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Vehicle Subscription Services on the Rise: Here’s Why

With average car prices rising and many people struggling to balance the costs of housing, groceries, childcare, student loans, and credit card debt, vehicle subscription services are becoming increasingly popular. Customers appreciate the savings and flexibility that subscription plans provide.

How Vehicle Subscription Services Work

Several companies offer vehicle subscription services. The way each operates varies to some degree, but in general, a customer can choose a brand new or previously owned, but fairly new, vehicle. In some cases, a subscription company purchases vehicles, and in other cases a company partners with dealerships.

After a person’s driving record has been checked and the customer has provided payment information, he or she can pick up a car. A contract and credit check are often not required. Many companies allow customers to easily return a car or exchange it for another.

The monthly fee typically covers the car itself as well as a warranty, maintenance, insurance, and roadside assistance. A driver may be required to pay a deductible if he or she causes an accident.

Why Customers Choose Vehicle Subscriptions

A typical car loan can take five or six years to pay off, and a lease generally involves a contract lasting about three years. For people who need transportation but don’t want to commit to a car they might not like or a monthly payment they might struggle to afford, a subscription service can be an attractive alternative. It can also help consumers avoid large down payments often required with a loan or lease.

A subscription service can help customers avoid getting trapped in a cycle of debt. Many people trade in a vehicle before paying off the loan and then take out a loan for a newer vehicle that includes the money still owed for the old car. That practice can lead to seemingly insurmountable debt.

A vehicle subscription service may not be cheaper than a conventional loan or lease in the long run, but customers often choose a subscription because of its flexibility and the ability to avoid surprise repair bills. Many people like the option of getting a vehicle without making a long-term commitment and being able to change their minds without a hassle. A subscription service may also allow consumers to drive luxury vehicles they would otherwise be unable to afford.

Get Help for Your Vehicle Subscription Service

Vehicle subscription services are becoming popular, particularly with younger drivers, who value flexibility and want to avoid incurring long-term debt. As more and more consumers learn how these services work and understand their advantages compared to traditional loan and lease models, vehicle subscriptions may become the norm.

Subscription DNA makes it easy for businesses in a variety of industries to process monthly recurring payments. If you run or are thinking about starting a vehicle subscription service, we can help you make the billing process as smooth as possible for you and your customers. Contact Subscription DNA today to learn more.

Subscription Services Here to Stay

Subscription services are no longer some new, trendy topic for new age businesses catering to the millennial generation and younger. Today you can find subscriptions for everything from food and clothing to movies and even cars.

The explosive success this industry has had is related to the fact that it helps people save time, money and make decisions that benefit them.

With the market for cloud billing (which includes subscription billing services) predicted to reach $16.59B by 2021, now’s the time for businesses to get in the game.

Here’s why subscription services are here to stay and why your business should seriously consider offering the option.

Personalized

Personalization comes in very close second when talking about the ways for companies to succeed today. In line with innovation, this tactic is one of the best ways to gain customer loyalty, show customers you care about their needs and increase the likelihood of a sale.

Subscription services cater exclusively to this need. Most people who sign-up of are considering the service are already in need of it. Consider a clothing subscription service that delivers outfits to match criteria preset by each customer. Items shipped to them are sent in the right size, color and perfect for a specific occasion.

Personalization for your target market is just one of the many ways a subscription service can instantly boost business.

Efficient

The thing that many subscribers are coming to realize about subscription services is that they end up saving money in the long run. Cost savings easily add up and are a major buying factor for most consumers. Subscribing to a service for delivery of toiletries on a monthly or as-need basis, for example, can come with price discounts and more importantly means cutting out the cost and time spent driving around to shop at a brick and mortar grocer. If there’s one thing everyone is short on today – it’s time. This convenience alone is a great selling point for those looking promote subscription services to the market.

Subscription DNA’s enterprise subscription billing software platform automates recurring billing, can set one-time or future billing, and can even support complex payment scenarios. We also offer paywall authentication options to protect or allow access to premium content, media, software, and more. Get in touch today to learn more!

Using a Paywall to Monetize Content for Today’s Digital Subscribers

When newspapers and magazines saw the future – and that it was digital – they realized they would need a new way to earn money to survive. Customers were quickly becoming used to free content online, and fewer of them were willing to pay for physical copies. A few bold players tried to get out in front of the issue. They tried to go large, and assured themselves readers would pay large sums up front for unlimited access to their digital publications.

In most cases, they were wrong.

We Pay for What We Want

While premier publications like the New York Times has (finally) been successful in digital subscriptions, it’s important to note what people are paying for. The New York Times added 139,000 paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2018 – a 25.8 percent jump from the same time last year. Fully 40,000 of these people – or 28 percent — subscribed to the New York Times crossword feature. Yes, just the crossword. (And despite the growth in digital subscribers, it’s also important to note that the NYT’s digital ad revenue declined six percent in the same period.)

There’s Only One New York Times

Most companies aren’t the New York Times (or the Washington Post, or the London Times), so what hope do they have of making money off digital subscriptions? In reality, there’s a viable business model there, as long as it’s done properly and subscriptions are offered in the way readers want them.

People Will Pay for What They Value

If you’re hoping that subscribers will pony up for a large fee to access everything you publish digitally, you’re in trouble. Customers will, however, pay small, piecemeal amounts for what they value, whether it’s a crossword puzzle, a specific article, one-day access for a project or a column by a writer they love. It used to be difficult to build a paywall in a way that allowed subscribers to pay for only what they want. It’s not anymore.

Protect and Monetize Your Content

Subscription DNA paywall software and premium content management features support a variety of paywall models that you can use to customize your customer’s experience, and give them access to exactly what they’re willing to pay for. Whether you’re looking to monetize a blog, provide privileged content access to members, or anything else, Subscription DNA is the way to go.

Our software-as-a-service platform supports free or paid package selection, multiple service ordering, promotional codes, gift subscriptions, special campaigns and much more.

Contact us today to find out how we can help you protect your website, your business and your subscribers.

Understanding the Difference Between Subscription, Membership and Donation Revenue

Content providers today are struggling to find a revenue model that works for them. There are a variety of ways that news organizations, publications and other content providers can make money. These include advertising, corporate underwriting, foundation funding, article syndication, events, affiliate programs, merchandise, and sales of additional products such as books or white papers. Increasingly, however, publishers and other content providers are turning to direct revenue.

What’s Direct Revenue?

Rather than relying exclusively on advertising (once the model for most online content), more companies are turning directly to readers or site users to fund them, and creating a mix of direct and non-direct revenue. There are three types of direct revenue, according to Elizabeth Hansen and Emily Goligoski writing for Columbia Journalism Review. They include donation, subscription and membership.

A donation model encourages audiences to give their time or money to an institution in support of a common cause or common values. Donation conveys a charitable relationship.
A subscription model requires audiences to pay money to get access to a product or service. Subscription conveys an ongoing transactional relationship.
A membership model invites audiences to give their time, money, connections, professional expertise, distribution to their networks, and/or ideas to support a cause they believe in. Membership represents two-way knowledge exchange between journalists and members.

When Is Subscription the Best Choice?

A subscription model can work best for media or content outlets providing highly specialized information that readers can’t find anywhere else. (In other words, if you’re laying out celebrity gossip, don’t count on readers to pay for something they can find easily elsewhere.)

“For publications with subject-area or region-specific journalism and a strong audience base in their coverage areas, a product-based subscription offering can work,” wrote Hansen and Goigoski. “If readers, listeners, and/or viewers see a site’s news and analysis as providing enough unique value, subscription might be a viable revenue strategy. A subscription strategy can work especially well for publications with strong institutional audiences in specific industries and when subscribers’ employers can pay the cost of work-relevant media.”

A Platform for Managing Direct Revenue

To get the most out of adding direct revenue to your income mix, look for a subscription management platform that’s easy to use (for subscribers) and easy to manage (for you). Subscription DNA is a software-as-a-service platform that allows users to integrate subscription billing, subscription management, paywalls and authentication in one place. It can help you avoid rookie mistakes and optimize your pricing model for your subscriptions (by offering multiple tiers, for example).

Managed properly, a direct revenue channel added to your existing indirect revenue mix can significantly boost your income, allowing you to provide better and more in-depth content to customers willing to pay for it.

Get in touch today!

Subscription Pricing Strategy: Optimizing Your Pricing Model for Your Subscription Business

Whether you’re offering ongoing products (as with subscription box businesses) or services (think SaaS), there are a lot of benefits to the subscription business model.

Subscription businesses offer consumers manageable pricing and predictability while providing ongoing revenue and a built-in marketing base to companies.

Each of these benefits, for customers and businesses alike, are improved when an optimal pricing strategy is utilized.

This doesn’t just mean offering products or services at the right price point (although that’s a big part of it). It means packaging the pricing and building service tiers that encourage growth and retention for the business while making the customer confident in the value they’ve received.

But what does a successful subscription pricing strategy look like?

That will depend on your business, your product, and your market—but here are some general strategies to consider when building your own perfect model.