E-commerce has transformed how businesses operate, market, handle supply chains, and manage revenue streams. One of the ways e-commerce has transformed revenue generation is by making subscription services more commonplace.
From video streaming subscriptions to subscription boxes, this particular billing model has seen a rapid rise, and more and more businesses are exploring this particular billing model.
Subscription management can be a bit challenging for businesses that are experimenting with this model for the first time. But if you understand a few important things about subscription management and follow the best practices, you might find it relatively easy to transition.
Subscription Management Best Practices
Following the best subscription management practices can help you get the most out of this model’s most impressive benefit: a reliable and consistent revenue stream.
1. Choose The Right Subscription Management And Billing Solution
Choosing the right subscription management system that contains all the core features your consumer journey needs is key. You need a solution that lets you change prices and plans, integrate with third-party and internal systems, and support trial periods and discounts, not to mention, one that allows you to offer a wide range of payment methods.
The right billing software is not the one with the largest selection of features. It’s the one that offers all the features and functionality you need. For that, you need to clarify your customer journey for subscription billing and ensure your subscription is easy to maintain and manage.
Once you understand your customer’s needs (and the best practices/core features), you can select the optimal subscription management solution.
2. Don’t Confuse Subscription Management With Recurring Billing
Though they are often lumped together, subscription management is a bit different from recurring billing. Even though it’s a core part of it, recurring billing is just one part of subscription management (i.e., the financial aspect). There is more to subscription management than the simple ability to charge a customer’s account on a recurring basis.
Recurring billing also involves being able to accept the customers’ preferred modes of payment (be it credit cards, ACH, debit card, crypto, etc.), ensuring that they understand what they are signing up for, and making the experience as smooth as possible. Subscription management, on the other hand, lets the business set up subscription plans that define how often the customer is billed and how much is billed, ensures that their continuous subscription is easy to manage, and helps you keep their interest by offering them loyalty benefits and discounts.
3. Aim To Maximize Customer LTV
The core benefit of a subscription service is that it’s a consistent revenue stream, but only until the customer decides to cancel the subscription. And you have to delay that point as far in the future as possible, but there are certain stipulations.
Note that not every subscription service is destined to stay evergreen. If you have a subscription box service of novelty items, your customers might get bored after six to eight months, so you have a Life-Time Value (LTV) of seven months on average. That’s a predicament of your business model, and you can’t prolong it by making changes to your subscription management approach.
But maybe customers are canceling subscriptions because your existing subscription management software double-charged them. Or a SaaS customer wants to upgrade and expects instant access to more software features, but it takes several days before they can actually use them. These are subscription management shortcomings that can decrease the LTV considerably.
4. Keep Pricing Transparent And Cancellation Easy
One of the most attractive elements of the subscription model is transparent pricing. Customers feel secure and comfortable continuing with the service because they know they won’t be subjected to hidden charges or unpredictable price changes.
If a customer decides to cancel their subscription, there isn’t a lot you can do to stop them. But if you make their “exit” infinitely harder than getting on the subscription was, they will leave with a bad taste in their mouth, which will be reflected in their comments, negative reviews, and may impact the LTV of other customers as well.
Conclusion
Even though all subscription model best practices are crucial, some are more important than others. And at the core of a good subscription model is a powerful subscription billing solution like Kill Bill. It lets you implement the best subscription management practices, enhances your revenue, and offers a seamless subscription experience to your customers.
