subscriptions send customers regular refills of essentials like cleaning supplies or personal care items. Curation subscriptions, on the other hand, send regular shipments with products handpicked to meet a customer’s needs or a specific theme. For example, cosmetic products based on a buyer’s complexion or monthly shipments of snacks themed around a certain location or activity. Curated boxes work best for brands with a variety of offerings in one product category or partnerships with multiple sellers.
Some physical goods don’t lend themselves to this type of shopping behavior. Sellers of luxury goods and other infrequent purchases may instead thrive with a membership subscription. This setup gives loyal customers the chance to pay for access to VIP perks like free shipping and exclusive products or sales. When offering a membership subscription, you’ll need to provide value via unique opportunities or access.
Subscription programs also work for digital goods. Any merchant who creates or curates a digital content library could bring in recurring revenue via an access subscription. Deliver consistent value by offering access to your backlog and continually delivering new content for subscribers to enjoy. In a similar way, companies can set up access subscriptions for software by offering an ongoing license to their buyers.
Next, choose a recurring revenue model that’s competitive within your industry and makes sense for your product and subscription type. Most sellers choose one of the following options:
Flat-rate subscriptions charge all users the same amount every month and deliver the same type or amount of goods and services. This is a common model for curation, replenishment and membership services.
Tiered subscriptions offer different pricing levels tailored to different buyer profiles. You’ll often see this model among curation, replenishment and access subscriptions.
Usage-based subscriptions charge based on how much your customer uses a digital product. This model is common among access subscriptions, where users may pay per asset downloaded or per account on a collaborative web app.
Hybrid subscription models combine subscription and one-time sales to serve customers in multiple ways. This model can work with any subscription type; if you’re already selling products via ecommerce, you’ll likely end up with a hybrid model as you add the option to buy subscriptions to your existing store.
Once you choose the right model, it’s time to think about pricing it. Along with considering your company’s needs, be sure to look at your competitors to see what consumers are willing to spend.
Most ecommerce sellers can add a subscriptions section to their current store, but others may want to take advantage of tools like BigCommerce Multi-Storefront to set up a new site. Wherever you decide to host your subscription, you’ll need the same elements as any other store — product listings, an “add to cart” button and a checkout.
It’s important for subscription sellers to add clear and accessible terms and conditions to their site as well. Multiple states have laws requiring clear disclosures regarding recurring billing setups, plus you’ll want to make sure consumers are informed lest you face chargebacks. Finally, make sure buyers have an easy way to contact your customer service team in case they need help.
Enable recurring purchases by marrying your storefront with a capable subscription ecommerce platform. If you have a headless build (which includes using a platform like BigCommerce), it will be fairly easy to install a subscription app that integrates largely through API calls.
After you’ve chosen and installed your subscription platform, upload your store data — for best results, choose a tool like sticky.io that handles one-time and subscription sales, so you don’t have to juggle multiple payment apps. Connect your subscription management platform with your payment gateways, payment processors and other tools you use to streamline the payment process. Then, configure the settings to enable a subscription self-management dashboard (for your customers’ convenience) and test the subscription purchase flow to make sure it’s easy to sign up.
It’s almost time to launch your subscription — the only thing left to do is get your loyal buyers hyped up for your new offering! Start building out marketing campaigns by determining which of your customer segments are likely to want recurring shipments.
Text and email campaigns can help you reach existing buyers, but don’t neglect the paid ad market to find new audiences. It may help you to set up a landing page so potential customers can learn everything they need to know about your subscription in one place.
Make sure you sync your ad campaigns to your subscription CRM so you can see how they perform. Then, it’s time to launch your subscription and start your ad campaigns. As buyers start coming in, keep an eye on each campaign’s performance so you can optimize your marketing strategy toward the wants and needs of subscribers.
Once you have subscribers committed to your brand, you’ll need to provide an excellent customer experience to keep them around — and to convince them to spend more.
Retention is a new challenge for sellers as they move into subscription sales, so make sure you track the performance of your churn reduction programs. Calculate your subscription retention and revenue retention rates; these two benchmarks are vital to understanding your success with the following efforts.
Voluntary churn (shoppers leaving of their own accord) happens when you don’t deliver on the promised value and convenience. Make sure you offer flexible subscriptions and allow shoppers to manage their experience, including the ability to pause and skip shipments. You’ll also need to focus on consistency; subscribers want their products to arrive on time with no hassle.
Involuntary churn (shoppers leaving because of failed payments) can be a huge drain on subscribers if you don’t have the tools to prevent it. Invest in an Account Updater to handle credit card expiration and set up dunning email flows so shoppers know when there’s a problem with their payment. It’s also smart to automate subscription rebills via a Decline Manager or use Smart Dunning.
Once you’ve increased the chances of your customers sticking around, you can think about further monetization. Build up loyalty by providing consistently excellent experiences, then integrate upsells and cross-sells into your shopping experience. Convincing buyers to try new products or upgrade to a more expensive model is an easy way to increase your profits.
Now that you know how to get your subscription started, it’s time to start making moves. Ecommerce sellers across all industries are considering whether subscriptions can help their business. Don’t let them beat you to this growing market.
The best way to start a subscription is with a strong partner. At sticky.io, we’ve supported sellers from first launch through major expansion. Our subscription experts know the industry, and we’re constantly working to make our tools better for the ecommerce merchants who rely on them. We’re here to answer your questions and go the extra mile as you set up your shop because your success is ours, too.
