Nowadays, companies are offering a wide variety of services via subscription. It’s a new business model that is particularly appealing to younger generations who are used to subscribing for everything including entertainment, clothing, self-care products, and even cars.

But offering products and services via subscription isn’t enough. To keep a loyal base of subscribers, your organization must have a formal brand loyalty plan that will keep customers from straying to the services of competitors. In a highly competitive space with a business model based on recurring revenue, it’s important for subscription brands to create experiences that keep customers coming back.

Following are some tips for building a brand loyalty program with your subscription service.

Provide self-service.

Customers don’t like having to call your contact center or sales associates. They’d prefer to manage their subscriptions themselves, so ensure that this service is available to them. They’d like to change their information or payment methods and check on their latest order without help from an agent, if possible.

Ensure you have an email program.

Building loyalty for subscription services requires regular email marketing, preferably right off the subscription platform. Ensure that the platform you choose has a drip marketing feature that allows you to stratify your subscriber base to ensure that you’re making the right offers at the right time (and not, for example, sending emails urging a renewal to a first-time customer who just signed up).

Provide the right price point.

Many customers might be hesitant if they need to commit too much upfront to your subscription service. Ensure that they can start small and expand. Subscription pricing strategies can be tiered according to functionality, include discounts for larger purchases or be metered according to usage levels. You can also build in a rewards program that tempts customers into larger purchases. Experts recommend offering one higher priced tier over your ideal price tier in order to give the impression customers are getting a good deal.

Get your billing right.

Because of its nature, the subscription model has far more complex billing than “Buy one widget, pay for one widget.” Ensure you’re choosing a subscription management platform that allows you to bill in a variety of ways (annually, monthly, etc.) that might be attractive to your subscriber base. Flexibility will keep customers coming back.

Choose a platform designed for subscription management.

Subscription DNA’s subscription management software features group enrollment tools and group communications, email marketing automation, cloud billing automation and payments, intuitive membership management, CRM and premium content and paywall management.

With the ability to connect users into a subscriber group, companies can build the type of community that keeps subscription customers engaged, interested and – most importantly – loyal.

Contact Subscription DNA to learn how you can not only attract more subscription customers but keep them loyal into the future. 

If you’re launching a subscription service, congratulations: you’re embracing the business model of the future. By tying a company’s success to its ability to preserve its relationships with customers and the value of their lifetime revenue streams, the subscription model can provide a strong incentive for continued product and service excellence.

Younger consumers often prefer the subscription model because it costs less upfront. Many Millennials, for example, are saddled with high student loan payments and they often simply can’t afford a lump payment up front, as with a traditional vehicle purchase. The good news is that the subscription model can apply to nearly anything.

“Many people still think that the concept of a subscription is confined to newspapers and magazines. But today, almost any business can create a subscription model,” wrote Shep Hyken for Fortune. “Everything from automobiles to Xerox copiers and everything in between – including razor blades, wine, dog food, dishwashing detergent and more – can be turned into a subscription.”

Of course, you actually have to provide the product and service excellence. Without customer loyalty, it’s unlikely that your subscription-based business will go very far. So what are some of the ways you can build loyalty into your business model?

Offer Customers More Than They Expect

Amazon Prime members, for example, often join the program to get free two-day shipping. Once they’ve joined, however, they tend to stay because of all the extra perks they get, such as free Kindle books, streaming video content and discounts at Whole Foods. This has been Amazon’s biggest strategy in building loyalty to the Prime program.

Ensure Your Customers Trust You

Be sure your shipping is rock-solid so customers are getting their orders when you say they will. Ensure your web site or your mobile app is rock solid, so customers aren’t encountering outages or errors. Build their trust by putting a generous return policy in place.

Provide Excellent Customer Care

Nothing sours customer loyalty quicker than a poor customer experience. If you’re unsure of the quality of customer care you provide, or you feel it’s uneven, it’s time to completely redo your customer service strategy. Unhappy customers don’t return, and there’s more to it than that: they share their negative experiences on social media.

One way to ensure you’re providing the best possible customer care is by using a subscription management platform that enables it. Cloud-based subscription management platforms such as Subscription DNA allow you to extensively communicate with your subscriber base so you can build loyalty and trust. Our communication tools allow you to easily engage in drip marketing, communications, and membership management.

Visit our web site or call 513-574-9800 to discuss your subscription business’ billing and management needs today!