It's becoming increasingly impossible to deny the importance of subscriptions in the ecommerce world. Thanks to high customer acquisition costs and churn rates, subscription models have proven to be a staple retention strategy for brands.
According to Shopify, projections suggest that the global ecommerce subscription market will be worth $246.6 billion by 2025. Customers across the world crave convenience: hassle-free shopping experiences, free delivery, and instant gratification. With an effective subscription model, that's exactly what you can give them.
We already know why subscriptions are so valuable, but the toughest question remains: how do you get subscribers? Better yet, once you get them, how do you keep them? Let's look into some potential solutions.
Sell Customers on the Long-Term
Naturally, when you are promoting a product, you want to highlight the immediate benefits – but you can't sell subscriptions in the same way. Once the initial sale is made, your messaging should focus on convincing customers to come back for more in the future. It requires a completely different approach.
Your returning customers already know about the quick fixes of your product, so instead, highlight the potential benefits of consistent, long-term use. Find a reason for your customers to continue using your product over a long period of time, and once you do, communicate it in your messaging. Promote your subscription offer like it's a long-term solution, and give your customers a journey they can commit to.
Give Your One-Off Customers FOMO
An effective way to acquire new subscribers is to make your one-off customers feel like they're missing out on something. Give your subscribers special perks which only they have access to – and tease those benefits constantly to the prospects who are on the outside looking in.
These special offers can include subscriber-only giveaways, subscriber-only sales, early access to new products, ongoing discounted price on subscription, free surprise gifts at key renewals, and guaranteed inventory on products that frequently go out of stock. Demonstrate to your one-off customers just how good life can be as a subscriber.
Avoid Price Jumps
Few things can convince customers to hop into a subscription quite like discounts. However, if you decide to offer a discount, avoid having the subscription price jump up drastically after the first order. If a customer only subscribes because it was more affordable than your normal prices, the odds of them churning once that discount disappears are extremely high.
Baking the discount or benefit into all subscription orders can help eliminate churn caused by increased prices. Additionally, consider if you are dedicating enough resources to educating new subscribers and getting them to understand what you offer. As soon as they are subscribed, it's time to explain why they should stick around for the long haul.
Create a Unique Customer Experience
The bar for customer experience in ecommerce is low, to say the very least. Most transactions for existing subscribers probably look a little something like this: place order, receive product, get spammed with generic marketing emails, repeat. Having said that, it doesn't take much to create a standout experience for your subscribers – the smallest gestures can create a massive impact.
Think of meaningful gestures that can bring a smile to your customers' faces. Send them a handwritten note, celebrate their important anniversaries, or emphasize the importance of their opinions. When you consistently deliver thoughtful, personalized gestures, you can turn hesitant support into full-fledged loyalty. Always go above and beyond in the small ways.
How Repeat Can Help
It's not easy to gain subscribers, and it's certainly not easy to keep them coming back. While these tactics might strengthen your subscription strategy, implementing them can require an amount of time and effort that you do not have the bandwidth for. That's where Repeat can help.
Repeat's Subscription Playbook contains an arsenal of tools that can be used to solidify customer relationships and establish an unwaveringly loyal subscription base.
The difference between Repeat and other retention data platforms is the way we turn insight into action. These tools make it easy to translate our analysis of your orders into automated, personalized email and SMS messaging that drives subscription purchases.
Read all about how Repeat can revolutionize your subscription strategy here.
